Jessie Caldwell

In Memory of Jessie Caldwell (1901 to 1990)

A for­mer Uni­ver­si­ty of Saskatchewan Alum­na and a promi­nent fig­ure in local, provin­cial and nation­al affairs, Jessie Caldwell’s var­i­ous accom­plish­ments have earned her the hon­orary recog­ni­tion as an out­stand­ing cit­i­zen by the City of Saska­toon as well as a place­ment in the “Cana­di­an Who’s Who” bio­graph­i­cal list­ings.   Some of Caldwell’s achieve­ments include the first women to be elect­ed to the Uni­ver­si­ty of Saskatchewan Sen­ate (1929–50), the first women to be appoint­ed to the Nation­al Film Board of Cana­da (1950–56) and the first vice-pres­i­dent of the Unit­ed Nations Asso­ci­a­tion of Cana­da.  She also held dis­tin­guished posi­tions in the local, provin­cial and nation­al Coun­cils of Women.

Aside from her many notable achieve­ments, Cald­well also had a keen, per­son­al inter­est in the field of archae­ol­o­gy.  Not only was she a mem­ber of the Saska­toon Archae­o­log­i­cal Soci­ety (1939–90) and an hon­orary life mem­ber of the Saskatchewan Archae­o­log­i­cal Soci­ety, but she also held sev­er­al exec­u­tive posi­tions with­in the Saska­toon Archae­o­log­i­cal Soci­ety, such as Pres­i­dent, Sec­re­tary and Trea­sur­er.  Her col­lec­tions are now housed in the Depart­ment of Archae­ol­o­gy at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Saskatchewan.

Every March, the Saska­toon Archae­o­log­i­cal Soci­ety hosts the “Jessie Cald­well Memo­r­i­al Lec­ture” with invit­ed speak­ers to hon­our Jessie’s con­tri­bu­tions and lega­cy.

Jessie Caldwell Memorial Lecturers:

2018: Dr. Mary Malainey (Bran­don Uni­ver­si­ty) “Archae­o­log­i­cal Sci­ence and the Archae­ol­o­gist”
2017: Dr. Col­in Laroque (Uni­ver­si­ty of Saskatchewan) “The Inter­twin­ing Branch­es of Den­droar­chae­ol­o­gy: Explor­ing Cul­tur­al and Built Her­itage”
2015: Dr. Leland Bement (Okla­homa Archae­o­log­i­cal Sur­vey) “Large-Scale Bison Hunt­ing at the Beaver Riv­er Com­plex, South­ern Plains of North Amer­i­ca Or, Who Left all these Ani­mal Bones in these Gul­lies and Why Am I Clean­ing Them Out?”
2014: Tim Rast (New­found­land & Labrador) “Recre­at­ing the Ancient Arc­tic: The sto­ry of an arrow, har­poon and drum”
2013: Nathan Friesen (Her­itage Con­ser­va­tion Branch) “Stone Fea­tures of the North­ern Plains in the Cul­tur­al and Nat­ur­al Land­scape”
2012: Dr. Bill Wais­er (Depart­ment of His­to­ry, Uni­ver­si­ty of Saskatchewan) “Park Pris­on­ers… The Use of Intern­ment Labour in West­ern Canada’s Nation­al Parks and Their Lega­cy”
2011: Dr. Dale Walde (Depart­ment of Archae­ol­o­gy, Uni­ver­si­ty of Cal­gary) “Four Field Sea­sons at the Cluny Site: A Few Answers and Many More Ques­tions”
2010: Dr. Ernest Walk­er (Depart­ment of Archae­ol­o­gy & Anthro­pol­o­gy, Uni­ver­si­ty of Saskatchewan) “Imag­in­ing the West: The Archae­ol­o­gy of Roan Mare Coulee”
2009: Jack Brink (Roy­al Alber­ta Muse­um) “New Research into Rock Art Preser­va­tion at Writ­ing-On-Stone Park, Alber­ta”
2008: Chris Kent (Depart­ment of His­to­ry, Uni­ver­si­ty of Saskatchewan) “How to Dress Like A Vic­to­ri­an Gen­tle­man”

Dona­tions for the Jessie Cald­well Memo­r­i­al Lec­ture

The Saska­toon Archae­o­log­i­cal Soci­ety would like to begin invit­ing speak­ers from oth­er parts of Cana­da for our annu­al Jessie Cald­well Memo­r­i­al Lec­ture.  How­ev­er, for us to secure the best speak­ers pos­si­ble, we will require your assis­tance.  As such, the Saska­toon Archae­o­log­i­cal Soci­ety is call­ing out to its mem­bers for dona­tions.  We are rec­og­nized as a Char­i­ta­ble Orga­ni­za­tion and will be able to issue you a receipt for Income Tax pur­pos­es.