Women... And Others Who Had Been Left Out

The people who wrote the most letters to J.R. Smallwood were women. They wrote about how hard it was to feed their families. They wrote to ask questions about family allowances. They wrote about what things they needed to keep their homes in repair. They asked for better schools. They sent telegrams asking for a boat to come to take a sick child to the doctor. They told of what they thought were unequal situations-where one person got something, and another didn't. And they wrote to remind the Premier of his promises.

We the women of the outports put you in power...¹⁰

A woman wrote these words in a letter to Smallwood in 1959. She then asked him to answer a request. The woman was looking after an "old lady" who lived down the road from her. The older woman had no one else to take care of her. The letter writer wanted $20.00 to help her care for the woman. If she could get no money, could she get some bedding for the old woman? She wrote a list of the sheets and blankets the woman needed.

Credit: PANL, Gustav Anderson Collection.

A woman works while children look on, Badger's Quay, Ca. 1939. The Family Allowance, or "baby bonus" was a benefit of Confederation that was welcomed by many Newfoundland mothers and their children.