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Heavy Burdens on Small Shoulders
The Labour of Pioneer Children on the Canadian Prairies |
| Sandra Rollings-Magnusson |
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| The phrase "child labour" carries negative undertones in today's society. However, only a century ago on the Canadian Prairies, youngsters laboured alongside their parents' working the land, cleaning stovepipes, and chopping wood. By shouldering their share of the chores, these children learned the domestic and manual labour skills needed for life on a Prairie family farm. Rollings-Magnusson uses historic research, photographs, and personal anecdotes to describe the kinds of work performed by children and how each task fit into the family economy. This book is a vital contribution to western Canadian history as well as family and gender studies. |
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| ISBN: 978-0-88864-509-8 |
| Price: CND$ 34.95, USD$ 34.95, £ 19.95 |
| Discount: Trade |
| Subject: Prairie History/Labour History/Family Studies |
| Publication Date: May 2009 |
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| Reviews |
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"Heavy Burdens on Small Shoulders by Sandra Rollings-Magnusson makes noteworthy contributions to our understanding of children's work in the past. The overarching point that Rollings-Magnusson's study fleshes out is that the varied labor contributions made by children, particularly during the intense phase of settlement on the prairies, was critical to the survival of settler families. Likening the 'economically invisible' but critical work done by farm women to that of children, Rollings-Magnusson lays out a typology or system of classification based on both gender and age to more fully account for the kinds of work that children did and what this work represented for various farm family economies. This compact book would be an excellent volume for undergraduate courses devoted to the history of the family, work, and/or the history of children and youth”
Mona Gleason, H-Canada, H-Net Reviews, November 2009. [Full review at:
http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=25772] |
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"This book shows through charts and first-person accounts that children were put to work on farms and homesteads as soon as they were able, and that families benefited because of it. When setting out, homesteaders had so much to do that any family contributions were essential.”
Alberta History, Autumn 2009 |
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"[The book], the culmination of a study the author undertook to explore the role children's work played on family farms in the prairies during the period of settlement between 1871 and 1913, is enlightening and fascinating. The story of children in pioneer communities, much like the story of women, is not well understood, so this project adds much to the understanding of the history of the Canadian west and the role that children played.”
Rob Alexander, Rocky Mountain Outlook, August 13, 2009 |
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"If you have ever indulged in a flight of fancy about the romantic simplicity of pioneer days, then you must read Sandra Rollings-Magnusson's book. It will set you right in no time....Her book is absolutely fascinating, and that's because Rollings-Magnusson understands that if the devil is in the details, so is the beauty. Fully aware that the best and most revealing history is to be found in the lives of everyday folks, she has mined an incredible motherlode of journals, letters and memoirs to draw a riveting picture of life as it really was lived on the Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan prairies.... The author's emphasis is on child labour on the prairies, and these pioneer children were spared little of it....Rollings-Magnusson has written a marvellously fresh account of the lives of prairie pioneers in the most delightful way possible--by giving those long-gone folks the freedom to tell the stories of their daily lives in their own words.”
Naomi Lakritz, The Calgary Herald, August 2, 2009 |
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