Hilda Marion Ada NeatbyCC (February 19, 1904 – May 14, 1975) was a Canadian historian and educator.
Early life and education
Hilda Marion Ada Neatby[1] was born on February 19, 1904, in
Sutton (then in
Surrey),[2][3] to Andrew Neatby and Ada Fisher.[4] The family moved to Saskatchewan when Hilda was 2.[3] She received a BA and MA from the
University of Saskatchewan and a PhD from the
University of Minnesota. She taught history at the University of Saskatchewan and was head of the history department from 1958 to 1969. Fluent in French, she studied at the
Sorbonne in
Paris.
Her book So Little for the Mind (1953) criticized contemporary reforms in the Canadian educational system that were based on
John Dewey’s philosophical ideas.[7][8]
In 1969, the Board of Trustees at
Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, commissioned Neatby to write the history of that institution.[9]Queen's University, Volume I, 1841-1917: And Not to Yield was published in 1978, after her death.[9][10]
In 1967, Neatby was made a companion of the
Order of Canada.[12] In 1953, she received an honorary degree from the
University of Toronto.[13] Since 1982, the
Canadian Historical Association has awarded the Hilda Neatby Prize for works on women's history.[14] In 2000,
Canada Post issued a stamp in her honour.[15][16] In 2005, the former Place Riel Theatre (a former cinema, later converted into a lecture theatre) at the University of Saskatchewan was renamed the Neatby-Timlin Theatre, in honour of her and former economics professor
Mabel Timlin.[17]