Fonds F210 - Helen C. Abell collection

Title and statement of responsibility area

Title proper

Helen C. Abell collection

General material designation

    Parallel title

    Other title information

    Title statements of responsibility

    Title notes

    Level of description

    Fonds

    Reference code

    CA F210

    Edition area

    Edition statement

    Edition statement of responsibility

    Class of material specific details area

    Statement of scale (cartographic)

    Statement of projection (cartographic)

    Statement of coordinates (cartographic)

    Statement of scale (architectural)

    Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)

    Dates of creation area

    Date(s)

    • 1938-1985 (Creation)

    Physical description area

    Physical description

    4.55 metres of textual and graphic records and published materials

    Publisher's series area

    Title proper of publisher's series

    Parallel titles of publisher's series

    Other title information of publisher's series

    Statement of responsibility relating to publisher's series

    Numbering within publisher's series

    Note on publisher's series

    Archival description area

    Name of creator

    (1917-2005)

    Biographical history

    Helen Caroline Abell (1917-2005) was one of Canada’s first rural sociologists. Although she was born in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Dr. Abell was mostly raised in Toronto, Ontario. She attended the Macdonald Institute in Guelph, graduating in 1938, and went on to study home economics at the University of Toronto. During the Second World War, Dr. Abell served with the Canadian Women's Army Corp (1942-1945). After the war she studied at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, receiving a Ph.D. in Rural Sociology in 1951.

    Upon graduation, Dr. Abell moved back to Canada to head the Rural Sociology Research Unit for the Economic Division of Canada’s Department of Agriculture. She held this position from 1952 to 1962. She moved on from there to teaching positions at the Ontario Agricultural College (1962-1967), the University of Waterloo (1967-1972), and the University of Saskatchewan (1973-1974). During her working and academic career, Dr. Abell became highly involved with international studies in the field of rural sociology. She completed projects for the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and the Good and Agriculture Organization (FAO), taking her to rural parts of Jamaica, Nigeria, Columbia, Transkei (South Africa), Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Ghana, and Pakistan. For a time, she also worked for the United Nations as a Social Affairs Officer in their Community Development Group.

    Dr. Abell published numerous studies and articles and became a renowned speaker and consultant in rural life, agriculture, and nutrition. In 1997, Dr. Abell was conferred an honourary doctor of laws degree from the University of Guelph. She died in 2005.

    Custodial history

    Scope and content

    The Helen C. Abell collection, donated by Dr. Abell in 1984 and 2002, contains personal papers, correspondence, photographs, newspaper clippings, published and unpublished research and writings, rural sociology publications, and various conference and association papers and reports related to the career of Dr. Abell and to the study of rural sociology in Canada more generally.

    Notes area

    Physical condition

    Immediate source of acquisition

    Arrangement

    Language of material

      Script of material

        Location of originals

        Availability of other formats

        Restrictions on access

        Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication

        Finding aids

        Generated finding aid

        Associated materials

        Accruals

        Alternative identifier(s)

        Standard number

        Standard number

        Access points

        Place access points

        Name access points

        Genre access points

        Control area

        Status

        Language of description

          Sources

          Accession area