Hamilton library gets back 135-year-old book that shaped early women’s roles

People at Hamilton’s Public Library say they are delighted a reader has returned a book that was long overdue.

But not just any old book – this book could have been taken out as much as 135 years ago.

Nobody knows.

The slightly-beat up book is being called part of the history of Hamilton, as well as Ontario and beyond.

Robert Moore’s father came across the book that was published in 1852.

It’s called, “The Excellent Woman,” written by Englishwoman Anne Pratt, about the Bible’s Book of Proverbs which discusses how women should behave.

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“What Pratt was hoping to do was to encourage women to live up to their full potential,” said Moore.

The book has biblical tips for women mostly about working hard and supporting their husbands. It was important for women in the 1800s and 1900s.

Moore ties the book to the beginning of the women’s movement including the establishment of The Women’s Institute in Stoney Creek – leading to an international organization.

“It looks like the book would have been checked out here from what used to be Hamilton’s Central Library sometime after 1890 when it opened,” Moore said.

The book turned up about 80 years later in the 1970s when Robert’s father found it behind a heat register as he was doing work at Central Public School in Hamilton, Ont.

His father passed away recently and Robert found the book in his belongings and brought it back.

Raising the question about the book’s late fees.

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“There isn’t a fine and we’re thrilled to have it back,” said Shelley McKay, a spokesperson for the Hamilton Central Library. “We hope everyone will look under their beds in their closets and return those old library materials.”

But the book is a sign of ‘different’ times – the title page names the man who wrote an introduction but doesn’t name the woman who wrote it.

“I don’t think that hard core feminists would like this book,” Moore said. “They wouldn’t because it’s talking about how to be a good wife, a good mother.”

But it is part of Hamilton’s history and the library’s happy to get it back.

“We will give it to our local history and archives staff, said McKay. “They will review it, they’ll talk about it in their collections meeting and determine the next step.”

And Tuesday, they came across one additional clue to the book’s history – buried in the back, someone has written Miss Charlotte Morgan, Central School, Hamilton, Ontario.

Anne Pratt’s book “The Excellent Woman” has been digitized online.

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