Hilda Neatby’s 1950s and My 1950s

Abstract

Hilda Neatby (1904-76), long-time professor of history at the University of Saskatchewan, came into her own during the 1950s. A member of the Massey Commission, which reported in 1951, and author of So Little for the Mind (1953), a critique of progressive education, she acquired a high profile based on both of these endeavours. This essay argues that, in her concept of nationhood, her intellectual seriousness, and her posture of moral leadership, Neatby exemplified traits widely shared among others of her generation, and that these traits were manifested as her generation came into its own in the 1950s. The essay reflects on the significance of the decade, partly on the basis of the author’s own experience.