Margaret Newton was born in Montreal on April 20, 1887. After teaching school, she became the first woman to complete a degree in agriculture at Macdonald College (M.Sc. 1919), and the first woman member of the Quebec Society for the Protection of Plants. Later, she became the first Canadian woman to earn a Ph.D. in an agricultural science, supervised by Dr. Stakman (University of Minnesota, 1922). In 1925, after three years as Associate Professor of Biology at the University of Saskatchewan, she moved to the Dominion Rust Research Laboratory in Winnipeg She was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and the first woman to be awarded its Flavell medal (1948) for her renowned rust research. Other honors include the Outstanding Achievement Award of the University Minnesota in 1956, and an honorary LL.D. from the University of Saskatchewan in 1964. Newton died in Victoria B.C. on April 6, 1971.
published
BCAUL control number: UVICARCH-331
The fonds consists of correspondence with international plant pathologists regarding scientific studies, publications, and requests for seeds. Also includes several brief biographies of Newton; a submission by Newton to her student newspaper at the University of Minnesota in 1933; and the Flavell Medal awarded to Newton by the Royal Society of Canada in 1948.
File list available.