Article

Margaret MacLeod

Published Online July 2, 2007

Last Edited December 15, 2013

Margaret MacLeod (b Arnett). Historian, collector, b Kerwood, west of London, Ont, 1877, d Winnipeg 17 Feb 1966. Educated in Brandon, Man, and Winnipeg, she devoted herself to researching the social history of Manitoba and especially of the Red River Valley.

MacLeod, Margaret

Margaret MacLeod (b Arnett). Historian, collector, b Kerwood, west of London, Ont, 1877, d Winnipeg 17 Feb 1966. Educated in Brandon, Man, and Winnipeg, she devoted herself to researching the social history of Manitoba and especially of the Red River Valley. In 1947 she was elected to the Council of the Champlain Society, the first woman to be so honoured. She edited The Letters of Letitia Hargrave (published in Toronto, 1947, by the Champlain Society) and wrote five books, 1935-63, on Red River topics. MacLeod was the first to collect indigenous Manitoba songs. All were of known authorship, and many were about the Red River Valley. However, the music originated in Quebec, Ontario, Scotland, or the American frontier. Some were published in The Beaver and in her book Songs of Old Manitoba (Toronto 1959). Among her discoveries were songs by the Métis poet Pierre Falcon, including one commemorating the Seven Oaks Massacre. She contributed to The Beaver such articles as 'Bard of the prairies' (Spring 1956) and 'Songs of the insurrection' (Spring 1957). MacLeod died in a house fire.