Baby Trouble In The West : Making New People In Alberta, 1905-1939

A social history of reproduction and motherhood in Alberta from the province’s establishment in 1905 to the late 1930s. The book examines how pregnancy, childbirth, infancy, and mothering were shaped by social policy, medical practice, economic conditions, and state intervention during a period of settlement, agricultural expansion, and crisis.

Topics include the risks and management of childbirth in remote and rural settings, the roles of physicians, nurses, and midwives, institutional responses to unmarried mothers, adoption practices, and infant mortality. The study also addresses eugenics and compulsory sterilization, the involvement of women’s organizations such as the United Farm Women of Alberta, and the development and administration of mothers’ allowances.