Emily Carr Chronology

1871    Born on December 13 in the family home at 44 Carr Street (now 207 Government Street), Victoria, B.C.
1886    Mother (Emily) dies on September 22
1888    Father (Richard) dies on November 20
1890–1893    Studies art at the California School of Design in San Francisco
1893    Sets up cow barn studio at Carr House
1895    Duncan/Lake Cowichan trip with girlfriends
1899    Travels aboard S.S. Willapa to Presbyterian mission at Ucluelet; sketches in Native village; acquires name Klee Wyck; meets William “Mayo” Paddon
1899–1904 Studies art in England at the Westminster School of Art and in Boxford, St. Ives, and Bushey; declines Paddon marriage proposal (1900); attends Queen Victoria’s funeral procession (1901); suffers breakdown, spends January 1903 to March 1904 in sanatorium 1904 Spends a month at 150 Mile House in the Cariboo region on the
return trip from England
1905    Possibly returns to Ucluelet
1906    Possibly visits Sproat Lake
1906–1910    Lives in Vancouver making and teaching art; takes sketching trips; forms friendship with Sophie Frank
1907    Takes a cruise to Alaska with her sister Alice; inspired by what she perceives as doomed Indigenous culture embarks on a personal mission to record what she can
1908–1910    Travels to Sechelt and Buccaneer Bay on the Sunshine Coast; north to Alert Bay, Campbell River, and Cape Mudge; and inland to Lytton, Yale, and Hope
1910–1911    Travels with sister Alice to Europe (July 1910); makes stops on the way including Sicamous, Glacier, Lake Louise, Banff, Calgary, Edmonton, Medicine Hat, Broadview, Winnipeg, Montreal, and Quebec City; Studies art in France at Académie Colarossi in Paris, Crécy-en-Brie, Saint-Efflam, and Concarneau (July 1910–November 1911); has two paintings hung in Salon d’Automne; returns briefly to Victoria
1912–1913    Moves back to Vancouver
1912    First extensive northern trip takes in Kwakwaka’wakw villages around Alert Bay: ’Yalis, Gwa’yasdams on Gilford Island, ’Mi’mkwamlis on Village Island, Kalugwis on Tumour Island, and T’sadzis’nukwaame (New Vancouver); Gitxsan villages of the Skeena River: Hagwilget, Gitsegukla (Kitsegukla), Gitwangak (Kitwanga), Gitanmaax (Hazelton), Ans’payaxw (Kispiox); Port Essington and Prince Rupert; and Haida villages on Haida Gwaii (the Queen Charlotte Islands): Cumshewa, Skedans, T’aanuu, Haina, Chaatl, Old Massett, Hiellen, Yan and Ka-yang 1913 Mounts solo show in Vancouver and delivers her Lecture on Totems; builds Hill House and moves to Victoria; builds a cottage in Oak Bay
1916–1917    Closes Hill House and spends eight months (to June 1917) painting murals at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco; starts bobtail dog kennel on return to Victoria
1919    Sells Oak Bay cottage; two sisters die: Clara (January) and Edith (December)
1921    Trades bobtail puppy for Woo the monkey; closes bobtail kennel
1922   Becomes ill during mid-January to mid-March rest trip to the Okanagan Valley; loses Adam, last of the bobtails (returned autumn 1923)
1920s   Restricted by landlady duties; makes limited sketching trips to Sproat Lake, Duncan, Chemainus, Cowichan Bay, and Westholme Island; meets Carol Williams and Kate Mather; begins annual pottery exhibition
1923    Starts Brussels Griffon kennel and continues dog breeding into 1930s but stops registering with Canadian Kennel Club in 1928; undergoes serious operation
1926    Takes correspondence writing course through the Palmer Institute of Authorship, Hollywood, California
1927    Receives invitation to exhibit in the Canadian West Coast Art, Native and Modern show at the National Gallery in Ottawa; travels east for the exhibition; connects with Group of Seven artists in Toronto, especially Lawren Harris; spends part of her 56th birthday at his studio; keeps a journal of the trip
1928 Second extensive northern trip takes in Alert Bay; the Skeena villages of Gitsegukla (Kitsegukla), Gitwangak (Kitwanga), Ans’payaxw (Kispiox), Gitanyow (Kitwancool); the Nisga’a villages of the Naas River: Ank’idaa, Gitex, Laxgalts’ap (Greenville); and the Haida villages of Caynaa (Haina), Hlragilda (Skidegate) and K’uuna (Skedans)
1929    Travels to Yuquot/Friendly Cove in May and to Port Renfrew in August
1930    Begins keeping a regular journal; makes a speech defending modern art during her very successful Crystal Gardens solo show in Victoria (March); travels east to Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and New York (April); visits Northern Vancouver Island Kwakwaka’wakw villages near Fort Rupert/Port Hardy and Quatsino (August)
1931    Rents various cottages and shacks around Victoria sketching in Cordoba Bay, Goldstream, and Metchosin
1932    Takes sketching trips to Braden Mountain (Metchosin Hills) and Mount Douglas
1933    Travels inland from Brackendale to Lillooet, Seton and Anderson lakes, and Pemberton; beloved dog Koko dies at Lillooet; buys the Elephant and camps in Goldstream Park; makes final eastern trip to Chicago World’s Fair and Toronto
1934    Camps in the Elephant at Esquimalt Lagoon and Strathdee Farm; takes short story writing summer course at Provincial Normal School in Victoria; takes additional adult education writing course during the winter at Victoria High School
1935    Camps in the Elephant at Albert Head (June and September); trades Hill House for Oscar Street house, rents it out and moves to 316 Beckley Avenue
1936    Sister Elizabeth dies (August); camps in the Elephant at Spencer’s Farm in Metchosin (June and September)
1937    Suffers first heart attack in January; begins grouping stories written over eleven years by theme; sends first collection to MacMillan; Lady Tweedsmuir visits Beckley Avenue
1938    MacMillan rejects story collection, suggests Ryerson; Ryerson loses manuscript for eleven months; helps Alice with final clear up for sale of Carr House; sells the Elephant; rents farm cottage in Telegraph Bay
1939    Suffers slight stroke; friend Ruth Humphries shows her stories to CBC executive Ira Dilworth; rents Mrs. Shadford’s shack in Esquimalt
1940    First stories read on CBC radio (February); moves in with Alice; suffers second slight heart attack; rents accommodations at Pendray House (Havenwood) and Metchosin gravel pits; suffers a major stroke; Dilworth submits stories to Oxford University Press
1941    Establishes the Emily Carr Trust; Klee Wyck is published and wins Governor General’s Award; Emily hosted to 70th birthday party by Women’s Canadian Club of Victoria
1942    Rents cabin in Mount Douglas Park; Book of Small is published; suffers severe stroke; has Carol Williams Pearson bury a box of personal items in Beacon Hill Park
1943    Previously painted whenever able, now spends most of her time in bed working on stories and autobiography
1944    House of All Sorts is published
1945    Moves to St. Mary’s Priory for recuperation; dies March 2 (note discrepancy with plaque on Emily Carr Bridge in Beacon Hill Park, which gives the date as March 3)
1946–2017    Posthumous publications: Growing Pains (1946); Pause (1953); The Heart of a Peacock (1953); Hundreds and Thousands (1966); Fresh Seeing (1972); Emily Carr & Her Dogs (2005); Wild Flowers (2006); Sister and I from Victoria to London (2011); Sister and I in Alaska (2014); Studio Billie’s Calendar (2017)