Fonds 2014-032 - Marie Elwood

Marie Beatrice (Boyd) Elwood, museum curator and decorative arts historian specializing in antique furnishings and porcelain china, was born January 30, 1932 in Belfast, Ireland and educated at Victoria College, College of Art, and Queen’s University in Ireland, graduating with diplomas in Fine Art (1953), Education (1954), and Testimonium in Theology (1955). Marie became a Canadian citizen and immigrated to Toronto, Ontario, with husband Dr. T. Neville Elwood in 1958. The family then moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1961 and raised two sons and two daughters. From 1971 until retirement in November 1992 Marie worked for the Nova Scotia Museum, as Chief Curator of History. During her tenure she arranged for the repatriation of Canadian works of art by John E. Woolford (1778-1866), John Singleton Copley (1738-1815), and an archive from George Ramsey 9th Earl of Dalhousie when he was Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia 1816-1820 and Governor General of British North America 1820-1828. She researched, designed and organized museum exhibits on antique furnishings, ceramics, and Nova Scotia ceramic artist Alice E. Hagen. She served on the Canadian Cultural Property Export Review Board (CCPERB) from 1981 to 2003, and was a member of the Canadiana Foundation’s Board of Directors, 1994 to 2008. She was on the Collections Advisory Committee and appointed Curatorial Advisor for the National Capital Commission’s Official Residences of Canada to advise on furnishings and décor for Rideau Hall in Ottawa from 1991 to 2008. After retirement, she was guest curator with the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Ottawa for the 1997 exhibition “Tableful of Canada: A Splendid Gift: the 1897 Canadian Historical Dinner Service”. She worked under contract for the Province of Nova Scotia to preserve, inventory and restore the furnishings at Province House (the Legislature) and Government House (the Lieutenant-Governor’s residence) from 1994 to 2004, and did the same inventory work for the New Brunswick Legislative Assembly in 2004. Within Nova Scotia, she served on the Acquisition Sub-Committee for Ceramics of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia from 1994 to 1997, designed the Halifax Regional Municipality’s Coat of Arms 1997-1999, and traveled to China to be guest lecturer at Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute in Jingdezhen, China. She was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in London, UK in 1982, received an honorary degree from University of King’s College in 1987 and was one of the first recipients of the Order of Nova Scotia in 2002. She was active in several art and heritage societies, including the Medical Society of NS, Lescarbot Award, American Ceramic Circle and Canadian Society of Decorative Arts. Marie Elwood died in March 2012 in Halifax, NS.