sbowness

Personal Information

Full Name

Suzanne Bowness

Bio

Suzanne Bowness is a PhD candidate in English at the University of Ottawa whose dissertation focuses on literary elements in late nineteenth-century Canadian periodicals. She is a freelance writer and former Saturday Night staff member who wrote her MA thesis on the early years of Saturday Night magazine.

Affiliation

University of Ottawa

Country

Canada

Personal Statement About Topic

As online editor at the weekly Saturday Night magazine, I began to use historical materials lying around the offices as a way to extend the magazine’s presence on the Web. Recognizing the dearth of information on the magazine’s early history inspired me to write my master’s thesis on its founding years. When the magazine folded in 2001, I suggested that the materials left behind in our empty offices was of such value that I should be kept on briefly to organize it for assessment by archivist Carl Spadoni and subsequent transfer to Saturday Night’s official archives at McMaster University.

Case studies by Suzanne Bowness

Case study :

Saturday Night: Canada’s Oldest General Interest Magazine

Founded in 1887 by eccentric editor Edmund E. Sheppard, Saturday Night magazine witnessed and documented many decades of Canadian life until its cessation in 2005. This case study explores the magazine’s early years and reveals the importance of the Saturday Night archives for a later period as both a cultural history source and a literary repository.