Katherine Hughes

Katherine Angelina Hughes (November 12, 1876 – April 26, 1925) was a Canadian journalist, author, archivist, and political activist. She founded the Catholic Indian Association in 1901 and was the secretary of the Catholic Women's League of Canada. She was the first provincial archivist for Alberta.

Hughes was born on November 12, 1876, in Emerald, Prince Edward Island,to John Wellington Hughes, the owner of a livery yard and shop, and Annie Laurie O'Brien. Her family was Irish Catholic. She had four siblings, two brothers, P. A. Hughes and Mark Hughes, and two sisters, Mrs. Robert H. Kenll and Mrs. James O'Regan. Cornelius O'Brien, an uncle of Hughes', was the archbishop of Halifax from 1883 to 1906.

She received her education in Charlottetown, at the Notre Dame Convent and the Prince of Wales College, graduating in 1892 with a first-class teacher's license.

Little is known about Hughes' early career, but she is believed to have been a Catholic missionary to Canadian Indians in the late 19th century. She became a teacher at the Akwesasne Reserve in summer 1899, and founded the Catholic Indian Association in 1901. She ended her position as a teacher at Akwesasne in 1902 to become a writer.

Hughes participated in the Women's Canadian Club of Edmonton in the early 20th century. She was the secretary of the Catholic Women's League of Canada.

Writing and journalism

Hughes declared that she planned to be a professional writer in 1902, after retiring from her teaching at Akwesasne. Hughes had stories published in Catholic World and the Prince Edward Island Magazine. She helped establish the Canadian Women's Press Club in 1904, serving as its vice-president from 1909. She worked for The Montreal Daily Star from 1903 to 1906, covering the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. In 1906, she switched to the Edmonton Bulletin, covering the Alberta Legislature for this paper. Her biography of Albert Lacombe, entitled Father Lacombe, the black-robe voyageur, was published in 1911.

In 1902, using stage coach, canoe, and boats, Hughes traveled alone through the Peace River and Athabasca districts of northern Alberta, acquiring artifacts for the Alberta archives. She became the first provincial archivist for Alberta in 1908, while residing in Edmonton. Shortly after leaving this position, she began working for Alberta Premier Alexander Rutherford, also working for his successor Arthur Sifton.

Work for Irish independence

In 1913, Hughes began working for the Agent General of Alberta in London. Hughes toured Ireland during this time and became involved in Gaelic revival. She resigned from her position in London in 1917; the following year, she began working for the Irish National Bureau in Washington, D.C. Éamon de Valera chose her to be the Canadian National Organizer for the Irish Self-Determination League. In this position, she worked on secret, sensitive tasks; according to Australian historian Richard Davis, semi-secrecy of such tasks "had to be preserved to avoid deportation from countries like Australia and New Zealand".

Hughes emigrated to the United States in 1905. In her later years, she lived in New York City, at the home of a sister. She died on April 26, 1925, at her sister's house in The Bronx, New York, due to cancer. Hughes was survived by her father, two brothers, and two sisters. According to Fort Edmonton Park, her work was initially "forgotten, or perhaps ignored", only being acknowledged long after her death.

• Archbishop O'Brien, Man and Churchman, 1906
• Father Lacombe, the blackrobe voyageur ... Illustrated., 1911
• Bush light and shade by K.H., 1895
• A New Year's tale of the North, 1900
• The cherry bird : a comedy-drama in three acts, 1915 (with Pádraic Ó Conaire)
• Ireland, studies., 1917
• The red book of Ireland : a compilation of facts from court and press records,, 1920 (with James D Phelan)
• Ireland, 1924