Kathryn Bridge

Kathryn Bridge (born in 1955) is a Canadian writer, curator, archivist and historian who lives in Victoria, B.C. In 1978, she began to work at the British Columbia Archives (now called the Royal British Columbia Museum (RBCM)) where from 2012 to 2015 she was a Deputy Director. In 2017, she retired and was honoured as Curator Emerita. Her writing about Carr and editing of Carr in her many publications on Carr has been called by her peers "superb". She specializes as well in the history of Canada, with monographs on pioneering women, and the First Nations; and western artists including Sophie Pemberton. As an independent curator and writer, her emphasis is on Canadian women’s history and art history, as well as children and childhood in 19th century western Canada. She was made a member of the Adjunct Faculty, Department of History, UVic. In 2015. In 2017, she retired from the RBCM to work as an independent curator and historian and was appointed Curator Emerita. The Other Emily: Redefining Emily Carr in which Bridge paired paintings by the contemporary portrait artist Manon Elder with the work of Emily Carr (RBCM, 2011) (RBCM made a documentary about it) and Unexpected: the life and art of Sophie Pemberton (1869-1959) (Art Gallery of Greater Victoria,) about which she said:"Unexpected is learning about a significant Canadian artist in our midst whose actions we now see as inspirational, who with a few others, led the way for Canadian women artists overseas, challenging gender barriers within the profession". She co-curated Emily Carr: Fresh Seeing. Modernism and the West (Audain Art Museum, 2018) as well as compiling a draft catalogue raisonné for the Emily Carr material in the RBCM/ BC Archives. are thoughtfully written and cast new light on their subjects. She said of one of her many books on Carr, "Emily Carr in London, 1899-1904":"My motivation in writing this book was to flesh out these years and to use today's technologies-websites and digitized archival records-to learn the true identities of people she made anonymous in her writings through the use of fictional names.... I was able to make connections and decipher identities, to create a much more accurate chronology of her whereabouts and interactions, and to make connections between Carr and her peers." as well as UNEXPECTED: The Life and Art of Sophie Pemberton (published 2025).

Selected publications Henry & Self, the Private Life of Sarah Crease, 1826 - 1922, Sono Nis Press, 1996. Second edition published by Royal BC Museum, 2019. 'Everyone Said Paris Was the Top of Art': Emily Carr’s French Journey to Modernism, in Fresh Seeing. French Modernism and the West Coast, Figure.1 Publishing, Vancouver and Audain Art Museum, Whistler, 2019. Preface, Introductory Essay and annotations for Unvarnished. Autobiographical Sketches by Emily Carr, Royal BC Museum, 2021. Sophie Pemberton: Life & Work (2023) for the Art Canada Institute, available online.

Awards B.C. Lieutenant Governor’s Medal for Historical Writing, 1998. Runner-up VanCity Book Prize, 1999. Finalist Banff Mountain Book Festival, 2002 in two categories; Mountain Literature Award and Rocky Mountain Book Award. Honorable Mention for Historical Writing, BC Historical Federation, 2002. Runner-up for the VanCity Book Prize, 2003. Recipient, SSHRC Canadian Graduate Student Doctoral Scholarship, 2006–2009.