Rusty Bittermann

Rusty Bittermann. “Lady Landlords and the Final Defence of Landlordism on Prince Edward Island: The Case of charlotte Sulivan”. Histoire sociale/Social History 38 : 76 (November 2005).

Rusty Bittermann has produced a fascinating case study of Charlotte Sulivan, a member of the London elite who challenged the colonial legislature of PEI, taking her case all the way to the newly established Supreme Court in an effort to retain control of her 66,000- acre PEI estate. This article is laden with rich and fascinating insight, drawing out the intersection of deeply gendered power networks taht defined business, familial and philanthropic networks linking colony and empire. Bittermann skillfully and meticulously mines available sources to shed new light on Sulivan’s proprietary motivations as she negotiated her way across the masculinist terrain of colonial economy and imperial justice. This original contribution illuminates our understanding of colonial economy, while disturbing received notions about the rootedness of separate spheres during this critical period in Canada history.