Anne Innis's love of giraffes began with a trip to her local zoo when she was a young girl. Anne was the daughter of Harold Innis who was a professor and Mary Quayle Innis who was a writer. The giraffes so intrigued Anne that she wanted to know all about these unusual animals.
Since she loved reading about animals, Anne set out to find books about giraffes but there weren't any. However in an encyclopedia, Anne learned that giraffes live only in the grasslands and woods of Africa. She was determined to go to Africa to study them. That meant working hard and saving.
Anne saved her allowance and eventually got a summer job. She studied biology at university and earned a gold medal and prize money. Soon she had enough to travel to Africa. All she needed was a place to stay. Anne wrote to thirteen African wildlife organizations and universities outlining her plans. She was rejected by all of them. Undaunted, Anne wrote another letter, this time signing it A. Innis. This meant that the reader would not know she was a woman. Alexander Matthew wrote back telling Mr. Innis he would be able to stay at his ranch and bunk with the cowhands!
Anne set out on her journey to Africa, travelling by train at Toronto to Montreal where she boarded a ship that took her to London. While in England she wrote to Alexander Matthew signing it Anne Innis. Then she boarded a ship to South Africa. Once in South Africa, Anne still had a thousand miles to travel to the Matthew ranch so she bought herself a car. But before setting out she received a letter from Mr. Matthew explaining that he believed she was a man and that she could not stay at his ranch. But after a letter pleading to be allowed to stay, Matthew relented, offering Anne his daughter's old bedroom. After a struggle to get to the Matthew ranch, Anne settled in and began her dream of observing giraffes. Her time in South Africa led her to make many interesting and new discoveries about giraffes.
Although she achieved her dream of travelling to Africa to study giraffes, Anne encountered many obstacles as she attempted to obtain a university teaching position. But she was turned down because she was a woman. She co-authored a book, The Giraffe and she continued through the years to work to help students learn now to write and do research. More than fifty years after her adventure in Africa, Anne was invited to a first ever conference on giraffes. And when giraffologists became concerned about the declining numbers of giraffes, Anne returned to Africa to learn what was being done to save these unique animals.
Discussion
In The Girl Who Loved Giraffes the story of pioneering Canadian giraffologist Anne Innis Dagg is told. Anne's story has been one of extraordinary accomplishments and surprising obscurity and Stinson portrays all of this in this detailed children's picture book.
Anne Christine was born in 1933 in Toronto, Ontario to Harold Innis a political economy professor at the University of Toronto and to author, Mary Quayle. While on holiday with her family in Chicago, in 1936, she visited the Brookfield Zoo. There, as a three-year-old toddler, she was in awe of the giraffes. After attending the Anglican boarding school, Bishop Strachan, Anne went on to earn a B.A. in Biology in 1955. As the top student, earning a gold medal, she hoped to travel to Africa to begin her study of giraffes. To that end, she began writing officials in Tanzania (then called Tanganyika), Kenya and Uganda without any success.
While pursuing a masters in genetics at the University of Toronto, Anne learned about Alexander Matthew whose land was home to giraffes. She was able to obtain an invitation to come and study them. Matthew did not know Anne was a young woman. In 1956, at the age of twenty-three, using only the money she had saved herself, Anne travelled to South Africa. As Stinson relates in her picture book, Anne did reveal her gender to Mr. Matthew and after pleading with him, he allowed her to stay at his farmhouse.
Anne spent the next six months observing and recording giraffes. Since no one prior to Anne had studied giraffes, she became a world expert as she discovered many interesting things about their behaviour and physiology.
Anne returned to Southern Ontario, working to earn a Ph.D, which she accomplished at the University of Waterloo in 1967, and to become a teaching professor (to research giraffes in the summer) which she was not able to obtain. In 1967, it was almost impossible for women to obtain a teaching position at a university in Ontario. Anne encountered many rejections, not because she wasn't qualified, but because she was a married woman. So she taught part time and raised her family of three children.
Anne's life story is one example of how stereotypes and barriers based on gender have impacted women's professional and personal lives. Although Anne was able to push back against these barriers to some degree it would be decades before things significantly changed. Nevetheless, it was her determination and resourcefulness that got her to South Africa, a country with its apartheid system.
Author Kathy Stinson was able to meet and get to know Anne Innis Dagg as she researched for her book.Stinson first encountered Anne Innis Dagg and her remarkable work with giraffes at a film screening in Guelph. The film, "The Woman Who Loves Giraffes" was offered at the Bookshelf Cinema and was followed by Anne speaking as a guest panelist. Stinson knew then that she had to tell Anne's story. Accompanying Stinson's informative text are the rich illustrations of Francois Thisdale.
The Girl Who Loved Giraffes is an inspiring story of determination and resourcefulness. Imagine what Anne might have accomplished had she been allowed to continue her research on giraffes. Her story highlights the personal and professional cost of sexism and racism. But the story of Anne Innis Dagg is also an inspiration to young women everywhere to pursue their dreams, no matter what.
Book Details:
The Girl Who Loved Giraffes: And Became The World's First Giraffologist by Kathy Stinson
Markham, Ontario: Fitzhenry & Whiteside 2021
56 pp.
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