One of the founding members of the Canadian Women’s Press Club is being honoured by the Canadian Mint this year. A silver coin featuring Kathleen “Kit” Coleman became available in February 2023.
An announcement about this new coin, at http://www.mint.ca, reads:
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Pencil to paper to metal:
The Journey of Journalism Pioneer Kit Coleman is Honoured in 2023 Proof Dollar.
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. Who was “Kit”? That’s what readers of the Toronto Daily Mail (later The Mail and Empire) were asking, as they pored over the writings of Kathleen Blake Coleman. An intrepid reporter with a lively journalistic voice, “Kit” Coleman rose above the fray in the male-dominated newspaper industry, tackling a wide range of issues as well as the topics typically covered in women’s columns. She made history 125 years ago by becoming North America’s first accredited woman war correspondent. Coleman also helped establish the Canadian Women’s Press Club in 1904 and served as its first president, and later became Canada’s first syndicated woman columnist.
. In a time when women journalists were limited to writing about the female perspective and women’s issues, Kathleen Blake Coleman paved the way for better representation in newsrooms and a more equal standing for Canadian women in other aspects of life.
Kathleen “Kit” Blake Coleman: A journalism pioneer deserving of her place on the 2023 Proof Dollar.
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A design within a design
The silhouette collage on the coin’s reverse captures key moments in the journalist’s life—from the office of the Toronto newspapers that published her columns from 1889 to 1911, to the vintage typewriter that represents her legacy and impact on journalism.