Nan McKay
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October 10, 1892
Nan McKay | |
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| Born | Annie Maude McKay October 10, 1892 Fort à la Corne, Saskatchewan |
| Died | July 27, 1986 (aged 93) Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada |
| Alma mater | University of Saskatchewan |
| Occupation | Librarian |
| Relatives | James McKay (uncle) |
Annie Maude "Nan" McKay (October 10, 1892 – July 27, 1986) was a Métis librarian. In 1915, she became the first Indigenous woman to graduate the University of Saskatchewan. McKay worked as a librarian at the university for 44 years.
Annie Maude McKay was born into a prominent English Métis family on October 10, 1892, at Fort à la Corne.[1] Her father, Angus McKay (born 1858), worked for the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), which had a trading post at Fort à la Corne.[2][1] Her mother, Annie Maud Mary Fortescue McKay, was born in 1867, and her father also worked for the HBC.[3] Nan's mother died in 1907 following an operation for appendicitis; her father remarried in 1910.[1] The family moved frequently within Saskatchewan because of Angus's reassignments, including to Green Lake in 1899, Île-à-la-Crosse in 1907, and La Ronge in 1909.[1]
Nan and her siblings were homeschooled as children.[4] After her mother's death, her uncle, judge and House of Commons member James McKay, enrolled her and her sister at St. Alban's Ladies College, a distinguished Anglican private school in Prince Albert.[1] She was awarded a $200 entrance scholarship to the University of Saskatchewan and used her mother's inheritance to pay tuition at the university.[1]
She was active in extracurricular activities at the university, including serving on the student council as well as the board of the school's group for female students, Penta Kai Deka.[5] She was the staff artist of The Sheaf, the school's student-run newspaper.[5] McKay was a figure skater and played for the university's varsity ice hockey team as a student, continuing to play on the university's teams well into the 1920s as an alumni member.[1]
When she graduated with Honours in English and French in 1915,[1] she was the school's first female Aboriginal and Métis graduate.[6]