Lila Engberg was born in Alberta in 1923. She was the granddaughter of Swedish pioneers who settled in Calmar, Alberta—southwest of Edmonton—at the end of the 19th century.

Dr. Engberg received her BSc degree in Home Economics from the University of Alberta, and was a professor at the Guelph University for more than a half a century. Reflecting on Dr. Engberg’s life and legacy, her former colleague Dr. Ann Middleton stated that, for Dr. Engberg, obtaining a degree in Home Economics,

“opened the door to a career that empowered women in Africa, Asia and South America. Through the University of Guelph and Mount St. Vincent University in Halifax, [Lila Engberg] worked in Ghana and Malawi where she helped develop degree programs to benefit women and children and to allow women to become leaders in their communities. She also worked with the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations in countries around the world. The passion for social justice nurtured in Africa and while doing her PhD studies at Cornell University during the Vietnam War blossomed in her work with her Guelph United Church’s chapter of Kairos, an inter-faith advocacy group working for a better world.” (1)

Dr. Engberg’s extraordinary work for women’s rights and social justice was recognized by multiple honours and service awards. Her legacy continues to be felt to this day by the institutions and organizations to which she dedicated her career.

While working in different parts of the world, Dr. Engberg amassed a large number of unique cultural objects. Her home was “filled with carvings and paintings, textiles and pottery collected in her travels." (1) Between 1988 and 1999, she generously donated fifty-eight cultural textiles and clothing items to the Anne Lambert Clothing and Textiles Collection. One of the African commemorative textiles donated by Dr. Engberg (1988.8.8) is featured in this exhibition.