McCullough, Norah, 1903-1993 (family) : Norah McCullough, art teacher and historian, was born in Alliston, Ontario, the daughter of Dr. John W.S. McCullough and Alice Margaret Lawson, and the niece of artist James Kerr-Lawson. She studied at the Ontario College of Art under Arthur Lismer, graduating in 1925. After working at Eaton's and travelling in Europe, she joined the Art Gallery of Toronto, first cataloguing prints and drawings and, after 1928, assisting Arthur Lismer in his children's art classes. She was associated with Lismer in the Children's Art Centre at the Gallery, established in 1934, and took charge of the Centre during Lismer's lecture tour of South Africa 1936-1937.
On his recommendation, McCullough was invited to South Africa in 1938 to establish an Art Centre in Pretoria and subsequently became an inspector for the Transvaal Education Department. She returned to Canada in 1946 and worked for the National Gallery, 1946-1947, touring small exhibitions of Canadian art in northern Ontario. She moved to the west and was the Executive-Secretary of the first Saskatchewan Arts Board, 1947-1957. In 1958 she was appointed the National Gallery of Canada's Liaison Officer for Western Canada based in Regina.
After retiring from the National Gallery in 1968, McCullough settled in Guelph, where she has been an active member of the Guelph Arts Council. She was a founding member of the Canadian Craftsmen's Association in 1963. In 1969 Norah McCullough began working on a catalogue raisonné of the paintings of Arthur Lismer. During the next five years she gathered together information about some 800 canvasses and prepared the text of her catalogue. It was accepted for publication by Clarke, Irwin in 1982 but its publication was suspended when the company went into receivership the following year.
Norah McCullough's maternal grandmother was the author Jessie Kerr Lawson (1838-1921) who immigrated to Canada from Scotland in 1866 with her husband William (1830-1913) and their children Andrew, James Kerr, Katherine and Elizabeth, settling in Hamilton, Ontario. Six more children were born in Canada, including Alice, William and Anstruther. Both Andrew and Anstruther became well-known scientists, the former as a geologist and the latter as a botanist. Katherine, who married W.G. Appleby, was a columnist and editor for Toronto periodicals and Alice studied nursing before marrying J.W.S. McCullough.
James Kerr-Lawson (1862-1939) was educated at Hamilton Collegiate Institute and the Ontario School of Art, 1879-1880. He studied painting in Europe, 1880-1884. On his return to Canada, he was elected a member of the Royal Canadian Academy and the Ontario Society of Artists. He left Canada in 1887 and eventually settled in England with his wife, Catherine (Caterina) Muir of Hamilton, Ontario. He continued to exhibit and sell his work in Canada, much of the promotion and business being handled by his wife. He became a member of the Canadian Art Club in 1912. He was made a major with Lord Beaverbrook's Canadian War Records office, 1916-1917, and produced two canvasses that were installed in the Senate, Ottawa. James Kerr-Lawson died in London in 1939.
