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One of the most persistent and pressing problems in the research and writing of lesbian history in Canada, particularly for periods prior to World War Two, is the presumed paucity of primary historical sources. What little we do know about early-twentieth-century lesbian history in Canada comes to us primarily through the private letters, diaries, and memoirs of white, middle-class women. Some very significant discoveries have been made, including the letters and autobiography of poet Elsa Gidlow in Montreal, the journals of Constance Grey Swartz of British Columbia, and the correspondence between Doctor Frieda Fraser and Edith Bickerton Williams in Toronto. These rich sources reveal the inner thoughts and feelings of women attracted to other women, and they give us glimpses into the early-twentieth-century bohemian milieux and professional ranks that could nourish same-sex relations among well-educated and well-travelled white women.' Still, those interested in recovering the lesbian past often lament the lack of sources like the legal records relied upon by gay historians to reconstruct the history of gay male identities and subcultures. Karen Duder, one of the few to explore the terrain of lesbian history in Canada prior to World War Two, explains that "the dearth of information is hardly surprising given the limited availability of lesbians' personal records and the equally limited purview of the state in the area of lesbian ~exuality."~ But personal papers and state-generated documents are only two possible sources. In the following research report, I want to draw attention to a small but significant cache of articles from the early tabloid press that not only signals the potential of print media in lesbian historical research but also calls into question some of our assumptions about lesbian history in pre-World War Two Canada. That the early tabloid press might prove to be a useful source for earlytwentieth-century lesbian history makes a good deal of sense when we consider how invaluable tabloids (and, of course, oral histories) have been in recuperating the postwar gayllesbian past in Canada.3 The tabloids reflect the more general significance of print culture, from physique magazines to lesbian pulp novels and the lesbian-themed stories of Chatelaine, in the making of postwar gayllesbian subculture^.^ But if pulp novels, like the rough working-class

"Hell Witches in Toronto": Notes on Lesbian Visibility in Early-Twentieth-Century Canada