Knight, Leith (1924-)

Leith Knight (née Docherty) is credited with preserving and popularizing Moose Jaw’s history. Her weekly column has appeared in the local newspaper since 1969, and she was the city’s first archivist at the Moose Jaw Public Library. Born in Moose Jaw in 1924 and educated there, she personally knew some of the city’s old-timers. Her mother, the night telephone operator for local calls during prohibition, also told her daughter some colourful tales. Knight’s interest in history became more official in the early 1950s. Working at City Hall, she took minutes for the museum committee. A few years later, the Moose Jaw Public Library hired her; in 1968 she initiated a Local History collection; and in 1969 she began her weekly column for the Moose Jaw Times-Herald . Knight retired from the Moose Jaw Public Library in 1983, but she still writes newspaper columns, and remains an active local historian. Knight is also an accomplished musician, and has served as organist and bell-ringer at several Moose Jaw churches. Her publications include birds of the Moose Jaw Area (1967) and All the Moose, All the Jaw (1982), a local history.

Martha Tracey