The collection is comprised of portraits from the publication: Portraits : Canadian women in focus. The personalities represented range from politics and public service, to sports, arts and culture. The collection includes photos of: Doris Anderson, Gladys Angley, Louise Ardenne, Dr. Mary-Wynne Ashford, Rosella Bjornson, Marjorie Blackhurst, Lisa Borsholt-Greewood, Liona Boyd, Debbie Brill, Rosemary Brown, June Callwood, Anne Cameron, Hon. Kim Campbell, Juliette Cavazzi, Dinah Christie, Adrienne Clarkson, Jean Coulthard, Cynthia Dale, Hon. Claire L'Heureux-Dubé, Muriel Duckworth, Gathie Falk, Hon. Sylvia Fedoruk, Maureen Forrester, Edith Fowke, Sister Mary Greene, May Gutteridge, Evelyn Hart, Helen Sawyer Hogg, Alice Kane, Vicki Keith, Dr. Geraldine Kenney-Wallace, Claudia Kerckhoff-Van Wijk, Phyllis Lambert, Dr. Julia Levy, Jean Little, Dorothy Livesay, Leila Joy MacKenzie, Rita MacNeil, Mary Masales, Dulcie McCallum, Hon. Barbara McDougall, Col. the the Hon. Pauline McGibbon, Hon. Beverly McLachlin, Joni Mitchell, Alice Munro, Kimiko Okano Murakami, Susan Musgrave, Susan Nattras, Daphne Odjig, P.K. Page, Janet Parsons, Mary Pratt, Marion Quednau, Nancy Green Raine, Jane Rule, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Rt. Hon. Jeanne Sauvé, Dr. Glenda Simms, Doris Shadbolt, Dr. Margaret Somerville, Brenda and Charlene Taylor, Margo Timmins, Carolyn Waldo-Baltzer, Anne Wheeler, Dr. Lois Wilson, Sharon Wood.
Woodley, Barbara, 1961-: Born in 1961 and raised in the Gulf Islands of British Columbia, Barbara Woodley began in 1989 to photograph outstanding Canadian women, a three-year project which has resulted in the exhibition and book Portraits : Canadian Women in Focus. The NA acquired a complete set of all the portraits in the exhibition with the support of Labatt Breweries of Canada. She is a self-taught photographer. Her first project was a calendar she produced in 1986, featuring photographs of Salt Spring Island pioneers. She has toured extensively as a lecturer for Kodak Canada and given speeches, as well as photographic seminars, at colleges and art institutes across the country. Facing History, Portraits from the National Archives of Canada, Exhibition catalogue, 1993 Woodley, Barbara, Portraits: Canadian Women in Focus, Doubleday Canada, 1992