Field journals have been scanned in multi-page PDF files. Artifact catalogues are PDF files in spreadsheet format. Photographs are in jpeg format.
History / Biographical
Large scale excavations of four block sites took place in 1988 under the direction of Bev Nicholson with Ian Kuijt as crew chief. Block G consisted of 4 excavation units.
Scope and Content
Sub-sub-sub series contains: Summary information of field methology, number and co-ordinates of excavations, personnel and their staff position.
The vegetation in block H is similar to other areas in the locale with an open oak forest with a light understory of saskatoon, hazelnut, poison ivy and sarsaparilla.
The excavations of the eight 1m2 units in 1988 resulted in the recovery of over 650 ceramic fragments including 20 rim sherds from at least four vessels, a grooved maul, fire-cracked rock, lithic debitage and a reworked Avonlea projectile point. A large amount of bison bone, including a number of axial elements and a fragmented skull were also recovered.
Based on the 1988 recoveries at the site further excavations took place in 1991. Nine excavation units were opened next to the previous excavations. Another 250 ceramic sherds were recovered in 1991. Nine vessels have been identified based on rim sherds. Vickers Focus and Woodland vessels have been identified and two vessels similar to Scattered Village Complex were recovered.
The lithic material assemblage is intermediate between Blocks G and E with KRF being the most frequent material category followed by local cherts.
Two features, a hearth and a curvilinear arrangement of rock were recovered. The high numbers of ceramic fragments suggests a habitation area, rather than hunting or butchering behavior. However, the separation of occupations at the site is difficult to establish and there may be different uses of the site by successive occupations.
Radiocarbon dates from this block indicate two occupations separated in time by some 300 years. XU 181 – 405/110 BP and XU 184 – 780/110 BP.
Scope and Content
Sub-series has been divided into sub sub series including: Lovstrom Block H 1988 and Lovstrom Block H 1991.
Field journals have been scanned in multi-page PDF files. Artifact catalogues are PDF files in spreadsheet format. Photographs are in jpeg format.
History / Biographical
Large scale excavations of four block sites took place in 1988 under the direction of Bev Nicholson with Ian Kuijt as crew chief. Block H consisted of eight excavation units.
Scope and Content
Sub-sub-sub series contains: Summary information of field methology, number and co-ordinates of excavations, personnel and their staff position.
Field journals have been scanned in multi-page PDF files. Artifact catalogues are PDF files in spreadsheet format. Photographs are in jpeg format.
History / Biographical
Large scale excavations of two block sites took place in 1988 under the direction of Bev Nicholson with Brett Waddell as crew chief and Theresa Hill as assistant. Block E consisted of 10 additional excavation units.
Scope and Content
Sub-sub-sub series contains: Summary information of field methology, number and co-ordinates of excavations, personnel and their staff position.
Field journals have been scanned in multi-page PDF files. Artifact catalogues are PDF files in spreadsheet format. Photographs are in jpeg format.
History / Biographical
Large scale excavations of two block sites took place in 1988 under the direction of Bev Nicholson with Brett Waddell as crew chief and Theresa Hill as assistant. Block H consisted of nine additional excavation units.
Scope and Content
Sub-sub-sub series contains: Summary information of field methology, number and co-ordinates of excavations, personnel and their staff position.
Robert (Bob) Troy Blair was born on March 11, 1930 in Brandon, MB. His first six years were spent in Alexander, MB, where his father and uncle operated a grocery store. In 1936, his family moved to Souris, MB, where his father ran a grocery store. Blair received his primary and high school education, with the exception of Grade 12, in Souris.
Blair remembers his school years in Souris as mainly happy years. He was involved with both piano and organ music lessons. he was never interested in physical sports with the exception of golf. World War II broke out in September of 1939. Souris became the site of #17 SFTS and home base for the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. Many of the service men came from England, Australia and New Zealand. Blair's mother always entertained at least two for dinner every Sunday. Rationing of sugar, tea and coffee, butter and meat became a way of life. Blair had the job every Saturday of pasting the ration coupons into booklets. It was also when he was in Grade 6, that Blair realized he was more attracted to boys than to girls. Perhaps it was because so many attractive airmen surrounded him!
In November of 1947, the Blair family relocated to Alexander where Bob Blair finished his Grade 11. This was not a good year due to bullying. In September of 1948, Blair moved to Winnipeg to attend United College for his Grade 12. Upon completion of Grade 12, Blair remained in Winnipeg until June 1950. he worked at a number of businesses - Gestetner, Eaton's Mail Order shoe department, Maple Leaf Milling, and the drug store in the Medical Arts Building. In September 1950, he entered Brandon College. Blair was very active in extra-curricular affairs while at Brandon College; particularly drama. Following his B.A. he enrolled in the Education Faculty, having decided to become a teacher.
Blair's teaching career spanned 34 years. All but one year was spent in the Brandon School Division. On his first day of teaching in the Division he met the man with whom he would spend the next 46 years. He was primarily a teacher of English and Music. A highlight of his career was exchange teaching in Sacramento, California in 1961. Orientation for exchange took place in August in Washington, D.C., where Blair had the opportunity to meet President J.F. Kennedy. He vividly recals the morning that JFK was assassinated on November 22, 1963. In September 1965, Blair assumed the principalship of Park School and in September of 1969, the same position at George Fitton School where re remained until his retirement in 1989. He was a member of the Brandon Picnipals' Association, the National Association of Elementary School Principals, and servedas President of the Brandon Teachers' Association. Among his major accomplishments during his time as principal were the introduction of a centralized school library in both Park and George Fitton Schools and the integration of special needs students into regular classroom situations wherever possible. He was made a Life Member of the Manitoba Teachers' Society (Brandon) in June 1990. Following his retirement Blair worked as a Library Automation Consultant (1989-1993).
Blair also had numerous community involvements during his time in Brandon. he was active in the Brandon Little Theatre (Best Actor Award, Manitoba Drama Festival for One Act Plays in 1963), the Brandon Festival of the Arts, the Eckhardt-Gramatte National Music Competition, and Arm Industries to name a few.
Following the death of his partner in 2001, Blair moved to Saskatoon to live with a younger gay couple. He has been active in volunteerism: as an Ambassador for the Saskatoon Airport Authority, assistant with the Saskatoon Health Region's Immunization Clinics, information clerk for the Festival of Trees, data entry clerk for the Saskatoon Music Festival, on the Board of the Saskatoon Jazz Society, and Hospitality Coordinator for the Saskatoon Jazz Festival.
As of October 2013, Bob Blair continues to live in Saskatoon, SK.
Custodial History
Records were in Blair's possession until he donated them to the Mckee Archives on Homecoming weekend October 2013.
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of two scrapbooks containing 145 photographs and ephemera (play and graduation programs, tickets, pins, newspaper clippings) documenting Bob Blair's days at Brandon College. Social events and extra-curricular activities are heavily featured in the two scrapbooks. Also included are graduation portraits for the Classes of 1951, 1952 and 1953. Of the 145 photographs all are black and white except for two photos of the Class of '53 reconvocation (May 1993), and one from the Class of '53 reunion (2003).
See collection level description for history/biography information on Frederick George McGuinness.
Custodial History
Accession 1-2015 contains records created and collected over the course of McGuinness’ career as a newspaper journalist and freelance writer. The Estate of Fred McGuinness donated the materials to the SJ McKee Archives circa 2011. The Archives accessioned the records in 2015.
Scope and Content
Subseries consists of records created and collected by Fred McGuinness during his years in the Canadian navy, college, and as a journalist and publisher with The Medicine Hat News.
The subseries includes of variety of certificates pertaining to McGuinness’ marriage, volunteer work, professional memberships, and awards. The scrapbook contains ephemera (e.g., photographs, newspaper clippings, programmes, invitations, certificates, napkins) during McGuinness’ early years in the navy, college, and at The Medicine Hat News.
Notes
In the file level inventories, square brackets at end of file names reference the original location of the file in the unprocessed Fred McGuinness collection. The original location is also noted on the front of each file folder
Accruals
Closed
Finding Aid
File level inventory is available for the certificates
Storage Location
2015 accessions
Related Material
Materials from McGuinness’ time during his navy and college years may be found in the Personal papers series (McG 1). Materials pertaining to his time at The Medicine Hat News are in the Newspaper career series (McG 2)
Arrangement
Arrangement was artificially created by the Archives. Subseries has been re-arranged according to publication period.
Block C was situated in sparse oak forest with an understory of saskatoon, hazelnut and a thick ground cover of poison ivy and sarsaparilla. The block measured 3m and 3m and contained nine excavation units. All units were excavated to 35cm below surface. The soil horizons were much like the other blocks, except for a rusty brown stain in the first level, giving the upper black loam a mottled appearance. The brown patches were clay mixed with loam and were harder than the surrounding matrix. No definitive interpretation of these phenomena was attempted but this effect may be the result of natural brush or forest fires. Under the 5cm so d/humus (Ah) layer, the loam horizon extended approximately 5cm – 25 cm below surface, and averaged 20 cm thick. Bone was concentrated within this horizon between 10 cm – 20 cm below surface.
Block C was notable for its concentrations of articulated bison bone. Most noteworthy was an articulated unit composed of lumbar vertebrae, pelvis, and sacrum. Several thoracic vertebra/proximal rib end concentrations were also recovered. There were more vertebrae and rib sections recovered in the units in proportion to other bones. A few sherds, some debitage and a single Prairie Side-Notched point fragment were among the recoveries. Based on the quantity of bone, the density of the bone layer, and the articulated butchering units the area has been interpreted as a bone midden.
Faunal material was analysed by Jessica MacKenzie for her Honours Thesis: "A reconstruction of butchering processes in Block C from the Lovstrom site DjLx-1 in Southwestern Manitoba."
Radiocarbon date: 850/115BP XU 79.
Scope and Content
Sub-sub-sub series contains: Summary information of field methology, number and co-ordinates of excavations, personnel and their staff position; Field journals are daily records of recoveries, features and activities at the site; Site records include excavation level and unit summaries, feature sheets, profiles; sample records and maps; Artifact catalogues are lists and identifications of all artifacts recovered; Photographs are of excavation units, features, the landscape and personnel.
Field journals have been scanned in multi-page PDF files. Artifact catalogues are PDF files in spreadsheet format. Photographs are in jpeg format.
History / Biographical
Large scale excavations of five block sites took place in 1987 under the direction of Bev Nicholson with Jane Gibson as crew chief. Block C consisted of nine excavation units. Miggs Green was Block C assistant.
Scope and Content
Sub-sub-sub series contains: Summary information of field methology, number and co-ordinates of excavations, personnel and their staff position.
Block D was wooded with oak and an understory of saskatoon and hazelnut with a thick ground cover of poison ivy and sarsaparilla. Root and rodent disturbance was extensive.
Based on the recoveries from Test Unit 22 during the survey, further excavations were carried out. Two units 87 and 93 were excavated in 1987. A further four units were excavated in 1988. There appears to be a pre contact occupation and a protohistoric feature within the block.
Diagnostic lithics included a chert Plains Side-notch projectile point, and a large Woodland side-notched point. The lithic materials from Block D are primarily local cherts followed in abundance by Knife River Flint and Tongue River Silicified Sediment – both of which are exotics imported from the southwest. Faunal remains were primarily bison.
Thin-walled obliterated fabric impressed pottery with grit temper was recovered in all units. Diagnostic ceramics included two rims, one with a fabric impressed exterior and the lip notched with dowel impressions, and a second thick walled rim was fabric impressed to the lip. The ceramic wares appear to be essentially a Woodland complex with overtones of Plains influence.
RC date: 230/90 BP.
Scope and Content
Sub-series has been divided into sub sub series including: Lovstrom Block D 1987 and Lovstrom Block D 1988.
Field journals have been scanned in multi-page PDF files. Artifact catalogues are PDF files in spreadsheet format. Photographs are in jpeg format.
History / Biographical
Large scale excavations of five block sites took place in 1987 under the direction of Bev Nicholson with Jane Gibson as crew chief. Block D consisted of 2 excavation units.
Scope and Content
Sub-sub-sub series contains: Summary information of field methology, number and co-ordinates of excavations, personnel and their staff position.
Field journals have been scanned in multi-page PDF files. Artifact catalogues are PDF files in spreadsheet format. Photographs are in jpeg format.
History / Biographical
Large scale excavations of five block sites took place in 1988 under the direction of Bev Nicholson with Ian Kuijit as crew chief. Four excavation units were added to Block D.
Scope and Content
Sub-sub-sub series contains: Summary information of field methology, number and co-ordinates of excavations, personnel and their staff position.
This site is situated in a naturally sheltered area with a low rise to the east and south partly encircling a flat area open to the west. Present natural vegetation is an open oak forest with a light understory of saskatoon, hazelnut, poison ivy and sarsaparilla. It is situated on the till plain at the upper end of a ravine leading to Jock’s Creek.
Two test units six meters apart were excavated in 1987 and produced cultural materials which warranted a block excavation, so seven contiguous 1m2 units were then opened. These units proved to be very productive of cultural remains. Subsequent excavations in 1988 increased the number of excavated units to 21. In 1991 a further eight units were excavated for a total of 29 excavations and two test units. Excavations went deeper in this block than in Blocks C or B. Remains from the block included bison bone, bone tools, fire-cracked rock, ceramics, lithics including tools and debitage and a hearth. Another occupation was recovered in 1991 containing a hearth and living floor.
Radiocarbon samples have produced two distinct sets of radiocarbon dates from 1987 and 1988 excavations. There appears to be two or possibly three cultural horizons definable within this block.
An upper cultural horizon, located between 14-21 cm below surface, contains large bison bone and fire-cracked rock dating to 465/100B.P from XU 128.
A lower horizon in the 20-25 cm level contained FCR, bison bone and lithic scatter that was dated to 675/70 B.P. from XU 122 and 715/110 from XU 114.
Scope and Content
Sub-series has been divided into sub sub series including: Lovstrom Block E 1987, Lovstrom Block E 1988 and Lovstrom Block E 1991.
Field journals have been scanned in multi-page PDF files. Artifact catalogues are PDF files in spreadsheet format. Photographs are in jpeg format.
History / Biographical
Large scale excavations of five block sites took place in 1987 under the direction of Bev Nicholson with Jane Gibson as crew chief. Block E consisted of 7 excavation units.
Scope and Content
Sub-sub-sub series contains: Summary information of field methology, number and co-ordinates of excavations, personnel and their staff position.
Field journals have been scanned in multi-page PDF files. Artifact catalogues are PDF files in spreadsheet format. Photographs are in jpeg format.
History / Biographical
Large scale excavations of four block sites took place in 1988 under the direction of Bev Nicholson with Ian Kuijt as crew chief. Block E consisted of 14 additional excavation units.
Scope and Content
Sub-sub-sub series contains: Summary information of field methology, number and co-ordinates of excavations, personnel and their staff position.
In 1988 four 1m2 units were excavated in this Block F. The forest cover is identical to that of Block E, with an open oak forest with a light understory of saskatoon, hazelnut, poison ivy and sarsaparilla.
Underneath the litter mat (Ah) is a shallow, 15-20 cm “A” horizon of dark grey/brown silty loam with a high representation of pebble size clasts. The glacial clays, encountered at 20 cm below surface, consist of a matrix of light tan sandy clays containing rounded pebble to cobble size rocks.
The recoveries from this block consisted of a few ceramics, including Vickers Focus rim sherds, four lithic tools and a number of small bison bone fragments. There was no discernible cultural stratigraphy in the four 1m2 units and the limited deposits of bone, ceramics and lithics were dispersed randomly throughout the 25 cm of cultural matrix. The lithic materials frequencies were similar to those in Block E with local cherts and KRF being the most abundant categories. A small amount of fire-cracked rock and a few large identifiable bison bones were recovered – all distributed randomly with little evidence for any pattern of clustering.
No RC dates.
Scope and Content
Sub-sub-sub series contains: Summary information of field methology, number and co-ordinates of excavations, personnel and their staff position; Field journals are daily records of recoveries, features and activities at the site; Site records include excavation level and unit summaries, feature sheets, profiles; sample records and maps; Artifact catalogues are lists and identifications of all artifacts recovered; Photographs are of excavation units, features, the landscape and personnel.
Field journals have been scanned in multi-page PDF files. Artifact catalogues are PDF files in spreadsheet format. Photographs are in jpeg format.
History / Biographical
Large scale excavations of four block sites took place in 1988 under the direction of Bev Nicholson with Ian Kuijt as crew chief. Block F consisted of 4 excavation units.
Scope and Content
Sub-sub-sub series contains: Summary information of field methology, number and co-ordinates of excavations, personnel and their staff position.
Sub-series consists of four scrapbooks detailing life at Clark Hall and Brandon College. They include newspaper clippings, photographs, cards, various programs and ephemera.
Storage Location
RG 1 Brandon College fonds
Series 9: Clark Hall Women's Residence
The Graham site is a located adjacent to the Crepeele site towards the western end of the Crepeele locale. The Graham site was initially designated as a separate site early in the testing of the Crepeele locale due to what appeared to be a distinction between Early and Late Woodland ceramics. Subsequent testing has shown that this distinction was premature and that the cultural mosaic represented in the western section of the Crepeele locale may not readily separate in this manner. However, due to the records management that was already in place, the original separate designations have been retained.
Environment
Ground cover is a mosaic of aspen poplar groves and patches of mesic grass prairie. Excavation profiles indicate that this has been the situation since early precontact times, although as local climatic conditions change (primarily rainfall), the relative size of these areas and where they may have occurred also changed. The soil is aeolian sand sheet derived from delta outwash deposits along the western edge of glacial Lake Hind. The present topography is a variable dune landscape reworked by aeolian activity that creates a mosaic of microhabitats. These include forested patches in the lee of sand dunes grassland on the southern and western exposures and small damp lowlands that support balsam poplar, willows, red osier dogwood, high-bush cranberry and water birch. There is no permanent water source in the area although a small seasonal stream meanders through a damp lowland along the eastern margin of the Crepeele locale.
Excavations at the Graham site took place from 2004 to 2008. Analyses of the recoveries shows that, with two exceptions, all of the occupations that have been tested produced bison foetal bone. The presence of foetal bison is a strong indicator of wintering occupations...The absence of foetal in some area does not necessarily indicate warm season occupations since these excavation series are small and the absence could be due to sample error or perthotaxic factors, such as scavenging of the fragile bone by dogs or other carnivores.
From this evidence the Graham site has been interpreted as being primarily a wintering area. This is consistent with the lack of surface water (snow would serve as a substitute in winter) and the abundance of wood for fuel – a critical requirement for winter occupation. Cultural occupations date from Mortlach circa 250 B.P to woodland circa 580 B.P.
Scope and Content
Sub-series has been divided into sub sub series including: Graham 2004, Graham 2005, Graham 2006 and Graham 2008
Field journals have been scanned in multi-page PDF files. Artifact catalogues are PDF files in spreadsheet format. Photographs are in jpeg format.
History / Biographical
The Graham site was initially designated as a separate site early in the testing of the Crepeele locale due to what appeared to be a distinction between Early and Late Woodland ceramics. Subsequent testing has shown that this distinction was premature and that the cultural mosaic represented in the western section of the Crepeele locale does not readily separate in this manner.
Scope and Content
Sub-sub-sub series contains: Summary information of field methology, number and co-ordinates of excavations, personnel and their staff position.