Customers and employees of A.E. McKenzie Seed Co. Ltd. donated some of the records in this series. Others were taken for insurance purposes, while some of the records involve McKenzie subsidiaries. Some of the records may have been taken as advertisements or for promotional reasons. Most of the records were generated by the company itself and deal exclusively with McKenzie Seeds and its business operations or the seed industry.
Custodial History
Photographs in sub-series 5.14, 5.15, 5.16 were donated to McKenzie Seeds by Irene Cullen, Josiph Airey, and Alan R. Mundie respectively.
See fonds level description of custodial history of A. E. McKenzie Seed Co. Ltd.
Scope and Content
Series consists primarily of black and white photographs pertaining to A.E. McKenzie Seed Co. Ltd and the seed industry. Included are photographs of the McKenzie Building, plant and field workers and equipment, executives, particular events at McKenzie Seeds and product photographs. A complete list of categories can be found below.
The series is arranged as follows:
5.1 McKenzie Seed Co. Ltd. Executives
5.2 Construction at McKenzie Seed Co. Brandon (two files)
5.3 Exterior Photographs of the A. E. McKenzie Co. Building
5.4 McKenzie Seed Co. Plant Operations and Workers (two files)
5.5 McKenzie Seed Co. Equipment and Plant - Head Office 1983
5.6 McKenzie Seed Co. Field Operations and Workers
5.7 McKenzie Seed Co. Strike 1944
5.8 Fires at McKenzie Seed Co. 1910, 1945, 1972
5.9 McKenzie Seed Co. Centennial Exhibition 1996
5.10 Miscellaneous McKenzie Seed Co. Photographs
5.11 People Connected to McKenzie Seed Co.
5.12 Princess Anne's Visit to McKenzie Seed Co. 1982
5.13 Onion Set Production Book
5.14 Irene Cullen Photographs - McKenzie Seeds Employee Photos
5.15 Josiph Airey Photographs - McKenzie Product Photos
5.16 Alan R. Mundie Seed Production Photographs
5.17 Steele Robertson/Steele Briggs Seeds Photographs
5.18 Seed Packet Display Units Photographs
5.19 Product Photographs
5.20 Parade Photographs
*5.21 Oversized Photographs
5.21.1 Drawer #1: Executive Photographs
5.21.2 Drawer #2: Office and Equipment/Plant Photographs
5.21.3 Drawer #3: Miscellaneous Oversized Photographs
5.21.4 Drawer #4: Artifacts
Notes
* The term "drawer" in the Scope and Content Filed for sub-series 5.21, referes to the oversized map drawers in the McKee Archives reading room.
Errol Black's article on the strike at McKenzie Seeds (sub-series 5.7) titled “25c an hour; 48 hours a week; more toilets; less cats: the labour struggles of the "girls" at the A.E. McKenzie Company in Brandon,” was published in Prairie Forum, spring 1992 vol 17 no 1 pp. 33-59.
Finding Aid
An inventory is available for the artifacts, as well as each of the photograph sub-series.
Storage Location
RG 3 A.E. McKenzie Company fonds
McS 5 Photographs
Related Material
MG 1 (A.E. McKenzie Fonds), sub-series 1 (Brandon College Inc.) of the A.E. McKenzie Seed Co. Ltd. fonds contains photographs relating to the History of Brandon College Inc. booklet.
Series 1 (Board of Directors), sub-series 5 (Financial), of the A.E. McKenzie Seed Co. Ltd. fonds contains some photographs in the file entitled Steele Briggs Spring Campaign for Edmonton. The pictures are part of a sales booklet.
Steele Briggs related photographs are located in the scrapbook in Series 3 (Acquisitions), sub-series 2 (Steele Briggs) of the A.E. McKenzie Seed Co. Ltd. fonds.
See fonds level description of custodial history of A. E. McKenzie Seed Co. Ltd.
Scope and Content
This sub-series includes financial statements of various kinds for McKenzie Seeds and combined financial statements for McKenzie Seeds and its subsidiaries, particularly McFayden Seeds. Chartered Accountants used for this purpose include: Marwick, Mitchell & Co., Webb, Read, Hegan, Callingham & Co./Webb, Read & Co., George A. Touche & Co., Oscar Hudson & Co., Morden, Sprague & Co./Laird, Sprague & Co., Edwards, Morgan, Halliday & Co., Welch, Hinton and Welch, McDonald, Currie & Co./Cooper Brothers & Co., Meyers Dickens Norris Penny & Co./Meyers, Norris, Penny & Co. and the Comptroller-General for the Province of Manitoba.
This sub-series also includes a number of purchase offers made to A.E. McKenzie Seed Co. Ltd as well as proposed plans to sell the company. Offers were received from United Grain Growers, Maple Leaf Mills, McKenzie Seeds Staff, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta Wheat Pools, and the Ferry Morse Seed Co.
Twelve ledgers, including branch order, mail order and cash registers, general ledgers, current ledgers, payroll sheets and branch daily cash reports, are also part of the sub-series. Other miscellaneous financial records and statements include information on McKenzie Seeds' proposal to the Manitoba Government for re-financing in the early to mid 1980's.
Notes
Additional dates for the records in the financial sub-series are as follows:
1. Prepared Financial Statements: 1907-1918, 1920-1923, 1926-1938, and 1942-1979.
2. Purchase Offers: U.G.G. (1959, 1966), Wheat Pools (1961), McKenzie Staff (1963),
Maple Leaf Mills (c. 1965), Ferry Morse Seed Co. (c. 1969-1970).
The extent of the ledgers in sub-series McS 1 1.5 (Financial Records) separate from the other
financial records in the sub-series is 95.9 cm. The financial records without the ledgers measure 60 cm.
Storage Location
RG 3 A.E. McKenzie Company fonds
McS 1 Board of Directors
Related Material
Financial statements and records for the individual companies acquired by
McKenzie Seeds are located in Series III.
Information regarding the sale of McKenzie Seeds is located in Series II (Office of the President/GM), sub-series I (A.E. McKenzie), in the file entitled A.E. correspondence with W.A. Johnson. Some of these records are connected to the purchase offers received by McKenzie Seeds.
