Fred McGuinness is popularly known for his work as the prairie essayist for CBC Radio’s Morningside with Peter Gzowski, a position he held for 17 years. Many of McGuinness’ Morningside essays were autobiographical in nature. He often reported about life on Christmas Tree Farm, a section of land where he and his wife, Christine, built their dream home in the late 1970s. The couple planted a Christmas tree farm on the property and Christine maintained an extensive kitchen garden, while Fred tended honey bees. Life on the farm made its way into radiobroadcasts, Neighborly News columns, and the book "Letters from Section 17: A Collection of Morningside Essays" (Winnipeg: Great Plains Publishing, 1999).
Scope and Content
Set consists of 13 negatives showing work being conducted on the McGuinness property, Christmas Tree Farm, Section 17. The first 12 negatives show the McGuinness family planting with their tractor and the last negative shows a woman working on a swimming pool liner.
Notes
McGuinness drafted a manuscript, titled "Hole in the Ground," about the family pool on Section 17. It was one manuscript McGuinness was re-tooling before he passed away in 2011.
Photograph shows two women at a tractor. One is cranking the engine, the other is seated at the wheel.
Notes
Writing on back of photograph reads: "Threshing. Blights Farm Willow Creek at Chater. My mother at crank. Now over 90 living at 403-12th Street. G. Baldock 1971. 1925."
Photograph shows Mr. Blight standing on a hay wagon while he feeds the threshing machine. Lance Blight is standing in the foreground.
Notes
Writing on back of photograph reads: 3 prints [20-2009.153 to 20-2009.155]. Threshing at Blight's farm Willow Creek at Chater. Lance Blight of [sic] front his father on the rack. 1925.
Photograph shows a harvest scene in the Assiniboine Valley. Stacks of wheat are in the process of being loaded into horse-drawn wagon carts. A threashing machine is set-up in the field next to an empty wagon. A woman in 1920s-era clothing is walking in the field.
Notes
Writing on back of photograph reads: 3 prints [20-2009.153 to 20-2009.155]. Threshing at Blight's farm Willow Creek at Chater. Lance Blight of front his father on the rack. 1925.
