Photograph shows President Dennis Anderson and John Jardine, Head of Physical Plant, in either Clark Hall or the Brandon College Building during renovations.
Catherine Elizabeth "Kay" Dennis was born on November 26, 1916 at Brandon, MB. She attended school in Brandon and received her Psychiatric Nursing degree at the Brandon Mental Health Centre (BMHC) in 1938. Kay worked at the BMHC for 42 years. Her hobbies included natural history, bird-watching and summers at at Clear Lake. She never married. Catherine Dennis died on December 16, 2003 in Brandon, MB. She is buried at Brandon Municipal Cemetery.
Evelyn MacKenzie was born on September 29, 1905 at Craggie Inn, Daviot, County of Inverness, Scotland. She came to Canada with her parents in 1909, first to Winnipeg and then to Balmoral in 1911. Evelyn came to Brandon in 1924 or 1925 to take her nurses training at the Brandon Mental Hospital, graduating with a diploma in Psychiatric Nursing in 1927. From 1927-1942, she worked on BMHC wards, before being promoted to Acting Superintendent of Nurses. Evelyn enlisted in the Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service (WRENS) during the Second World War, and was stationed at Halifax. Following the war, she returned to the BMHC where she was Assistant Superintendent of Nurses until her retirment in 1970. Evelyn enjoyed golfing, curling and bowling, was a member of the Brandon Golf and Country Club, an honorary charter member of the Brandon Quota Club, a member of Ex-WRENS Association (Chippawa Division) and a member of First Presbyterian Church. Evelyn never married. Evelyn MacKenzie died on April 19, 1993 in Brandon, MB. She is buried at Stonewall Cemetery.
Custodial History
As part of the Westman Oral History Collection, this collection was accessioned by the McKee Archives in 1998. The original tapes from the Westman Oral History project were deposited in the Brandon Public Library. Copies of these originals were made by Margaret Pollex of the Brandon University Language Lab at the request of Eileen McFadden, University Archivist in the early 1990s. These copies compose the collection held in the McKee Archives.
Scope and Content
Item is an audiocassette tape containing an interview with Catherin Dennis and Evelyn McKenzie about the Brandon Hospital for Mental Diseases, and their experiences as students and nurses there. The interviewer is A. Lloyd Henderson.
Notes
History/bio information from the records, Dennis' obituary and MacKenzie's obituary. Description by Christy Henry.
Access Restriction
Consult University Archivist for access
Language Note
English
Conservation
Preservation copy made 2021 (R. Hess)
Audio Tracks
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See RG 6 Brandon University fonds, Series 7 Faculties and Schools, Sub-series 7.1 Faculty of Arts, Sub sub series 7.1.1 Dean of Arts for biographical information for Michael Blanar.
Custodial History
Collection was in the possession of Dr. Michael Blanar until he donated the records to the S.J. McKee Archives in May 2002.
Scope and Content
Collection consists of textual records and five microfilm reels related to Dr. Blanar’s post-graduate research. It is assumed that the records were collected during the course of Blanar’s research for his dissertation entitled “Early British Travellers in French Canada (1960).”
Textual records include three Dominion of Canada notebooks containing handwritten Saulteaux verbs, and animate nouns. Included is a dark red booklet titled “Ojibwe.” The book contains Ojibwa translations of English words. The book comes from St. Peter Clavers Industrial School in Spanish, Ontario, and may have acted as an instructional book as it also contains French and English. Collection also contains a transcript of an Ojibwa dictionary and three file folders titled “Manuscripts,’ “John Long Research,” and “Maps” which contain additional research material. Contents of “Manuscript” folder are original typed manuscripts. “John Long” and “Maps” file folders contain copies of materials held at Library and Archives Canada, as well as hand drawn documents and hand written documents detailing contents of folders.
In addition to the textual records there are five microfilm reels. Three microfilm cases are labeled “The British Reference Division,” one case labeled “Public Archives Canada, central microfilm operations,” and the last case is from an unidentified source labeled “Longs voyages and travels”. Four of the five microfilm cases are also numbered. The British Reference Division microfilm case numbered “1346 i 43” contains a copy of a book titled “The Cacique of Ontario.” British Reference Division microfilm case numbered “104706640” contains a copy of a book titled “The Four Kings of Canada.” British Reference Division microfilm case numbered “9073279” contains a copy of a book titled “The Indians.” The Public Archives Canada microfilm case numbered “c-3006” contains copies of original documents in French and English. Documents include letters, diary pages, maps, and business ledgers. Microfilm case labeled “Longs voyages and travels” contains a copy of a book written by John Long titled “Voyages and Travels of Indian Interpreter and Trader.”
Notes
Description by Aaron McKay (October 2013). The Ojibwa language dictionary and notebook make references to Fredric Baraga (1797-1868), a missionary priest from Slovenia who recorded the Lake Superior Ojibwa language dialect. Baraga’s findings were published into an Ojibwa language dictionary.
File consists of application and appointment documents, evaluation documents, retirement documents, various copies of Blanar's curriculum vitae, conduct complaints, sabbatical documents, correpondence and material relating to Blanar's time as Dean of Arts.
Storage Location
RG 6 Brandon University fonds
Series VIII: Faculties and Schools
7.1.1 Dean of Arts
Box 2
Ye-Sang Michael Chao, Hong Kong, Republic of China. Awarded: Brandon University Silver Medal in Physics, and Arthur and Abbie Vining Memorial Graduate Scholarship