3 m textual records; 100 photographs and drawings; 19 books and pamphlets
History / Biographical
John Tyman was born in Kent County, England. After briefly serving with the British Army, Tyman attended the University of Oxford. He came to Canada first in the summer of 1957 to work for a short time, before returning to England in the fall. In 1959, he returned to study at McGill University, and obtained an M.A. in 1961. In 1962, he moved to Brandon to establish a Geography department at Brandon College. Tyman served as a professor and, for a short time, as Dean of Science during his time at Brandon University. In 1970, he obtained a Ph.D. from the Oxford University. In 1976, Tyman left Brandon University and moved to Australia. In Australia he taught at Mount Gravatt College in Brisbane until his retirement in 1994. As of January 2006, John Tyman continues to reside in Australia.
Custodial History
The Tyman fonds remained in the possession of the Geography Department at Brandon University following Dr. Tyman's departure to Australia in 1976. With Dr. Tyman's approval the records were transferred to the McKee Archives in May 2001.
Scope and Content
This fonds contains a copy of "By Section, Township & Range: Studies in Prairie Settlement," by John Langston Tyman. This publication was based on Tyman's doctoral thesis, which is also included in the fonds. His doctoral thesis was completed in 1970 and titled, "The Disposition of Farm Lands in Western Manitoba, 1870 - 1930: Studies in Prairie Settlement."
Fonds also includes extensive research materials compiled by Dr. Tyman on prairie settlement. They include: copies of the Annual Report of the Department of the Interior; documents relating to C.P.R. land sales (c.1870-1900); personal accounts and local histories of municipalities in southern Manitoba such as Shoal Lake, Justice, and local C.P.R. lines; the Canadian Homestead Settlement Co.; The Free Land Homestead Co,; the Canadian Northwest Lands Co.; the N.W.H.B., C.N.R., Lake Manitoba Railway & Canal Co.; land grants given to Veterans; Wellams and Dominion Steamship Co.; maps of southern Manitoba RM's; Sowden and Co. (a land settlement company); correspondance to a Rev. L.O. Armstrong in Emerson (c. 1885); legislation; agricultural progress; history of school lands; correspondance to and from J. Tyman (c.1960); the settlement of Icelandic, Hungarian, and Scandinavian immigrants; a plethora of maps both relating to prairie settlement and to world geography; a manuscript by William Pearce (1925); a transcript titled "Patterns of Settlement"; 5 rolls of microfilm containing maps and copies of some publications acquired by Dr. Tyman; a number of books and c.1900 publications to do with prairie settlement; maps by township and range of the prairies; 100 photos and drawings all c.1880 to 1900; extensive township summaries; and extensive land disposal records as recorded by the Lands Department, including the names of settlers.
Notes
Fonds level description written by Mike White (2001).
Many documents in this collection were copied from originals at the Glenbow-Alberta Institute, Calgary, Alberta, Library and Archives Canada, the Archives of Manitoba, land titles and corporate offices.
Storage Location
MG 3 Brandon University Teaching and Administration
1.3 John Langston Tyman
Dr. Evans was born in Nanaimo, B.C. on March 15, 1891. In the fall of 1907, at the age of sixteen, Dr. Evans entered the Academic Department of Brandon College. He played an integral part at the College, participating in academics, sports, and various other college functions and organizations. In his final year he was Senior Stick, the highest position in the Student Government. In 1913, Dr. Evans graduated from Brandon College. Immediately after graduation he was hired to teach Science and Academic Mathematics. In 1917, he became Principal of the Academic Department, while continuing to teach Mathematics and Science. Dr. Evans took leave in 1920 to study post graduate work at the University of Chicago. During the summers, he was the Acting Dean of the Department of Geology in Chicago. He received his Ph.D. in Geology in 1923, and returned to Brandon College. His new positions at the college were of Professor of Geology and Resident Master. He also taught some Chemistry.
On August 1, 1927, Dr. Evans married Adelene M. Bailey (Class of 1921, Music 1924) at the Joseph Bond Chapel in Chicago. He took over as College Dean in 1928 after the position became vacant. In September of 1928, Dr. Evans accepted the position of President of Brandon College, thus becoming its fifth president since the college’s inception. Dr. Evans was head of the college at a very difficult time. He guided the College through the Depression and repeated threats of closure from the Baptists. Dr. Evans resurrected the Department of Theology in the mid-1930’s. He helped with the reorganization of Brandon College as a non-denominational college in 1938, and its new affiliation with the University of Manitoba. During World War II, Dr. Evans started a War Emergency Fund, aimed at keeping the College from sinking into debt during the war years as enrollment shrank. With increased financial support from the government, Dr. Evans began expansion plans for the College. In 1958, he created the Dr. J.R.C. Evans Student Loan Fund in conjunction with the Alumni Association in order to provide worthy students with interest-free loans. It was also in 1958 that Dr. Evans was awarded the Queen Elizabeth Coronation Medal for his outstanding contribution to education in the British Commonwealth.
On July 29, 1959, Dr. Evans died suddenly at his summer home in Robson, B.C.. On his desk was the programme for the sod-turning ceremony for the new Arts and Library Building and Lecture Theatre. When it was completed, the Lecture Theatre was christened the Dr. J.R.C. Evans Lecture Theatre on behalf of the man who had made sure that it would be built. The Theatre had been his dream, a place to hold Chapel and Assemblies, as the student body grew in number.
Scope and Content
Dr. Evans collection is quite substantial, owing to the fact that he was President of Brandon College for thirty one years. His collection is primarily made up of correspondence between Dr. Evans and various people. The letters deal with students, teachers, finances, fundraising, the Bursar, the Registrar, and legal matters. The collection also includes the minutes from various meetings, including Board of Director meetings and National Conference on Canadian Universities. There are accounts dealing with World War II, its affect on campus, the C.O.T.C, and the lending of part of Brandon College to the R.C.A.F. during the war. The complete withdrawal of Baptist support for Brandon College is well documented in this collection, as is the ensuing affiliation of the College with the University of Manitoba. The Brandon College Campaign and other fundraising endeavors are documented in Evans’ papers as well. Evans was bent on the expansion of Brandon College, and there is a lot of correspondence dealing with this topic. There are various financial accounts and financial histories of Brandon College in Evans’ collection.
Files consist of course evaluations, sabbatical documents, application and promotion documents, a performance review summary, correspondence, special leave documents. One file is titled "Chyzyk promotion 1993".
Storage Location
RG 6 Brandon University fonds
Series VIII: Faculties and Schools
7.1.1 Dean of Arts
Box 2
Professor John Weldon Grant was born 12 March 1919 in Sunnybrae, Nova Scotia, son of Alec and Linda Grant. He was raised in Sunnybrae and graduated from Pictou Academy in 1937. Prof. Grant entered Pine Hill Divinity School to study Theology. During his ministerial internship, he taught and preached in Rabbit Lake and Biggar, Saskatchewan. He graduated from Pine Hill in 1943 and entered the mission field with the United Church.
Professor Grant moved to Trinidad & Tobago in the 1940s. There he taught in both San Fernando and Siparia, towns located in the southwest tip of the island. Weldon Grant was the first head master off the Iere High School School in Siparia when it opened in 1955. Professor Grant is recalled by Kenneth Ramchand in his _The West Indian Novel And Its Background_ as “his beloved English teacher” reading from an early Sam Selvon novel in a “Saskatchewan version of Trinidad dialect.” That he was teaching Selvon – a West Indian writer - testifies to Grant’s cultural pluralism. See Kenneth Ramchaud, _The West Indian Novel and its bachground_ (London: Faber and Faber, 2001 edition).
Professor Grant and Bernice Emma Moats were married in Gray, Saskatchewan 30 June 1954. They adopted three children in Nova Scotia and returned to Trinidad.
In 1961, the Grants returned to Canada. Weldon taught for one year at Vincent Massey High School and then joined the English Department at Brandon University where he taught in the English department until his retirement on August 31, 1984.
During a sabbatical he spent six months exploring Ireland and the poets that had been inspired by its countryside. He also loved stories of the sea and read many varied authors, both factual and fiction.
Custodial History
Records were collected by Weldon Grant during his teaching career in Trinidad and Canada.
Scope and Content
In the course of his teaching career in Trinidad & Tobego and at Brandon University Professor Grant acquired and retained a number of items with cultural, scholarly and sentimental value. These incude The First Folio of Shakespeare, prepared by Charlton Himan, [Academic ed.]. Imprint New York : W.W. Norton, 1968. xxvii, 928 p. : port. ; 37 cm. Mr. William Shakespeares comedies, histories, & tragedies. Published according to the true original copies. London, Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed. Blount, 1623.
The facsimile is described as "an ideal copy in which each page represents the best page selected from one of the 29 most satisfactory copies of the 80 copies in the Folger Shakespeare Library."
1 Self prononcing Holy Bible, Oxford 1910.
1 print 22.4" x 17," "Baking in a Clay Oven," by Trinidad artist David Moore, June 1977 printed in Trinidad by the College Press.
2 water colour paintings 17.5" x 12" by artist "AM." One titled San Fernando (1961) one titled Royal Palm, Trinidad (1960).
1 black and white portrait 10" x 13" of Governor general Roland Michener and his wife (No: A-2) copyright Karsh dated 1970.
1 Asian art work, 12.5" x 18" embroidery on silk.
Notes
Weldon Grant history/bio from Weldon Grant obituary Brandon Daily Sun c. April 14, 1999.
The John R. Brodie Science Centre was completed in 1971, with the official opening on May 7, 1972. It is located in the southeast corner of the campus and houses the Faculty of Science. The Brodie Building was named for John R. Brodie, a Brandon man who donated $250,000 to Brandon College in 1963 with the stipulation that the money be used for a Science Centre.
Scope and Content
Sub-series consists of photographs of the John R. Brodie Science Centre.
Notes
Additional biographical information on John R. Brodie is available in his bio file in the Reading Room.
Martin Wesley Johns was born to missionary parents Alfred and Myrtle Johns in Chengtu, West China on March 23, 1913. The family returned to Canada in 1925. Johns attended high schools in Tacoma, Washington; Vancouver, BC; Brandon, Manitoba; and Exeter, Ontario. He studied at Brandon College from 1928-1931 before obtaining his B.A. (1932) and M.A. (1934) from McMaster University and his Ph.D. From the University of Toronto (1938). From 1937-1946, he taught physics at Brandon College. In 1972, Brandon University awarded him an honorary Doctor of Science degree.
Johns served in the Canadian Officers Training Corps (C.O.T.C.) in 1940-1941 doing research concerned with neutron physics at Chalk River. In 1947, he joined the Physics Department at McMaster University, where he remained for the remainder of his career.
Johns married Margaret Mary Hilborn on July 15, 1939. Together they have four children: Robert, Elizabeth, Kenneth and Kathryn. Following Margaret's death c. 1979, Johns was married to Elsie North for twenty years. At the age of 90, Johns fell in love with his sweetheart Marian Thompson.
Martin Wesley Johns died on September 18, 2008 at McMaster Hospital.
Custodial History
The notebooks in accession 17-2007 were in the possession of Wesley Wong, former member of the Physics Department at Brandon College, who mailed them to Martin Johns in 2002. Wong suggested Johns donate them to the McKee Archives, which he did on January 28, 2004. The photographs in accession 8-2009 were sent to Carla Eisler, Alumni Relations Officer, Brandon University by Ken Johns (Martin Johns' son) following Martin's death. Eisler transfered them to the Archives in February 2009.
Scope and Content
Accession 17-2007 contains two lab record notebooks used by Martin Johns while he was a member of Brandon College's Department of Physics. The notebooks record class lists, grades, absences, and seating charts for courses Johns taught, as well as regulations for lab reports and major assignments.
Accession 8-2009 contains twenty-one black and white photographs dealing with Brandon College students, faculty and buildings. There a a few photographs of Brandon, as well as one of the Queen Mother from her visit to Brandon in 1939.
Notes
History/Bio information taken from the Martin W. Johns bio file in the Archives reading room.
