The Quill was established in 1910, and is the second oldest student newspaper in western Canada. It was also the first student run publication at Brandon College. The December (Vol. I, No. 1) edition states that "the demand for such a paper [had] been steadily increasing until at last some definite steps towards bringing one into existence became absolutely necessary." The first step was the election of a committe by the Literary Society to look into the possibilites of the project and report at a special meeting. Following the acceptance of the committee's favorable report, another committee was appointed to outline a policy and nominate officers and staff.
The inagural staff of the Quill, "having examined the reasons for the discontinuance of the Brandon College Monthly some years ago, [found] that these have been to a large extent removed by the development of the College in the intervening years." They felt that the "student body [had] grown to such an extent that the problem of getting suffiecient material for a paper, as well as the financial difficulty, [had] been appreciably reduced." For them, this development "not only justified but demanded the advent of a College paper." The creation of the Quill was also influenced by the awareness of the students involved that their college was in a state of constant change. They felt that they "[could not] allow this important period of [their] College history to pass away and be forgotten." The newpaper enabled them to record the growth and changes on campus for the benefit of the students and friends of the College.
Originally the publication of three editions of the Quill, i.e. Christmas, Easter and a special graduates' number, were planned; the policy on the limited number of issues was to allow the Quill and its staff time to establish themselves, with the aim of expanding into a monthly paper as soon as it was thought advisable to do so. In 1911, the Quill was printed quarterly, with the first three issues of the school year consisting of student publications and professors writings, as well as containg various columns on campus activities. The final issue of that year, and subsequent years, was called the Commencement Issue, and it contained a brief biographical sketch of each member of the graduating class.
In 1927, the Quill was split into two separate entities. In the April edition (Vol. XVI, No. 11), the editorial staff wrote that the Quill's ". . . function and the efficiency with which it has performed that function in the immediate past are . . . doubtful. The present management realize this and feel that the "Quill" as conducted at present can assume neither the utility of a newspaper nor the intrinsic value of a year-book." Subsequently it was decided to publish a fortnightly, or bi-weekly newspaper, which retained the title of "The Quill," as well as a new publication, named The Sickle, which was to act as a yearbook. This decision was also influenced by the belief that by creating a sepaprate newspaper and yearbook "Brandon College [would] then be on a similar basis in this respect as her sister institutions throughout the Dominion." Although the Quill has occassionally ceased production (for a week or two at most) throughout its history, usually due to a lack of student participation in its production and/or financial troubles, it has continued to be published as as newspaper since 1927.
In 1933, the Quill was presented in an entirely new form. Weekly, for three issues a month, a bulletin was published, with a fourth and more substantial issue at the end of the month. The introduction of the new broadsheet form was an attempt to "reduce stale news" and allow the publication to operate with a "greatly reduced budget." The broadsheet format of the Quill was abandoned in 1934-1935.
Further changes were introduced with the January 15, 1963 (Vol. 53, No. 6) edition of the Quill. In the editorial section of that issue, the staff commented that "the Quill has remained as it is, in size, pattern and almost in content for the last fifty years!" In response, they introduced a weekly Quill (the Quill was first published as a weekly in 1937) and proclaimed that "we find the miserly, pamphlet-sized, shrunken-like Quill no more. In its stead, a fully-grown, broad-shouldered, new Quill has risen." Changes included the creation of the Feature and Intervarsity sections, with their own editors, a definite format in the 'lay-out' of articles, and the 'set-up' of pages, as well as a basic and overall reorganization of the Quill staff.
In September 1969 (Vol. 60, No. 1), Acting Editor Tom Brook and the Quill staff clarified the position and purpose of the Quill as follows: "The primary purpose of the Quill is to bring to the attention of the students of Brandon University the issues and events that have direct implications on the lives of these people. We do and will continue to editorialize in our reporting. It may be not as strong as that seen in the past. But the Quill staff does feel that subjective evaluation of events after the case has been put factually is valid, and this shall be a policy that will be adhered to during the coming year." They also took a moment to point out that the Quill, although a student press, was not a commercial newspaper. Furthermore, they wanted "to see the Quill move closer to the concept of the bourgeois pressbut not so close that it loses its identification with students and the issues that concern them."
By 1971, the Quill had adopted the statement of principle of the Student Press in Canada as outline in the Resolutions of the Canadian University Press. Printed on the front page of the September 24 edition, the Quill stated the following policy: It is ". . . our belief 'that the major role of the student press is to act as an agent of social change, striving to emphasize the rights and responsibilities of the student citizen', and 'that the student press must in fulfilling this role perform both an educative and an active function.'" The policy went on to declare that the Quill, as an alternative press (an alternative to the commercial press), rather than a newspaper, was "limited to presenting news which the commerical press does not handle and to providing news analysis." The democratic nature of the Quill was also clearly stated in the policy.
The structure of the Quill was altered again in 1984, when an editorial board was instated, replacing the previous editor-in-chief system (although in most cases there was more than one editor in any given year). This board was to function as an organizing unit, with the collective electing officers for a one year term. The collective was made up of members, who had to contribute something to the Quill in one out of every three issues, in order to vote. Contributions included actual content for the paper, production, typing, photography work, office clean-up, or anything else that helped the Quill function. The central concern of the Quill, at the time of these changes, was to represent the "wide variety of social issues which interest Brandon University students." (September 27, 1984). The 'wide variety of social issues' was expanded upon in the September 3, 1987 edition of the Quill's editorial section: "A major purpse of THE QUILL is to provide the community with news and information pertaining to local, regional, national and international issues of concern to students."
By 1993, the Editorial Board was comprised of the News Editor, the Co-ordinating Editor and the CUP Editor and was responsible for the direction and content of the newspaper each week. By 1996, the CUP Editor had been replaced by the Business Manager on the Editorial Board. Clarifying its relationship with BUSU in the November 18, 1996 edition, Co-ordinating Editor Stacey Brown quoted the Quill Constitution: "The Quill collective shall determine and regulate editorial content and policy and shall set such perimeters on acceptable advertising as it shall collectively see fit. Debate and reasonable documentation must be given beofre boycotting anything in the newspaper." She went on to state that "final decisions on most issues are made by the Editorial Board. . . " The position of Editor-in-Chief was reintroduced sometime around 2001.
Throughout its history, the Quill has been a quarterly, a bi-weekly and a weekly publication. It has been printed in various formats, by a number of different companies and has been financed primarily through funding from BUSU, and at present, advertising and a student levy. In 1997, the Quill became one of the first student newspapers in Canada to produce the paper in a completely digital format.
The Quill has been located at a number of locations on campus. Its first home was at the base of the Bell Tower in the original Clark Hall. In the 1970s it was produced in a mobile trailer near the gymnasium, before moving to the former Students' Union office in the lower level of the McMaster Building in 1980. Finally in 1991, the Quill was moved to its current location on the second floor of the Knowles-Douglas Student Centre.
At present (January 2007), the Quill continues to be a member of the Canadian University Press (CUP), and as such is provided with feature articles, news, graphics and fieldworker assistance. The Quill adheres to the CUP Statement of Principles. As a democratic collective, the Quill is open to all students and staff at Brandon University. An autonomous corporate entity since 2005, the Quill is a student run publication; the articles, editing, layout and distribution are done by the students.
Custodial History
Editions of the Quill have been acquired by the McKee Archives from BUSU and former Alumni.
Scope and Content
Sub sub series has been divided into three sub sub sub series, including: (1) The Quill editions; (2) The Quill duplicates and microfilm; and (3) The Quill special editions.
Notes
Adminitrative information in the History/Bio field was taken from the "Brandon Collge finding aid" prepared by Karyn Reidel for the McKee Archives in 1998 and various editions of the Quill. Post-1927, a handfull of Quill editions contain Literary Supplements.
See sub sub sub series 14.5.3.2 The Quill duplicates and microfilm for information on copies.
Storage Location
RG 6 Brandon University fonds
Series 14: BUSU
14.5 BUSU publications
Related Material
Editions of the Brandon College/University Sickle are located at RG 6, sub sub series 14.5.1 (The Sickle).
The Quill and Sickle account book for [1939-1941] is located in the Alfred Angus Murray McPherson collection (21-2006) Box 7, File 7.
For history/bio information see the collection level description of the Lawrence Stuckey collection.
Custodial History
For custodial history see the collection level description of the Lawrence Stuckey collection.
Scope and Content
Series consists of slides created from photographs taken by Lawrence Stuckey during his travels throughout Manitoba, other parts of Canada and the United States. Although Lawrence and his wife Mavis travelled for pleasure, their destinations were often chosen deliberately to enable Lawrence to explore and photograph specific landscapes, flora and fauna.
For history/bio information see the fonds level description of the Lawrence Stuckey collection.
Custodial History
The entire collection was housed in Mr. Stuckey's residence at 658 11th St. Brandon, Manitoba, prior to its transfer to the McKee Archives. The balance of the materials, including the photograph negative collection, was deposited in the Archives following Mr. Stuckey's death. Some of the negatives came into Mr. Stuckey's possession when he acquired the Clark J. Smith Studio, Brandon, Man.
Scope and Content
Created by Lawrence A. Stuckey, the collection includes some of his own photography. Stuckey took many of the photos during his travels in Southwestern Manitoba and further afield. As well, he acquired copies of negatives that fit his interest from friends, contemporaries, and other professional photographers. The majority of these copies are of photographs that predate Stuckey's era.
The collection includes various subjects from Brandon’s history (including people, buildings, transportation, railways, and institutions) 1879 to 1992; surrounding communities, railway lines and trains 1925 to 1989; agriculture ca. 1890 to 1983; railway photographs including the Prairie Dog Central, grain cars and various railways, including Canadian Pacific, Canadian National, Great Northern, and Brandon, Saskatchewan & Hudson's Bay, ca. 1900 to 1992; vehicles, planes, and ships ca. 1940 to 1981; personal photographs including friends, travel and other personal interests.
The series has been divided into nine sub-series, including: (1) Brandon history; (2) Westbran project parks; (3) Rural archives; (4) History - miscellaneous (including Walker collection); (5) Grain cars; (6) The prairie dog; (7) Personal interests; (8) Lawrence Stuckey; and (9) Unsorted.
Notes
Funding for series three level descriptions and digitizing of the Lawrence Stuckey fonds has been provided courtesy of a generous grant from the Heritage Grants Advisory Council of the Manitoba Government 2009.
Repro Restriction
The McKee Archives is the copyright holder for the Stuckey materials.
Finding Aid
A copy of the photograph inventory is in the blue binder on the reference shelf in the reading room.
Storage Location
Lawrence Stuckey collection
Arrangement
Subseries 1 - Brandon History
A. People
B. Bridges
C. Streets
D. Buildings
E. Business
F. Fire Dept.
G. Hospitals
H. Industries
I. Streetcars
J. Utilities
K. Construction
L. Transportation (other than rail)
M. Exhibition
N. Misc. History
O. Environs
P. Railroads
Subseries 2 - Westbran Project Parks
Subseries 3 - Rural Archives
1. CPR
-North branches
-Broadview Sub. (Brandon-Broadview)
-CPR lines south of mainline
-Carberry Sub. (Winnipeg-Brandon)
-Minnedosa & Bredenbury Sub's (Ex. Man. & N.W. Ry.) (Portage la Prairie-Minnedosa-Bredenbury)
2. CNR
-Mainline, Rivers Sub. (Winnipeg-Melville)
-Gladstone Sub. (Portage-Neepawa)
-Wawanesa Sub. (Brandon [M&B Jct]-Belmont)
-Rapid City Sub. (Hallboro-Beulah)
-Rossburn Sub. (Neepawa-Russell)
3. Surrounding Communities
-Brandon NW
-Brandon NE
-Brandon SW
-Brandon SE
4. Agriculture (Steam)
5. Agriculture (Horse & Misc)
6. Agriculture (Miscellaneous)
Subseries 4 - History - Miscellaneous (inc. Walker Collection)
Subseries 5 - Grain Cars
Subseries 6 - The Prairie Dog
Subseries 7 - Personal Interests
Subseries 8 - Lawrence Stuckey
-Friends & Personal 1975-
-Travel
-Cars & Planes
-Ships
-Ships & Boats
-Great Lakes Seaway
-Ships & Canal, Duluth, Minn. Sept. 1980
-Windsor & Toronto 1980, 1981
-Welland Canal 1981
Files consist of correspondence and other documents related to a SSHRC grant for the acquisition of the William S. Gray Research Collection in Reading for the E.L. Christie Education Library at Brandon University.
Storage Location
RG 6 Brandon University fonds
Series 8: Library Services
8.2 S.J. McKee Archives
Box 2
Files consist of correspondence and other documents related to what appears to be two grant proposals, one for an arrangement and description backlog reduction cost-shared cooperative program through Public Archives Canada, the other a SSHRC grant for the Indians of the Northern Plains collection in the University library.
Storage Location
RG 6 Brandon University fonds
Series 8: Library Services
8.2 S.J. McKee Archives
Box 2
Accession 3-1997 (84 photographs, various diplomas; 1886-1960) contains a variety of photographs of buildings and streetscapes of the 100 block of Tenth Street and various Hughes properties in the city. In addition, there are photographs of the "Founders of Hughes and Co," a parade on Tenth Street in 1924, the Wheat City Business College Hockey Team 1912, three photographs of the Port of Churchill in 1931, three photographs of threshing crews on Hughes and Company property, a Great War military contingent from Brandon including JRC Evans, and four family photographs.
See collection level description of the Joseph H. Hughes collection for biographical information.
Custodial History
See collection level description of the Joseph H. Hughes collection for custodial history.
Scope and Content
Accession 1-2008 (32 cm textual records and 1 map; 1906-1916; predominant 1909-1915). As mayor, city Alderman and prominent city businessman, J.H. Hughes came into possession of many city government, civic, and business records during the first decade and a half of the twentieth century.
The accession consists of city records, information on contemporary city utility services and companies including tenders for the construction of the Brandon street railway, documents concerning grain elevators, lumber production, newspaper clippings, as well as personal and city correspondence - including a proposal from the Canadian Northern Railway to construct the Prince Edward Hotel.
Accession 6-2009 (2.26 m textual records; 1882-1920). Records in the accession deal with the business affairs of Hughes & Company. Accession also contains records related to the personal affairs of J.H. Hughes.
Records from 1882-1889; predominant 1882 include: business corresondence. Much of the correspondence is between Hughes and his business associates T.T. Atkinson and Mr. Kennedy at Rat Portage in Ontario. Mr. Bambridge, who ran the Souris Yard is also mentioned frequently. There is also corresopndence related to the Reid Farm, Hughes' first commercial faming venture. Various documents are concerned with J.H. Ashtown Hardware, the Manitoba Government Immigration and Intellegence Office, Butler Paper & Co., Canadian Pacific Rail, Boston and Maine Rail, Keewatin Mills, Charmichael Clothing, The Hudson's Bay Company and the City of Brandon
Records from 1889-1893 include: financial records including debts owed to or by J.H. Hughes & Company; correspondence between the company and partners and employees regarding the running of the lumber company in Brandon, Souris, Rat Portage and Rainy River (shipping of goods, camp supplies, maintenance of mills, ordering of goods, trade with other lumber companies); legal records pertaining to litigation regarding debts; correspondence with the Department of the Interior, the Department of Crown Lands, and the Department of Indian Affairs; correspondence regarding real estate in Brandon and land sales in the various regions of the lumber and grain company's operation; correspondence between J.H. Hughes and his borthers A.J. Hughes, Charles B. Hughes, his cousin J.R. Hughes and his father J.C. Hughes regarding both business and personal matters. Also includes telegraphs, postcards, magazine subscriptions, and Masonic brochures.
Records from 1893-1895 include: business correspondence between Hughes & Atkinson Co. and lumber supliers in Ontario and the midwestern United States. The records deal with the activities of the company, including payment of accounts, ordering and shipping of lumber and lumber related goods.
Records from 1897-1901 include: business letters, postcards, telegrams and memorandum of the Hughes and Long Lumber Company.
Records from 1907, 1913-1915; predominant 1914 include: business correspondence, product information and legal correspondence generated and/or recieved during business activities. There are also a series of miscellaneous files containing material related to Brandon municipal politics.
Records from 1915 include: business and personal correspondence to Hughes & Company pertaining to the J.H. Hughes Lumber Co. and farming ventures in Saskatchewan.
Records from 1911-1920; predominant 1919 include: business receipts and correspondence of Hughes & Company under the management of Willard C. Hughes, as well as family correspondence that is both personal and business-related. Business activities are largely related to the company's rental property in Brandon and farms in south eastern Saskatchewan, including Storybooks, ASK. It also includes some correspondence related to the Brandon Board of Trade and Civics (Willed Hughes was Chairman of the Power Committee). Records also include correspondence urging the province to construct an electrical transmission line to Brandon from Winnipeg, the possibility of a detachment of the Royal North West Mounted Police re-locating to Brandon, the operation of the Soldiers Re-Settlement Board, and the vacating of the Winter Fair building, which had been used to house interned World War I prisoners starting in the spring of 1915. References to the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 and the Teamsters Strike in Brandon of 1919 also occur in the correspondence.
Notes
Accession 21-2008 was processed and described as part of a Historiography class assignment in September and October 2008. The fonds was broken down into smaller components (1-3 boxes of records) spanning a few years and each student was assigned all the records in a particular time frame. Description by Christy Henry, Tom Mitchell, Andrew Dagley, Jill Sutherland, Laurel Neustaedter, Kylie Staslia, Tim Banman, Christine Shumay, Aimee Brown and Erica Smith.
The Brandon University Student's Union (BUSU), Local 37 of the Canadian Federation of Students, was incorporated in 1969 as the students' organization of Brandon University. Its predecessor was the Brandon College Students' Association, which was established in 1899. BUSU is a not-for-profit society that serves to represent the students of Brandon University; all regular full and part-time students at Brandon University are members of the Students’ Union.
BUSU has several broad functions: they are a service provider that offers programs and support services to students throughout the year; they act as lobbyists on behalf of the student body at the local, provincial and federal levels, working with the other member locals of the Canadian Federation of Students, Canada’s national and provincial student movement; they represent the student body within the important, decision-making bodies at BU, such as the Board of Governors and Senate; and they provide funding for student clubs and organizations. BUSU is bound legally to the Brandon University Sudents' Union Constitution and Bylaws and the Universities Act of Manitoba.
BUSU draws on collected student fees to operate. Its administrative structure consists of a board of directors consisting of 11 voting members. Students elect representatives to relay their issues and concerns to the University community, the community at large, and all levels of government. A democratically elected council, made up of members from various constituencies on campus, oversees the work of the Students’ Union. The council includes four executive officers (the President and three Vice Presidents – Academic, Finance, and Student Activities), numerous commissioners, and one liaison. The work of the Students’ Union is also powered by the efforts and dedication of countless campus and community volunteers and staff. BUSU also has a voting student representative on the Board of Governors and Senate.
BUSU holds annual and semi-annual general meetings, full council meetings, and council committee meetings throughout the year. All meetings are broadly advertised to the membership and are open to students. As BUSU members, students have full speaking rights at any meeting of the Union, as well as voting rights at general meetings.
Custodial History
The records in accession 25-2003 were stored by the Brandon University Students' Union until they were donated to the McKee Archives.
Scope and Content
Series consists of records of Executive meetings, correspondence and financial records of the Brandon University Students' Union, as well as club records and copies of "The Sickle," "The Quill," and Student Handbooks. It has been divided into five sub-series, including: (1) BUSU Executive and Council; (3) Correspondence; (4) Clubs; and (5) Publications.
Notes
BUSU is a separately incorporated organization from Brandon University's Board of Governors, but for administrative purposes it has been incorporated int RG 6 Brandon University fonds. Administrative information in the History/Bio field was taken from the BUSU website at http://www.busu.ca/aboutus.asp (December 2005).