William Sheridan was born on December 14, 1909 in Hamiota, MB. William lived in Hamiota until 1938, spent a year in Alberta and then served overseas with the Calgary Highlanders during the Second World War. Up until 1939, William had been a handyman but while enlisted in the military he worked as service personnel. Following the war, William returned to the Hamiota district where he farmed until 1952. Moving to Brandon in 1964, he was then employed at CFB Shilo until retiring in 1974. William married Freda Josephine Fry (1913-1998) in Bexhill, England on August 6, 1942. The couple had four children: Terry, Michael, Carol and Kathy. William Sheridan died on April 7, 1983 in Brandon, MB. He is buried at Brandon Municipal 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 William Sheridan about riding the "rods" during the Great Depression of the 1930s. The interviewer is Hazel Rose.
Notes
History/bio information from the records and Sheridan's obituary. Description by Christy Henry.
Language Note
English
Conservation
Preservation copy made 2021 (R. Hess)
Related Material
OH 230 Molly Malinowski and Freda Sheridan interview
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Mary Elizabeth "Molly" Malinowski (nee Edwards) was born on April 5, 1926 in Bury, Lancashire, England. She met her husband Kazimar John "Kaz" Malinowski (1917-1977) at age 18, while at a dance while he was on leave. One week after meeting her husband-to-be, Molly was engaged. After a two-year engagement, Molly and Kaz were married. Kaz returned to Canada before Molly and set up their homestead in Saskatchewan. Molly set sail to Canada and arrived at her new home in Saskatchewan on August 1, 1945. The couple had three children: twins Kenneth and Christine and Barry. Kenneth died at birth. Molly and Kaz spent several years on the farm before relocating to Winnipeg (1954-1957) when Kaz re-enlisted in the Army. In 1957, the family was transferred to Germany, and later to Camp Gagetown in Oromocto, New Brunswick. During this time, Molly joined the United Church. Kaz's final posting was to Shilo, MB, and the family moved to Brandon. In Brandon, Molly joined the U.C.W. She also bowled in the Five Pin Thursday afternoon league, volunteered for Meals on Wheels and at Prairie Oasis. She also loved to travel. Molly married Donald Charles Rollins (1920-2004) in 1987 or 1988. Molly Rollins (Malinowski) died on Aprill 22, 2011 in Brandon, MB. She is buried at Rosewood Memorial Gardens.
Freda Josephine Sheridan (nee Miles) was born on January 31, 1913 in London, England. Raised in Blackham, Kent, she was educated as a nurse and spent time in the early years of World War II working at Seven Oakes Hospital, near Brighton. Freda met her husband, William Sheridan (1909-1983), a Canadian from Hamiota, MB, while visiting relatives. Bill and Freda were married in 1942 and Freda began the process of immigrating to Canada. Freda travelled to Canada with the last convoy of ships that sailed prior to the end of World War II in April 1945. She arrived in Hamiota after three weeks of travel, including 14 days of travel by sea. Bill arrived back in Canada four months after Freda, and the couple set up a homestead on a farm in the local area. The couple had four children: Terry, Michael, Carol and Kathy. The family left Hamiota in 1954, and moved to Brandon, MB. Freda was a member of the War Brides Group of Brandon and the Salvation Army Home League. Freda Sheridan died on April 23, 1998 in Brandon. She is buried at Brandon Municipal 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 Molly Malinowski and Freda Sheridan about their experiences as war brides. In the interview the subjects discuss life in the United Kingdom before their marriages to Canadians. They also discuss social activities that the youth in Cumbridge and Bury partook in during the Second World War. The interview also covers the experience of being a War Bride and what it was like to immigrate to Canada in 1945 and what life was like in small towns on the Canadian Prairies at that time. Interviewer is Hazel Rose.
Notes
History/Bio information taken from the records and The Brandon Sun. Description by Natalie Majcher (2011) and Christy Henry.
Language Note
English
Conservation
Preservation copy created 2021 (R. Hess)
Related Material
OH 228.She - an interview with Freda's husband William Sheridan called "Riding the 'rods'"
Audio Tracks
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Education curriculum collection room opening westward off Library Reading Room, Library and Arts Building. L. to R. Ralph Berry, Margaret Ariss and students
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
The importance of knowledge and education to the Manitoba Wheat Pool is made clear in the The Scoop Shovel, the official organ of the Manitoba Wheat Pool and other co-operatives in Manitoba. Established in the 1920s, The Scoop Shovel owed its existence to a decision by the directors of the Pool to set aside small percentage of income per bushel for educational purposes. R.A. Hoey began to hold meetings to discuss the idea that the Pool was about more than just marketing grain, and in 1926 a Department of Education and Publicity was organized within the Pool. It was directed by J.T. Hull and advised by R.A. Hoey; they expanded and supervised The Scoop Shovel.
They also began to accumulate the educational volumes that would become the Pool library. Hull announced in November of 1926 that the library would be open by the end of the month and reported that: "We have a good representation of works on sociology... On co-operation we have about every book that we can find published in the English language. We have also a good selection of books on economics, history, science, general literature, and rural life. In a word, we have tried to make the library one of usefulness to people whose life is on the land."
He also encouraged Pool members--who were the only ones allowed to use the library at this time--to utilize the library to educate themselves, saying “Use it, for knowledge is power”.
Once the library was open to all Pool members, Hull wrote a regular column for The Scoop Shovel called “In the Library”, in which he would review books and recommend reading in response to frequent questions from members. When the library gained new books, which was almost continually, he would list them and sometimes discuss them.
The library service was a mailing one; the main collection was kept at the Manitoba Wheat Pool central office in Winnipeg and members could request a catalogue of all the library holdings. If they wanted to borrow a book or books on a specific topic, they could write to Hull and the books would be mailed out to the member and returned by mail, all postage costs covered by the Pool Library.
During the crisis of the early 1930s, the library was saved because the Manitoba Co-operative Conference believed it was vital to the success of the Pools and the co-operative movement. The Conference took over administration of the Pool library in 1931, leasing the books and equipment from the Wheat Pool. The library was formally incorporated under a charter after it changed hands, the other charters members being the Co-operative Marketing Board and the United Farmers of Manitoba.
In 1935 the service was made available free of charge to all rural Manitobans with the financial support of the Co-op Marketing Board. By 1939, Manitoba Pool Elevators had begun to prosper again, and took back responsibility for the administration and housing of the library. The traveling library was also established around this time, and hundreds of boxes were distributed to all MPE points. The boxes were rotated and refreshed twice a year.
In 1942 Hull estimated that there were approximately 4,700 books in the Pool Library with an annual circulation of 4,000 to 5,000 books. Operating the library cost around two thousand dollars per year, although the cost was split between the members of the Manitoba Co-operative Conference, at least it was in theory. The Pool library ran as a free service to all rural Manitobans, regardless of whether they were members of the Pool, and the federal government census in 1941 indicates that over half of Manitoba’s population (56%) still lived in rural areas. In 1948, the majority of the Pool Library’s services were rendered unnecessary by an act called the “Public Libraries Act” that had been passed by the Manitoba legislature on April 22, 1948, and would go into effect July 1, 1948. The act provided for the establishing of a provincial “Public Library Advisory Board” that would be appointed by the government. Once the board had been established, the act allowed for the establishment of municipal and regional libraries that would be the administrative responsibility of the municipality or region they served and would be supported by a land tax levied on the population that would have access to the library. All employees of the central provincial library would be considered civil servants.
When the Provincial Library was being established in 1949, the Minister in charge of education--Ivan Shultz--actively sought both the advice of those who operated the Pool Library and the physical resources of the Library. In a letter to W.J. Parker, the President of Manitoba Pool Elevators, Shultz wrote that: "We find that in looking at the province as a whole that the box library service of the Manitoba Pool Elevators is the best developed and the best distributed within the province... We would feel that to a considerable extent you had pioneered in this field and we would be using your accomplishments as a springboard for a wider coverage of the province and an enlargement of the service."
He also requested that Miss E.L. Shields—the Pool Librarian--be released from Pool employment so that the Provincial Library could hire her for a year to aid in setting up the new library system.
An agreement was reached between MPE and the Provincial Library, and the bulk of the Pool Library was transferred to the province. The Pool retained the volumes it wished to keep as reference for its employees, and donated the rest of the open shelf library to the province. The traveling library service was sold at a discount to the province, with the caveat that service not be interrupted during the transfer and that the quality of service to rural Manitoba not diminish once the Library had been entirely transferred to the government. In a letter to Ivan Shultz after the agreement to sell the traveling library had been reached, W.J. Parker wrote that: "...Manitoba Pool Elevators has maintained an open shelf library for a period of some twenty years. These books have been made available to anyone in Manitoba, outside the City of Winnipeg, and the postage both ways was paid by the Pool. We feel it has served a very useful purpose, but that it is not primarily our function and if the government proposes to offer a more complete and universal service we are prepared to retire from the field and avoid what might be considered unnecessary duplication."
Scope and Content
Series contains items once held as part of the Manitoba Pool Library. It has been divided into the following four sub-series: (1) MPE E 1 Manitoba Pool Library publications; (2) MPE E 2 The Scoop Shovel; (3) MPE E 3 The Manitoba Cooperator; and (4) MPE E 4 Pamphlet collection.
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.
William Currie was born on February 28, 1834 in Lanark County, ON. In 1860, he moved to St. Mary's, where he worked in mercantile and grain businesses until 1879, when he emigrated to Manitoba. The following year, he took up homesteading along the Assiniboine River, at a site known as Currie's Landing. He received and forwarded frieght from steamboats travelling the river. From 1893-1902, he served as baliff for the Brandon District, before resigning and moving to Brandon where he engaged in the real estate and fire insurance business.
Currie married Ellen Creighton of Blanchard, ON in 1861. Together they had six chrildren: Robert Wilson Currie, Margaret Anne Currie, Harriet Ellen Currie, William James Currie, James Weldon Currie, and Lottie Louise Currie.
William Currie died on March 30, 1931 in Brandon, MB.
Scope and Content
Item is a studio portrait of William Currie.
Notes
History/Bio information taken from the Manitoba Historical Society website (http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/people/currie_w.shtml)
Potter was a librarian at Neelin High School and then Vincent Massey High School. He was also the Chair of the Brandon University Board of Governors in the mid 1980s. Potter retired from the Seven Oaks School Division in 2003 and currently (May 2008) lives in Winnipeg.
Scope and Content
Photograph of William Potter, class of 1967 (B.A.) and 1970 (B.Ed.) standing in front of a microphone.
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.
Photograph shows two males in coats, ties, and gadsby caps. The man on the right is likely William Frederick McGuinness, father of Brandon Sun editor Fred McGuinness.