The Franklin Cooperative Elevator Association Ltd was located in Franklin, Manitoba. The association was formed and incorporated on May 19, 1927 under certificate # 68 of the Cooperative Association Act. The first provisional meeting was held on June 27, 1927 with R.A Storey as Chairman and O. Douglas as Secretary. There was a meeting held after the incorporation meeting and the first board of directors was elected on June 28, 1927 with R. A Storey as Chairman and E.A White as Secretary. The cooperative was run by an elected board of directors.
The Franklin Cooperative Elevator Association was a part of the Manitoba Pool Elevators Ltd which was a subsidiary elevator company of the Manitoba Wheat Pool. Manitoba Pool Elevators was incorporated on April 9,1925 with 1,000 000 capitol stocks being sold for $1.00 per share. Manitoba Pool elevators ran on the principal of local ownership through the cooperatives.
The Franklin Cooperative Elevator Association was involved in issues on a local and provincial scale. An example of local concerns was that in October 1948, it is on record that it was a bad crop year with a delayed harvest because of inclement weather. The elevators become plugged up and as a result grain had to be shipped to oppositional elevators. In 1952 the Franklin Cooperative Elevator Association built a forty five thousand bushel annex building and later that year issues arose over cost overages in its construction. The cooperative was also concerned about provincial matters such as on Sept 18, 1952 a strike was arranged by the workers of Manitoba Pool. It was averted when a settlement was reached in Winnipeg.
Custodial History
Records in accession 10-2013, were delivered to the Archives of Manitoba on March 20, 1970 by Bob Douglas, son of Oliver Douglas. Those records were deaccessioned by the Archives of Manitoba in January 2012 and transferred to the McKee Archives later that year. All other records were donated to the McKee Archives by Manitoba Pool Elevators.
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of ledger books containing minutes of monthly meetings as well as annual general meetings for the Franklin Co-operative Elevator Association. The first meeting had thirty members in attendance. From incorporation the cooperative had a list of objectives they wanted to accomplish including building or acquiring, and payment of a grain elevator and building documentation. They also needed to be licensed under the Canadian Grain Act. The ledger books also contains a list of bylaws. Records also included membership rosters and contract numbers for shipping grain. Auditor's year-end financial records are also included in the fonds. Attendance records from 1958 to 1963 have been recorded.
Franklin Co-operative Elevator Association Limited Organizational papers: 1929 - 1961 Certificate of indebtedness, 31 July 1929 Memo re: association, By-laws 8-11, no date Application for share of stock, 31 July 1931 Minutes of Directors meeting, 31 July 1931 Minutes of Shareholders meeting, 31 July 1931 By-law nos. 12 and 13, 31 July 1931 Agreement between Franklin CEA, MPE, Manitoba Wheat Pool and The King, 1 August 1931 By-law no. 14, 12 November 1931 Certificate for one share of stock, 1 December 1931 Letter re: stock acceptance, 14 January 1932 Agreement between Franklin CEA and MPE, 1 February 1933 Special Board of Directors meeting re: By-law no. 15, 16 February 1933 Letter re: By-law no. 14, 18 February 1938 Agreement between MPE and Fraklin CEA, 30 November 1948 Agreement between MPE and Franklin CEA, 1 August 1951 Memo re: above agreement, 13 June 1952 By-law no. 23, 2 November 1951 MPE By-laws 1961-148, 1961-149, 1961-150, 1961-151, 12 October 1961 Directors' Resolution, 18 October 1961 Minutes of Executive Board meetings, 1 August 1969 - 10 December 1982 Minutes of Shareholders Annual meetings, 1929 - 1967 (13 reports) Financial records and statistics Statement of surplus, 1937 - 1955 (15 reports) Final statements, 1934 - 1952 (16 reports) Auditors' reports, 1928 - 1968 (33 reports) Analysis of Operating Results, 1951 - 1963 (9 reports) Review of Operating Results, 1960 - 1966 (5 reports) Detail of grain earnings, 1963 - 1968 (4 reports) Analysis of Operating Results, 1951 - 1952 (5 reports) Statement of grain account and handle, 15 June 1931 Annual financial statement, no date Correspondence, 1927 - 1962 Membership list, 1935 - 1962 Miscellaneous Directors' attendance lists, 1945 - 1959 (8 reports) Directors' attendance lists, 1980 Corporate Name: Rural Municipality of Rosedale; local Pool Committee minutes February 21, 1983 - July 4, 1991.
Notes
Administrative history taken from the records. Description by Jill Sutherland (2010) and Barb Manko (October 2013).
Manitoba Pool Elevators was established in 1925 as a subsidiary of the Pool in response to local member complaints about the unfair business practices of privately owned elevators. The Katrime Elevator appears to have been established in 1940; no records in the Manitoba Pool Elevator fonds mention the Katrime elevator before 1940. In 1969 the Katrime Pool joined the Manitoba Pool.
The Katrime local was operated by a board of directors elected from the members of the Katrime elevator. Regular meetings took place sporadically throughout the year, often before and after harvest. An annual meeting for the local took place every November, at which members were chosen for the board of directors and members were selected to attend the annual Manitoba Pool convention. Occasionally in October or in the Annual meetings in November the board of directors would ask the head office to compose a letter to the rail companies to thank them for keeping the elevator supplied with cars throughout the harvest season. This would change through the 1970’s and into the 90’s as congestion became a problem for the railcars.
In 1998 Manitoba Pool Elevators merged with the Alberta Wheat Pool to form Agricore Co-operative Ltd. In 2001, this organization merged with the United Grain Growers to become Agricore United, and in 2007, Agricore United was taken over by the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool; the new company was known as Viterra. The fate of the Katrime elevator is unclear. Tthere is no mention in the included records regarding the merger to Agricore or the closing of the elevator.
Custodial History
Records in accession 9-2013, were deposited at the Archives of Manitoba in 1971, with a fourth minute book being deposited in 2011. The records were deaccessioned by the Archives of Manitoba in January 2012 and transferred to the McKee Archives later that year.
Scope and Content
Fonds consist of the minutes of the board of directors of the Katrime elevator. Meetings discussed pool business, including membership into the Katrime elevator co-operation and a list of new members is usually included in the minutes. In addition to membership another main topic of the meetings was the salary of the agent including the agents home and expenses. In 1953, the building of a new elevator, which eventually expanded to include new offices and storage sheds was a topic of discussion. Local annual meetings generally discussed the report of the auditor and any unsold surplus, but no details were recorded. A note on the content of the minutes: there is generally mention of a lengthy discussion of a topic but there is no explanation of what was discussed. Also, at each annual meeting there is a discussion of the annual convention and the resolutions adopted from this convention, however there are no details on what the resolutions were.
Katrime Co-operative Elevator Association Limited Organizational papers: 1961 Directors' Resolution, 18 October 1961 Corporate Name: Rural Municipality of Westbourne.
Notes
Description by Jill Sutherland (2010) and Clint Howie (October 2013).
Very good. Some of the letters written in pencil are a little faded.
History / Biographical
Ruth Alverda Wade was born born July 11, 1912 in Brandon, MB to James and Etta Alverda. She had two younger siblings: sister Gwen and brother Sherry. The Wade family resided at 1837 Princess Avenue, Brandon, MB. Ruth graduated from Brandon College with the Class of 1933.
During her time at Brandon College Ruth met Archie MacLachlan. Archibald James MacLachlan was born in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan in 1907. He had four brothers: Howard, Edgar, Bruce, Curly and Stirling. When Archie was quite young the MacLachlan family moved to Alberta. Archie came to Brandon c. 1930 to attend Brandon College. During the summers of his years at Brandon College Archie held pastoral charges in Alberta. The first two summers were spent in the Peace River Country and the second two in Etzikom in Southern Alberta. This is the period during which the letters in the fonds were written.
Ruth Wade married Archie MacLachlan on September 19, 1934 in Brandon, MB. Following the wedding the couple moved to Hamilton, ON. Archie graduated from McMaster University with his Bachelor of Divinity degree in 1937. During this period their daughter Joann Ruth was born. After his ordination as a Baptist Minister the family moved to North Bay where Archie was minister for four years. The next six years were spent in Vancouver as Archie worked as minister at Fairview Baptist Church in Vancouver. The couple's sons Archibald James and Lachlan Wade were also born during this period.
At the end of the Second World War Archie decided to go back to school. The family travelled to Brandon, where Ruth and the children remained for part of a year while Archie went ahead to Andover Newton to enroll and find a parish that would support him while he went to school. The family was reunited in Penacook, New Hampshire; they lived there for two years while Archie completed his Masters in Sacred Theology. After a brief additional period of study at Harvard University, the MacLachlan family returned to Canada, settling in Toronto while Archie finished his second Masters degree (Psychology) and held positions as interim minister and then assistant minister at York Minster Church. Following the two years in Toronto they moved to Winnipeg.
Eventually Archie left the church ministry and became Chaplain at the Hamilton Psychiatric Hospital. He also continuted to train students in Pastoral Education through the courses he had begun at the Divinity College of McMaster University. He remained at the Hospital until his retirement.
During their married life Ruth was kept busy raising the couple's children and with her work as a minister's wife, particularly her work in the community. She sat on a number of community boards, including positions as President of the Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec and a member of the Board of Governors for McMaster University's Divinity School.
Ruth MacLachlan died on October 29, 1983 in Missassauga, ON.
Archie married Kathleen Marie (Green) French (b. January 22, 1908, d. June 1, 1998) on June 20, 1987. Archie MacLachlan died in December 1997.
Custodial History
Records were in the possession of Ruth and Archie MacLachlan until their deaths. At that time the records were inherited by their daughter Joann. Joann MacLachlan donated the records to the McKee Archives on October 24, 2009 at a donation event held as part of Homecoming 2009.
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of approximately 197 letters written by Ruth and Archie to each other during the spring and summers of 1932, 1933 and 1934. The letters were written during the courtship of the couple and contain details not only on about their lives in Brandon and Alberta but also more personal information about their relationship, families and future plans. Because Ruth and Archie were students at Brandon College during this period the letters also often reflect on events and personalities related to the College, as well as their own personal studies.
Fonds also contains a scrapbook compiled by Ruth during her Brandon College years. It includes photographs, newspaper clippings, graduation cards, event programs, place cards and other ephemera. There are also a few miscellaneous documents - McMaster University examination papers, handwritten sheet music, postcards - that appear to have belonged to Archie. Fonds also contains a graduation photograph of Ruth.
Notes
Description by Christy Henry. History/Bio information taken from Joann MacLachlan's book Ruth and Archie: Brandon and Brandon College 1932-1934.
Ruth and Archie's daughter Joann edited the letters into a book entitled Ruth and Archie: Brandon and Brandon College 1932-1934. A copy of the book is located in the Rare Book collection of the John E. Robbins Library, Brandon University.
William Ridley Sheridan Wade collection (28-2007)
Arrangement
The letters are arranged in chronological order with all of Archie's letters to Ruth for a particular year grouped together, followed by Ruth's letters to Archie for that same year. For preservation purposes photographs in the scrapbook have been removed and placed in photograph storage, with their corresponding scrapbook page number noted on the back. Because of the fragile condition of the scrapbook a note has been made concerning the original location of many items that have become detached from their original location in the scrapbook. These items remain with the remnants of the scrapbook in one archival housing. Note that Ruth did not place items on every page so the numbering is not sequential for scrapbook items. Some items were loose at the back of the scrapbook and therefore have no corresponding page number.
