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.
Gordon Hume Daly was born on February 1, 1925 in Cartwright, Manitoba. He spent his early years on his parents' farm, taking his primary and high school education in that district. On January 6, 1945 Gordon enlisted in the Infantry Corp, trained at Shilo, Manitoba, and received his discharge in September of the same year. Upon his discharge he registered in second year Arts at Brandon College. He pursued his many interests there - sports (the college hockey team), the literary society, music (the judge in 'Trial by Jury') and was a member of the Honour Society. Upon graduation in Arts in 1947 from Brandon College, Gordon enrolled at United College in Winnipeg and studied Theology. In 1950 he was ordained in the United Church of Canada. His first pastorate was in Brookdale, Manitoba.
Lois Muriel Dickey was born November 4, 1928 to Myrtle and Alvy Dickey who farmed one mile from the town of Crandall, Manitoba. Lois took her primary and high school education (up to Grade XI) in the Consolidated school in Crandall. After graduating from Grade XI with an Isbister Scholarship, Lois registered at Brandon College and for the next four years lived in the residence of Clark Hall. Movies downtown, college hockey excursions, Wheat King games, college dances - all were new and exciting for a young student from a small Manitoba town. Lois registered in the General Science course and in 1948 graduated with a B.Sc. That same year her family sold their farm and moved to Burnaby, B.C.
During the course of the next three years Lois was employed at three firms: Kelly Douglas Ltd., where she worked for a chemist; Canada Rice Mills, where she assisted the engineer and did secretarial work; and finally with Shell Oil Ltd. in Vancouver. During this period she remained in contact with Brandon College, especially with Rev. Gordon Daly, who she married from Burnaby, B.C. on July 12, 1952.
Following her marriage Lois worked with Gordon in the service of the United Church. In 1952, they embarked on a travel and study venture to Edinburgh, Scotland where Gordon furthered his studies in Theology at New College. After two years, Gordon and Lois and their son Bruce returned to Canada to Northwestern Ontario. In this area they ministered to the towns of Balmertown, Cochenour and McKenzie Island. During this time their son Lorne and daughter Marlene were born. In 1963, the family moved to Swan River, Manitoba where son Mark was born. From 1969-1970, the Daly family participated in an exchange ministry to Australia where Gordon served the Australian United Church of Australia in the town of St. Arnaud, Victoria. Most of the 1970's were spent in Thunder Bay, Ontario. The family moved a final time in 1980 when Gordon accepted a call to Calgary, Alberta.
Gordon Hume Daly died on March 7, 1989. Following Gordon's death Lois chose to remain in Calgary, AB.
Custodial History
Album was in the possession of Gordon Daly until his death in 1989. At that point it passed to his widow Lois Daly. She donated it, along with her own scrapbook, to the McKee Archives on October 18, 2008 while she was visiting Brandon University for Homecoming.
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of a leather bound photograph album that belonged to Gordon Daly (Class of 1947). It contains approximately 84 black and white photographs of Brandon College students and faculty. A number of the individuals in the photographs have been identified.
Fonds also contains a scrapbook assembled by Lois Daly (nee Dickey), Class of 1948, during her years as a student at Brandon College. The scrapbook contains newspaper clippings, class election paraphenalia, invitations, pressed corsages, graduation documents and cards, invitations, event programmes (hockey, guest speakers, dramatic and musical productions), place cards, exams, chapel programmes, poetry, tickets (hockey, banquet, graduation, movie), a copy of "Trial by Jury" the major production (1946), notices from the Clark Hall boards, 1940 National Registration Certificate, Oscar Peterson's signature, and notes from Sarah Persis Darrach. There are also documents from the 1998 reconvocation of the Class of 1948 at Brandon University. The scrapbook is inside a blue fabric folder tied with a yellow ribbon. A Brandon College (U of M) crest is attached to the front of the folder and there are two track and field ribbons attached to the back inside of the folder.
Notes
All pencil marks in the album were made by Christy Henry during the preparation of photograph descriptions in October 2008. Beryl McLeod helped identify individuals in the photograph album. Description by Christy Henry. History/Bio information was provided by Lois Daly in March 2009.
4.2 m textual records; 5 cassette tapes; 2 cd roms, 110 photographs (colour and b/w) various sizes
History / Biographical
Errol Black was born on September 8, 1939 in Brandon, Manitoba. He was the son of Thomas Alexander Black, who immigrated to Canada from Limerick, Ireland in 1929, and Roberta Jean (nee Groat) Black, a native of Chatham, New Brunswick. Black attended King George Elementary, Earl Haig Junior High, Brandon Collegiate Institute for Grade 10, and completed high school through correspondence courses for Grandes 11 and 12. He left school in 1956 to work a variety of jobs in Brandon, Calgary and on the west coast. He spent a short time in the Royal Canadian Navy. Errol Black undertook post-secondary education at Brandon College (1963-1965, graduated with a B.A.), the University of Alberta (1965-1967, graduated 1973 with an M.A. in economics) and Warwick University (1975-1977). Black taught economics at Brandon University from 1970 until his retirement in 2002. Following retirement he was granted Professor Emeritus status in 2003.
Errol Black has published three books, as well as many articles and reports in leading academic journals. He has a longstanding interest in the history of organized labour and working-class politics in Brandon. These remain important themes in his research and writing. He served on the Executive of the Brandon University Faculty Association for many years, and was President of the Manitoba Organization of Faculty Associations for two years. Black is also a member of the Brandon District Labour Council, a founding member of the Manitoba branch of the Canadian centre for Policy Alternatives, and a board member of the Brandon Regional Health Authority (2000-2006). He was elected to Brandon City Council in 1998, and for a second term in 2001. In 1999 he was the federal NDP candidate for Brandon-Souris.
Black married Margaret Millard from Waskada, MB in 1961, with whom he had three sons: Sean, Dennis and Tom.
Custodial History
Accession 17-1997 was originally owned by Jim Davis, brother to Communist activist Stanley Forkin. Taimi Davis, Jim Davis' wife, mailed the collection from her residence in Ontario to Errol Black in 1994. Professor Black donated the collection to the McKee Archives. Accession 02-2003 was donated to the Archives in November 2002 by Errol Black. Accession 15-2003 was donated to the Archives on April 30, 2003 by Errol Black. Accession 17-2003 was donated to the Archives on July 15, 2003 by Errol Black.
Scope and Content
The collection consists of a number of accessions. Accession 17-1997, dating from 1935-1936, consists of twelve of the thirteen issues of the "Unemployed Worker," published in Brandon in the 1930s. The "Unemployed Worker" was the organ of the Brandon Unemployed Workers' Council. This Council, like its counterparts in other communities, was created by Canadian Communist Party militants. The "Unemployed Worker" covered the activities of the Unemployed Workers' Council, the plight of Brandon's unemployed, efforts by the city's unemployed to improve their lives, and City Council decisions, specifically those regarding relief policy.
Accession 02-2003, dating 1917, 1936-1939, 1970-2002 (predominant 1970-2002), contains extensive correspondence from former Brandon University Economic Professor Don Wheeler to Errol Black. In addition, the accession contains an important body of correspondence received by Professor Black from Taimi Davis written by Pat Forkin and his wife Pheobe Forkin to family members in Canada during the years 1936-1939, while Pat was a Moscow based corespondent for the Canadian Communist Party Clarion. The accession also contains personal correspondence of Errol Black dating from ca. 1970, drafts of papers, newspaper clippings, pamphlets related to labour and labour political matters. Two publications of note include: "Labour in Brandon" published by the Brandon and District Labour Council and a student guide to labour law written by George MacDowell. The accession also contains several documents related to Black's involvement in the provincial Industrial Adjustment Committee.
Accession 15-2003, dating 1930-2002 (predominant 1930-1939; 1971-2002), contains extensive clippings from the Canadian Communist Party publications "The Worker" and the "Daily Clarion" from the years 1930-1939; twenty-one personal and family photographs (b/w 3x5) of the Forkin family of Brandon, many of whom were active in the Canadian Communist Party; various historical photographs (b/w 8x10) related to the history of labour in Brandon, Manitoba; personal files containing correspondence, letters and opinion pieces to various newspapers, course outlines, research materials and draft publications, arbitration awards and documents related to Black's involvement with the Manitoba Organization of Faculty Associations (MOFA).
Accession 17-2003, dating 1970-2002, contains correspondence, a manuscript of an autobiography written by Black's father Tom Black, research files, letters to the editor and draft publications by Errol Black.
Accession 3-2011, dating 1909-2010, contains an extensive record of newspaper clippings often of Professor Black's correspondence with the Brandon Sun from the early 1970s through to 2011. Clippings relate to civic issues, labour relations, social justice, economic questions. Documents (membership cards, cards of thanks, stamps) of various kinds, and photographs of Professor Black, family members, and various labour related events including parades and rallies, appear throughout these clippings. Collection includes miscellaneous files relating to the 75th Anniversary of the Winnipeg General Strike including the Brandon Sympathetic Strike of 1919, the Brandon Greys Baseball team, the Assiniboine College BMHC lobby campaign, Brandon and Area Environmental Council, the Brandon East NDP Contituency Association. Editions (1925-31) of the Sons of England - Official Organ of the Sons of England Benefit Society - published in Oshawa, Ontario, and copies of documents related to the Commission of Inquiry (1928) into labour issues at the Brandon Mental Hospital are included.Collection also contains extensive correspondence associated with Professor Black's activities as a department member, scholar, and activist in the Department of Economics at Brandon University. Collection contains as well research materials related to the Brandon labour movement, strikes at A.E. Mckenzie Seed Company 1940s, cd roms containg research materials - clippings and images - for Labour Council Anniversary book ( 2006), and civic politics in Brandon. Records also contain research materials on various members of the Forkin family - in particular the Pat Forkin, Tom Forkin, and Stephen Forkin (aka Jim Davis) - who were active members of the Canadian Communist Party during their adult lives. A collection of family photographs and six tape cassettes containing accounts of the experiences of single unemployed men during the Great Depression and the funeral of Stephen Forkin ( Jim Davis) and correspondence from Taimi Davis the widow of Stephen Forkin (Jim Davis) supplement the sources on the Forkin family.
Notes
Photographs of Joe Forkin, Pat Forkin, Stan Forkin, Jim Davis and other members of the Forkin family are contained in Box 3 (15-2003) and Box 10 (3-2011).
Some restrictions. Consult the University Archivist for access.
Repro Restriction
Researchers are responsible for observing Canadian copyright restrictions.
Storage Location
MG 3 Brandon University Teaching and Administration
1.1 Errol Black
Related Material
MG 3 1.12 contains additional records related to George MacDowell; RG 6, Series 15 (BUFA) contains additional records on the Brandon University Faculty Association; RG 6, Series 7, Sub sub series 7.1.5 (Department of Economics) contains additional records related to the Department of Economics at Brandon University; RG 6, Series 7, Sub-series 7.1 (Dean of Arts) contains files on Don Wheeler and George MacDowell.
