See RG 6 (Brandon University fonds), 7.1.4.1 (Brandon- Great Depression REsearch Project) and RG 6 (Brandon University fonds), 7.1.4.2 (Northern Great Plains History Conference) for History/Bio information.
Custodial History
See RG 6, 7.1.4.1 and RG 6, 7.1.4.2 for Custodial History information.
Scope and Content
Sub sub series has been divided into two sub sub sub series, including: (1) Brandon - Great Depression Research Project; and (2) Northern Great Plains History Conference.
Storage Location
RG 6 Brandon University fonds
Series 7: Faculties and Schools
7.1 Faculty of Arts
During the Great Depression, Fred McGuinness launched his career with the Brandon Sun as a paper career beginning in 1933. His route had him delivering papers in Brandon’s downtown core, to many of the city’s, now, historic or demolished buildings. Four years later he was employed in the city working for CPR telegraphs as a messenger and then as an operator. These early Brandon experiences weaved their way into McGuinness’ newspaper columns, his broadcasts, and his books. In turn, McGuinness’ readers shared with him their own memories about Brandon and its local history.
McGuinness was passionate about the social history of regional communities and the province as a whole. In the 1970s, McGuinness was instrumental in helping to establish the Rural Resource Centre, the predecessor to Brandon University’s SJ McKee Archives. He co-authored several monographs about Manitoba’s social history with Brandon University Professor Ken Coates and published a pictorial history about Brandon. He was also a community booster and was consulted to serve on, promote and write about local, provincial and rural development initiatives. In his obituary, the last piece he would publish in the Brandon Sun, McGuinness wrote that he had a “deep and continuing interest in anniversaries.”
In its editorial piece on the passing of Fred McGuinness, the Brandon Sun commented that McGuinness had a “genuine interest in the stories and memories that are part of every Canadian’s experience…He loved driving through small Westman towns and communities, stopping at the local coffee shop to strike up conversations with the locals.” He continued writing his Diary column for the Brandon Sun and mentoring aspiring writers in his memoir writing workshops until his death in 2011.
Custodial History
Accession 1-2015 contains records created and collected over the course of McGuinness’ career as a newspaper journalist and freelance writer. The Estate of Fred McGuinness donated the materials to the SJ McKee Archives circa 2011. The Archives accessioned the records in 2015.
Scope and Content
The subseries consists of records created and collected by Fred McGuinness during his time as a journalist, editor, and freelance writer. As part of his research and writing process, McGuinness kept numerous files on various subjects and continued to add to them throughout his career. He accumulated his local history materials by personally collecting newspapers and clippings, books, and magazine articles; by readers’ forwarding materials for his interest; and from workshop participants submitting memoirs and personal narratives for his interest, review and feedback.
Local history materials consist of newspaper clippings, correspondence, biographical documents and memoirs, obituaries, and manuscript drafts on Brandon (Manitoba) topics including:
the City of Brandon’s origins, anniversaries (75th, centennial), reunions (Victoria 1969, Toronto 1977)
historic buildings and streets (Brandon’s Central Heating System, Brandon’s Fire Department, Brandon Gun ClubBrandon water power plant)
businesses (Assiniboine River ice harvest; Brandon woolen mills, skating arenas; Snellie brothers (Russell, MB); Meighen, Haddad, & Co., Prince Edward Hotel)
citizens and early pioneer/families (Armitage family, Beaubier family, Thomas Black, J.A. Brock, Henry Carroll, Q.C., Chalmer-Harden families, Clement family, Flora Cowan, Eliza Durston, William A. Elliott, Dr. Fleming, Hall family, Eleanor Kidd, Jack Lane, William Langdon, Lindenberg family, A.E. McKenzie, Margaret Muir, William Muir, W.S. Orchard, Mrs. Osmond (Griswold), General Thomas Lafayette Rosser, Harry Spafford, Allena Strath, George Treherne, Wallace family)
institutions (ACC, Brandon Research Station)
military units (181st Battalion)
museums (Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum)
local newspapers
politicians (R.O. Lissaman, Sir Clifford Sifton)
railways (1916 Brandon trainwreck)
religious organizations (Sisters, Faithful Companions of Jesus, Beresford Church)
McGuinness also maintain files on the local history of surrounding communities, including: Birtle, Beresford, Camp Hughes, Hartney, Kemnay, Russell, and Souris.
Notes
Information in the history/biography was taken from “We’re Going to Miss You, Fred,” Brandon Sun, March 24, 2011, A8
Items dating to the 1880s are photocopies and transcripts of original materials
In the file level inventories, square brackets at end of file names reference the original location of the file in the unprocessed Fred McGuinness collection. The original location is also noted on the front of each file folder
Accruals
Closed
Finding Aid
A file level inventory is available
Storage Location
2015 accessions
Related Material
John Everitt collection
Clarence Hopkin collection
Provincial Exhibition Association of Manitoba fonds
Lawrence Stuckey collection
Jack Stothard collection
William Wallace papers
Fred McGuinness would write/publish about a topic in a number of forums. Therefore, it is possible work and correspondence pertaining to his research materials may be found in the Fred McGuinness collection Monograph series (McG 5) and subseries: Correspondence (McG 1.2), Brandon Sun (McG 2.2), Neighborly News (McG 2.3), Miscellaneous freelance (McG 3.2), Talks and workshops (McG 6.3). McGuinness also “filed” many clippings between the pages of his books in his personal library (see McG 8 Library series)
Arrangement
Arrangement was artificially created by the Archives. Subseries has been re-arranged according to publication period
File consists of correspondnece, news releases, histories for various departments, individuals and services at the College/University, and a mailing list.
Storage Location
RG 6 Brandon University fonds
Series 2: Board of Governors
2.4 Correspondence and subject files
Box 5
File consists of course evaluations, performance reviews, a copy of Burmeister's curriculum vitae, and a course outline for An Introduction to the History of Germany, 1648 to the Present.
Storage Location
RG 6 Brandon University fonds
Series VIII: Faculties and Schools
7.1.1 Dean of Arts
Box 2
File consists of copies of Burmeister's curriculum vitae, retirement documents, application and promotion documents, sabbatical documents, a self evaluation form, a newsclipping regarding Burmeister's community service award, and records regarding various committee appointments.
Storage Location
RG 6 Brandon University fonds
Series VIII: Faculties and Schools
7.1.1 Dean of Arts
Box 2
See collection level description for history/biography for information on Fred McGuinness.
Custodial History
Records in this series were acquired in four accruals and were in the possession of Fred McGuinness until their donation to the Archives.
Accession 18-2002 records were in the possession of Fred McGuinness until the publication of Only in Canada, a book on the history of the Kinsmen Club of Canada co-authored with BU history professor Ken Coates. In the course of writing the history, records of the Kinsmen Club in Canada were amassed at the McKee Archives and the research materials developed by Coates and McGuinness were simply added to the Kinsmen records circa 1987. The Kinsmen records have since been deaccessioned by the McKee Archives and transferred to Kin Headquarters in Ontario.
Accession 6-2008 contains records created and collected during the writing of the Provincial Exhibition book, Pride of the Land. Fred McGuinness, who co-authored the book with Ken Coates, donated these records to the McKee Archives circa 1988.
Accession 20-2009 contains records created and collected by Fred McGuinness over the course of his career as a newspaper journalist and during the research and writing period of the Brandon history book, The Wheat City. Records remained in his possession at his home until their transfer to the McKee Archives on July 28, 2009.
Accession 1-2015 contains records created and collected over the course of McGuinness’ career as a newspaper journalist and freelance writer. The Estate of Fred McGuinness donated the materials to the SJ McKee Archives circa 2011. The Archives accessioned the records in 2015. This accession contains records for the following monographs: Manitoba: The Province & The People (1987); The Keystone Province: Manitoba Enterprise (1988); The Wheat City (1988); The Chronicle of Canada (1990); and Old Pathways, New Horizons (1995).
Scope and Content
The series contains records created and collected by Fred McGuinness and writing partners during the production of seven of Fred McGuinness’ monographs. Series has been divided into seven subseries, including: (1) Pride of Land: (2) Only in Canada; (3) Old Pathways, New Horizons; (4) Manitoba: The Province & The People; (5) The Keystone Province: An Illustrated History of Manitoba Enterprise (1988); (6) The Wheat City; and (7) Chronicle of Canada.
Records in the series consist of notes, drafts, correspondence and research materials in the form of photographs and photocopied newspaper clippings, journal articles and book chapters pertaining to Manitoba history.
Notes
Information in the history/biography was taken from Neighborly News column (#934, November 10, 1997)
In the file level inventories, square brackets at end of file names reference the original location of the file in the unprocessed Fred McGuinness collection. The original location is also noted on the front of each file folder
Accruals
Closed
Finding Aid
File level inventories for each subseries are available. See
individual subseries’ descriptions
Storage Location
2015 accessions
Arrangement
Arrangement was artificially created by the Archives. Series has been re-arranged according to publication period with the exception of Old Pathways, New Horizons (1995)
McG 5 Monographs
McG 5.1 Pride of the Land (1985)
McG 5.2 Only in Canada (1987)
McG 5.3 Old Pathways, New Horizons (1995)
McG 5.4 Manitoba: The Province & The People (1987)
McG 5.5 The Keystone Province: Manitoba Enterprise (1988)
McG 5.6 The Wheat City (1988)
McG 5.7 Chronicle of Canada (1990)
These records were produced between 1989 and 1990, the researching and writing period for The Chronicle of Canada monograph. Published in 1990 by Chronicle Publications (Montreal and Paris), the Chronicle of Canada is an approximately eight-pound, 980-page hard cover book, containing illustrations, photographs, and maps.
The premise of the Chronicle of Canada was to tell the social history of Canada in a journalistic style from the dawn of the dinosaurs to present day (July 1, 1990). Historical events were presented as short journalistic articles following a timeline.
Fred McGuinness was asked to be a contributor to the Chronicle of Canada in the summer of 1989. The writing assignment lasted six-months. Fred received, via courier every Monday, a writing package containing a computer diskette and a list of assigned stories to be completed within the week. The stories were researched, written, and saved onto the diskette, which was couriered back to Montreal on the Friday. The length of each article ranged from 100 to 500 words. The rate of pay for each article was $1.00 per line.
The editors of the Chronicle of Canada estimated their publication would contain 3,000 articles. McGuinness was assigned the majority of the prairie articles, which the editors estimated to be around 500 to 600 stories. It is possible to determine which articles McGuinness contributed to the project from the weekly period assignments and invoices.
Custodial History
Records were collected and created by McGuinness during the writing phase of the monograph Chronicle of Canada. The materials were donated to the SJ McKee Archives by the Estate of Fred McGuinness circa 2011. The Archives accessioned the records in 2015.
Scope and Content
The subseries consists of textual records, created and collected during the production of the monograph Chronicle of Canada. It includes correspondence, journal articles, book chapters, Government industry publications, newspapers articles, promotional materials, and McGuinness’ articles for Chronicle of Canada printed in the Chronicle template.
Notes
Information in the history/biography was taken from Neighborly News column #578 (McG 2.3, File 14); letter to Mr. Fred McGinnis [sic] from Chronicle Publications, dated September 25, 1989 (McG 5.7, File 1)
In the file level inventory, square brackets at end of file names reference the original location of the file in the unprocessed Fred McGuinness collection. The original location is also noted on the front of each file folder
In the early 1960's, A.E. McKenzie set out to right a book chronicling the first 38 years of Brandon College's history. To achieve this goal, he contacted a number of former faculty member and students of Brandon College, and asked them to contribute their recollections of the College. The testimonials were published along with a message from Brandon University's President at the time, Dr. John E. Robbins. Brandon College Inc. also contained comments from McKenzie regarding the Re-establishment of the College.
Custodial History
See fonds level description of custodial history of A.E. McKenzie Seed Co. Ltd.
Scope and Content
This sub sub series contains correspondence discussing textual and photographic content of the book, clarification of facts, and the format and printing of the book. There is also one newspaper clipping and some proofs. A large part of the sub-series is comprised of the contributions and mailing list for the project. Two copies of the completed book are also been included.
The remainder of the documents in the sub-series deal with reactions to the project. Testimonials from well-known individuals such as Mrs. Olive Diefenbaker, a former student at the College, the Minister of Education, and the Premier of Manitoba are contained in the sub-series. As well, fonds includes numerous letters from other individuals, thanking and congratulating McKenzie on the project are included. There is also a file relating to the reaction – not unanimously favorable - of the Brandon College Board of Directors to the project.
The majority of the photographs used in the History of Brandon College Inc. are also included.
Storage Location
RG 3 A.E. McKenzie Seed Co. Ltd. fonds
MG 5 A.E. McKenzie fonds
1.1 Brandon College Inc.
File consists of evalutaions, correspondence, political leave documents, application and appointment documents, sabbatical documents, payroll information, promotion documents, and documents regarding Clark's involvment with IMPACTE/CORE.
Storage Location
RG 6 Brandon University fonds
Series VIII: Faculties and Schools
7.1.1 Dean of Arts
Box 2
In 1995 the History Department at Brandon University hosted the Northern Great Plains History Conference held annually at a university in the northern plains region of Canada or the United States. The Department of History, Brandon University hosted the conference again in September 2008.
Custodial History
Accession 34-1997 was donated to the McKee Archives ca. 1997 by members of the Department of History at Brandon University (Gerhard Ens, James Naylor, Hans Burmeister and Andrew Pernal). Accession 15-2009 was donated to the McKee Archives in May 2009 by James Naylor, Chair of the Conference Committee.
Scope and Content
Accession 34-1997 includes curriculum vitae and abstracts relating to each paper presented at the conference, copies of the program and related administrative records for the conference.
Accession 15-2009 consists of records generated during the course of preparing for and hosting the 2008 Northern Great Plains History Conference. Includes records dealing with: registration, finances (including grants), exhibitors, call for papers, program and session organization, audio visual, governing council for the conference, accomodations, participants (including curriculum vitaes, applications, proposals, abstracts), and the grad prize. Accession also contains: various tickets, programs, correspondence, papers by grad essay entrants, signs, instructions, mailing list, handouts, and reference materials (past conferences etc.)
Storage Location
RG 6 Brandon University fonds
Series 7: Faculties and Schools
7.1 Faculty of Arts
7.1.4 Department of History
The idea for a Kin history was initially conceived in 1984-85 between the authors and a pair of Brandon Kinsmen, Tom Breneman (National President) and Michael Cox (National Director). These records were produced between 1986 and 1987, the researching and writing period for the book Only in Canada: Kinsmen and Kinettes. Published in 1987 by Friesen Printers (Altona), “Only in Canada” is a 271-page soft cover book, containing 40 images.
BU faculty members Dr. Kenneth “Ken” Stephen Coates, Assistant Professor of History, and Mr. Fred McGuinness, Lecturer in Journalism, authored the book. Assisting the writers was a research team of BU history students: Don Cooper, Diane Fowler, Rob McGarva, Scott Parker, Kurt Refvik, Karen Skinner, and Pam Svistovski supervised by Joy Dorian and Bruce Stafeld. During the writing of the book, Dr. Coates accepted a position at the University of Victoria.
During the research phase, the authors consulted Kin Magazine, committee minutes, newspapers, and members of the Kin service clubs across the country. The entire history of the Kin service organization is covered from its inception in 1920 to the time of publication; following the evolution of the association over time and documenting the contributions the organization made to quality of life in their respective local communities and to the country as a whole.
Custodial History
Accession 18-2002 records were in the possession of Fred McGuinness until the publication of Only in Canada. In the course of writing the history, records of the Kinsmen Club in Canada were amassed at the McKee Archives. The research materials developed by Coates and McGuinness were simply added to the Kinsmen records ca. 1987. The Kinsmen records have since been de-accessioned by the SJ McKee Archives and transferred to Kin Headquarters in Ontario.
Scope and Content
The subseries materials consist of letters of correspondence from the authors to numerous Kinsmen across Canada requesting information about the organization’s founder Hal Rogers for chapter one and the epilogue, as well as early drafts, outlines, and brites for all six chapters of the book. The book was commissioned by the Association of the Kinsmen Clubs of Canada and published in 1987. Of additional interest is a memo from Fred McGuinness to the Kinsmen National President Dr. Tom Breneman about the book’s launch, promotion, and distribution (see file 1).
Notes
Information in the history/biography was taken from the preface of the book Only in Canada: Kinsmen & Kinettes
Accruals
Closed
Language Note
Fred McGuinness often uses journalistic jargon to label his files. A “brite” refers to a short, amusing story. McGuinness often organized his ideas and research materials by potential brite topic. The term brite is often annotated on the letters of correspondence in these subseries files
Finding Aid
A file level inventory is available
Storage Location
2015 accessions
Related Material
Archival materials held at Kin Canada headquarters. For an
inventory of materials de-accessioned by the McKee Archives see the donor file. Contact the Archivist for access
Arrangement
Arrangement was artificially created by the Archives. Subseries has been re-arranged according to book chapter following the de-accession of the Kinsmen records
File consists of newsclippings, a notice of event dates (U of M Faculty of Commerce), the program for the installation of Ernest Sirluck as 7th President of the University of Manitoba, and correspondence.
