Photograph shows the interior of Fred McGuinness' office at the Medicine Hat News. Fred is seen scribbling on a notepad at his desk. The newspaper was located at Second Street and Sixth Avenue in downtown Medicine Hat until it moved in 1981.
Fred McGuinness wrote the syndicated weekly news column “Neighborly News” for 22 years, beginning in 1979. According to McGuinness, the Neighborly News column evolved out of the interest in and the impending cancellation of the CBC Radio broadcast “Neighborly News from the Prairies.” McGuinness credits Eugene Derksen (Steinbach Carillon), Miles Phillips (Boissevain Recorder), and Ian MacKenzie (Portage Graphic) for approaching him about printing/publishing a Neighborly News column. The column initially began with a dozen subscriptions from weeklies and grew to publication in 55 weeklies.
McGuinness described his creative process as follows. McGuinness received weeklies from Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, from which he would read the first page and the editorial page. He created thematic files from clippings he accumulated over a period of time. He would then write four columns at a time based on the materials he assembled and had the columns printed at the Brandon Sun plant for camera-ready copy. Other weeklies had to re-type the columns if they did not have the facilities. The weekly columns were written for publication periods beginning every Monday.
McGuinness wrote his last Neighborly News column during the publication week of April 1, 2002. In his final column he confessed that his age-related macular degeneration (AMD), diagnosed in 2001, had become an impediment to his research, writing, and editing abilities. A month later, a Neighborly News retrospective written by McGuinness was published. In that column McGuinness reviewed the history of the Neighborly News broadcast and column and described his writing process.
The successor to McGuinness’ Neighborly News column was Margaret “Peggy” HASEIN, the editor and co-publisher of the Biggar Independent. Hasein was the successful bidder for the column after McGuinness put his column up for sale upon receiving his AMD diagnosis. The Neighborly News column is still in print today (2015).
Custodial History
Records were collected and created by McGuinness during the publication of the syndicated column Neighborly News from 1980 to 2002. 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 (i.e., typed drafts, camera ready copy, and correspondence) created during the publication period (1980 to 2002) of Fred McGuinness’ syndicated Neighborly News column. The Archives does not have copies of McGuinness’ Neighborly News columns from 1999 to 2002. There is one file folder containing letters of thanks and congratulations upon McGuinness’ retirement in April 2002.
Notes
Information in the history/biography was taken from Neighborly News columns published in the Roblin Review (April 2, 2002, 4), and The Glenboro Gazette (May 7, 2002, 11). In the Glenboro Gazette column, “Looking Back,” McGuinness recalled the history of history Neighborly News radiobroadcast and column. The timeline provided in the article, appears to conflict with the actual dates the radio broadcast was cancelled by CBC and the beginning of the publication of the Neighborly News column. The Archives have used McGuinness’ date in the looking back column but researchers should be aware of the discrepancies in the timeline
The original location of the file (when the Fred McGuinness collection was unprocessed) is noted on the front of each file folder. The first sentence of each column was provided in the file level inventory because weeklies published alternative titles for the same column. The square bracket at the end of each item contains a few keywords for the respective column
Camera-ready proofs are numbered and dated for the weekly publication period beginning on Mondays. Certain columns in this series were mis-numbered and/or mis-dated by McGuinness. McGuinness’ numbers and dates have been retained and the discrepancies noted by the editorial marking [sic]
Accruals
Closed
Finding Aid
A file level inventory is available
Storage Location
2015 accessions
Related Material
Fred McGuinness would write/publish about a topic in a number of forums. For example, when researching and writing the Bootstrap profiles for the provincial government, McGuinness also mentioned these individuals in his Neighborly News or Brandon Sun Diary columns. Therefore, it is possible research materials pertaining to his Neighborly News columns may be found in the subseries: Correspondence (McG 1.2), Clippings (McG 4.2), Local history (McG 4.1), Miscellaneous freelance (McG 3.2) and Reader’s Digest (McG 3.1)
McGuinness details his vision problems and sale of the Neighborly News column in his memoir “Lost in Hotel Beesborough” (see McG 2.2 File 16, and McG 3.2, Misc. Freelance File 53)
Arrangement
Arrangement was artificially created by the Archives. Subseries has been arranged according to column number/publication period
Photograph shows a young Fred McGuinness standing in front of the lilac bushes adjacent to his house. Fred is wearing pants, sweater, gadsby cap and is standing with his hands in his pockets.
Photograph shows a headshot of Fred McGuinness without his glasses. Fred's hair is slicked back and he is wearing a charcoal jacket, white shirt, and polka dot tie.
Notes
Writing on the back of the photograph reads: Fred McGuinness, Golden Jubilee
Photograph shows Fred McGuinness wearing gold-rimmed glasses and a blue shirt. McGuinness is standing in front of the John E. Robbins Library, Brandon University. Darroch Hall is reflected in the library's windows.
Triptych shows three separate photographs of Fred McGuinness as a young boy. One photograph shows Fred standing in the snow wearing miniature buckskins and feather headdress another shows Fred in the same costume on the family's front porch. The third picture shows Fred in a quarter-length peacoat and winter cap with flaps standing on the front porch of the family home.
Photograph shows a group of individuals posing with Queen Elizabeth II. Fred McGuinness is standing behind the Queen.
Notes
Behind the photograph is a letter dated 15 November 1984 to Fred McGuinness, Brandon, Manitoba, from Michael B. Decter, Clerk of the Executive Council, Cabinet Secretary, re: Her Majesty's Visit to Manitoba
Photograph shows Fred McGuinness seated behind a desk in an office. McGuinness is wearing a suit and tie and has his right fist resting on his chin. Behind him on the walls are maps of Saskatchewan. The photograph has mark-up lines on it. A 2.25" x 2.25" negative is available and is stored with the picture.
Notes
Writing on the back of the photograph reads: Fred McGuinness, Golden Jubilee
