Artifacts in this series were collected by Fred McGuinness during the course of his lifetime as a community volunteer and newspaperman. Beginning in the mid-1930s through the Second World War, McGuinness worked with the Canadian Pacific Telegraph service in Brandon and Winnipeg. McGuinness frequently wrote about those early experiences in his newspaper columns, journals, and monographs.
In the early 1950s, while McGuinness worked as a publicist with the Unemployment Insurance Commission in Winnipeg, he volunteered with community organizations such as the Winnipeg Community Chest Drive. From 1953 to 1955, McGuinness worked as an organizer for the Province of Saskatchewan’s 1955 Golden Jubilee.
After the Saskatchewan Jubilee, McGuinness worked with The Medicine Hat News as a journalist and publisher from 1955 to 1965. During that time, McGuinness became heavily involved with the Medicine Hat Chamber of Commerce. His community and business connections resulted in his appointment as a fundraiser for the Medicine Hat Junior College Library, a building project intended to see the City established with its own college.
After his work with the Saskatchewan Jubilee, McGuinness was asked to be a Regional Director for the Canadian Centennial Commission from 1965 to 1967. During that time, McGuinness returned to his hometown of Brandon in 1966, to start a 20-year career with the Brandon Sun as a publisher and vice-president. McGuinness’ interest in local history, of which he often wrote, made him the recipient of local ephemera from his readers.
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
This series contains artifacts collected by Fred McGuinness during the course of his lifetime as a community volunteer and newspaperman. The artifacts include one telegraph sounder, four letterpress blocks, five typesetter rulers, two patches, two buttons, one token, one tin box, and ten sound recordings.
The telegraph sounder and relay system was possibly a gift from Bill Flett, a CPR superintendent. In his story “Canadian Pacific” published in Letters from Section 17 (1999), McGuinness mentions receiving a package containing telegraph equipment while he was working at the Brandon Sun. The tin box in McGuinness’ collection contained copies of telegraphs announcing the end of the war.
Two letterpress type blocks have the letters “WM” which may represent the initials of Fred McGuinness’ father William McGuinness. J.R. Langford donated the “Colquhoun and Beattie” type plate to McGuinness, a known collector of Brandon local history. Mr. Beattie had gifted the plate to Lanford’s father who worked as a barber in Brandon in 1906. The Brandon Sun letterpress is likely from the period when McGuinness worked at the Brandon Sun.
The five typesetter rulers come from a variety of typesetter and newspaper companies and include Teletypesetter (Chicago, IL), 6 Cutting Limited (Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg), Mergenthaler Linotype Company (Brooklyn, NY), and The Edmonton Journal.
The two buttons in the collection come from McGuinness’ time as a community-volunteer in Winnipeg, Manitoba. One button is from the Community Chest Drive, the other button is a guest badge from the 1953 Provincial Exhibition of Manitoba.
The two patches are from the Saskatchewan Golden Jubilee (1955). Photographs of Saskatchewan Jubilee events and participants wearing the patch on their blazers can be found in the McGuinness photograph collection.
McGuinness saved a Medicine Hat College Official Opening Token from October 3, 1971. McGuinness was likely at the opening as he was originally involved in the establishment of the junior college in the 1960s.
The sound recordings in McGuinness’ collection largely pertain to centennial events, which McGuinness helped organize. There is one box set containing four records of the Saskatchewan Golden Jubilee Choir. Tucked in this volume is an additional record of the Choir recorded at CKCK, Regina, Saskatchewan. Also stored within the box set was a copy “Canada, A Centennial Song.”
Accruals
Closed
Finding Aid
A file level inventory is available
Storage Location
2015 accessions
Arrangement
Arrangement was artificially created by the Archives
Documents
McG 7 McGuinness artifacts and sound recordings inventory.pdf
Photograph shows Fred McGuinness standing next to a rack of seven antelope that are hanging from a ladder stretched between two vehicles. Rifles are nestled amongst the antelope carcasses. The hunt occured in the winter.
Notes
Photograph is part of series of photographs (20-2009.13 to 20-2009.124) of an antelope hunting trip that likely occurred in Alberta.
Following the Second World War, Canada assisted with the resettlement of Europe's homeless. Orders in Council were passed between July 1947 and October 1948 that permitted the entry of 45,000 "displaced persons," who were referred to as "New Canadians" upon their arrival. (Source: Government of Canada (01 July 2006), "Forging Our Legacy: Canadian Citizenship and Immigration, 1900-1977," accessed on-line at: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/publications/legacy/chap-5a.asp)
Scope and Content
Photograph shows a young Fred McGuinness holding a microphone in front of a woman. A crowd of people surrounds the pair.
Notes
Writing on back of photograph reads: On duty Calgary Stampede, introducing story of displaced persons being brought to Canada, 1947
Photograph shows Fred McGuinness with Meta McCulloch, 103-year-old woman who attended Fred's Memoir Writing Workshop in Hartney, Manitoba on 22 February 2010.
Photograph shows a baby being pushed in a stroller. A Livery Feed and Stable can be seen in the background.
Notes
Writing on the back of the photograph reads: taken Aug 14-21 at Virden, Man. 6 1/2 mo old. weight (still gaining). Mrs. Bridgett giving him an early morning stroll thinking he would go to sleep?
Photograph shows a number of snapshots of the McGuinness family. Members include: Fred's grandmother Mary Darroch; Fred's parents Isabella Louisa and William Frederick McGuinness; Fred's sisters Mary, Ruth, Dorreene, Orma, and Carol, and the McGuinness home at 337 - 17th Street.
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