Betty Margaret Gibson was born on July 14, 1911 in Brandon, MB. She attended primary school in Alexandra and Park schools, and took her teachers education at the Brandon Normal School. She began her teaching career in 1929. Teaching first in Deloraine and Chater, in 1936, Gibson travelled to South Africa to be the headmistress at Kingsmead College, Johannesburg. She returned to Brandon ten years later to take up the post of Principal at Fleming School. During this time she completed a BA from Brandon College (1959). Attaining her Master's degree in Early Childhood Education, she taught at the University of Saskatoon and Brandon College/University. At Brandon University she was heavily involved with Indigenous teacher programs, including BUNTEP, PENT and IMPACT. She was briefly the Assistant Superintendent for the Brandon School Division (1967-1968). Gibson was active in the Children's Aid Society, co-created and appeared in a television show called "Common Sense About Reading" (CBC), and was the author of a children's book called "The Story of Little Quack." Gibson received the Centennial Medal in 1967, and the J.M. Brown Award (1974), for contribution to education in Manitoba. She was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Liberal Laws from BU in 1975, and even in retirement continued to teach education courses at BU and help children with reading disabilities. In 2003, she was inducted into Brandon University's Hall of Fame. Betty Gibson School in the Brandon School Division is named in her honor. Gibson never married. Betty Gibson died on February 23, 2001 in Brandon, MB. She is buried at Rosewood Memorial Gardens.
Custodial History
As part of the Westman Oral History Collection, this collection was accessioned by the McKee Archives in 1998. The original tapes from the Westman Oral History project were deposited in the Brandon Public Library. Copies of these originals were made by Margaret Pollex of the Brandon University Language Lab at the request of Eileen McFadden, University Archivist in the early 1990s. These copies compose the collection held in the McKee Archives.
Scope and Content
Item is an audiocassette tape containing an interview with Betty Gibson about her teaching career. Interviewer is JE Bateman.
Notes
History/Bio information taken from the Manitoba Historical Society, The Brandon Sun and the records. Transcript by Nathan Qumsieh (2014). Description by Christy Henry.
Language Note
English
Conservation
Preservation copy created 2021 (R. Hess)
Audio Tracks
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See sub-series level description for MG 1 1.12 Wilfred Whyte McCutcheon fonds for biographical information.
Custodial History
See sub-series level description for MG 1 1.12 Wilfred Whyte McCutcheon fonds for custodial history.
Scope and Content
Photograph of Wilfred Whyte McCutcheon with two former staff members Dr. Betty Gibson and Dr. Isabelle Mills (Saskatoon) at the Teacher Training Course Class of 1962 25th reunion in Brandon July 1987.
Very poor. Item has been broken in half on a diagonal from top to botton. Upper right corner is missing. Various tape stains and some tape residue on the bottom left.
History / Biographical
Lottie Louisa Currie was born on September 9, 1876 in St. Mary's, Perth, ON, to William and Eleanor Currie. She came to the Brandon area with her family in the 1880s. Currie worked as a bookkeeper and stenographer for Smith & Burton, from at least 1906 until the business ceased operations in 1917.
Currie continued working in bookkeeping and accounts, first for Brandon Gas & Power Co., then for the Manitoba Power Commission. She appears to have retired around 1942. She is not listed as living in Brandon between 1943-1945, but was once again a resident by 1947. Currie was a member of the First Presbyterian Church, a charter member of the Brandon Business and Professional Women's Club and in 1916, she passed her examinations for the St. John's Ambulance Association.
Lottie Louisa Currie died on November 25, 1972 in Brandon, MB.
Smith & Burton, a grocery store that also had mail order and china departments, was founded by E.B. Smith and John Burton in the 1886. It was housed at a few locations in downtown Brandon; their location at 829 Rosser Avenue is the one that mostly likely appears in the photograph.
Scope and Content
Item is a portrait of office employees at Smith & Burton, grocers. Lottie Currie, daughter of William Currie, is shown standing on the left.
Photograph shows Fred McGuinness at a Pierre Burton book signing for "The Promised Land." Mr. Burton is seated at table in the concourse of the Brandon Shoppers' Mall in front of Doigs.
Lynn Shier was born November 28, 1942 in London, Ontario to Anglo-Saxon Protestant parents. Her father and mother were of German and English-Dutch descent, respectfully. On her father’s side, Lynn’s ancestors emigrated from Germany to the United States in 1749. Both of her parents were born and raised in Iowa, where they also married in 1929. Following her parent’s marriage, the couple moved to London, Ontario in 1928 where her father was employed as a professor at the University of Western Ontario. Lynn resided in London, Ontario with her parents for sixteen years before relocating to Santa Barbara, California. After residing in California for three years, Lynn came back to London, Ontario in order to attend the University of Western Ontario. During her time at the University, Lynn met her future-husband Allan Shier. Allan Shier was born to parents of German and Scotch descent. His father’s ancestors immigrated to North America during the late 1740s or early 1750s from roughly the same region of Germany as Lynn’s ancestors.
Lynn and Allan were married in 1963. Following the wedding, the couple remained in Ontario for two years, one year of which was spent in Toronto. The couple later moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba where they lived for two years before travelling to Souris, Manitoba. While in Souris, Manitoba Allan worked as a district city planner. Lynn and Allan remained in Souris, Manitoba for four years after which they relocated to Brandon, Manitoba in 1970, where Allan continued to work as a district city planner for the city and Southwestern Manitoba. During their married life, Lynn worked as a household interviewer, and as a secretary for the Daly House Museum and the Assiniboine Historical Society while raising the couple’s children, two girls and a boy. Lynn was also very active in the Brandon community.
Custodial History
As part of the Westman Oral History Collection, this collection was accessioned by the McKee Archives in 1998. The original tapes from the Westman Oral History project were deposited in the Brandon Public Library. Copies of these originals were made by Margaret Pollex of the Brandon University Language Lab at the request of Eileen McFadden, University Archivist in the early 1990s. These copies compose the collection held in the McKee Archives.
Scope and Content
Item is an audiocassette tape containing the interview "Fur Trading in Brandon Area." The interviewee is Lynn Shier, the interviewer is Effie McPhail and the interview was conducted as part of the Voices of Yesteryear project. The tape contains details about the arrival of the first Europeans to Canada during the late sixteen-and early seventeenth-centuries, as well as more precise information concerning the history of the French and English fur trade within the Brandon, MB area.
Notes
Description by Jennifer Maxwell (2011) and Christy Henry.
Language Note
English
Conservation
Preservation copy created 2021 (R. Hess)
Audio Tracks
Media missing or recording not available.
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Update Required
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browser to a recent version, or update your Flash plugin.