The United Farmers of Manitoba was founded in 1920. It was an inclusive farmers' organization established to replace the Manitoba Grain Growers' Association. The UFM supported farmer candidates in the 1920 provincial election. In 1922, it helped elect the UFM government of John Bracken (1922-42). The UFM also participated in federal politics, supporting twelve successful candidates in the 1921 federal election. The UFM was financed by its members. Its membership varied from 15,700 in 1923, to 3700 in 1931. In 1939, the UFM became the Manitoba Federation of Agriculture.
Custodial History
This fonds was accessioned by the McKee Archives in 1997. Prior custodial history is unknown.
Scope and Content
Fonds includes documents relating to the membership, both male and female, of the Wingham branch of the United Farmers of Manitoba and the United Farm Women of Manitoba. Documents dealing with the position of the branch on prohibition c. 1922, discussion within the branch of the "wheat pool" movement, annual reports for the organization, newsletters, correspondence on matters political and agrarian, and records relating to the activities of the branch as a cooperative buying agency are also included. Fonds also contains minutes of the provincial convention of the UFM and correspondence from the central office of the UFM.
The Blyth Protestant School District #471 was founded in 1886. It became the Blyth School District following the elimination of the denominational school system in Manitoba in 1890. The District was located south of Brandon in the Rural Municipality of Cornwallis. The District existed until the mid-1960s, when it was incorporated into the Rolling River School Division.
Custodial History
This fonds was accessioned by the McKee Archives in 1997. Prior custodial history is unknown.
Scope and Content
Fonds includes the minute books, financial records (1886-1955), attendance registers (1887-1906), and related documents of the Blyth School District, Rural Municipality of Cornwallis. Aside from attendance records, the fonds contains documents relating to issues of teachers salaries, attendance policies, and holidays.
In July 1928, Verna Althea Whitfield married William Arthur Gamey (b. 1892) in Winnipeg. For the first year of their marriage they both taught at Lockport, before moving to Winnipeg in 1929. Their only child, William Roy, was born there. In 1933, the Gameys moved to the Gamey family farm located at N1/2 12-16-22, near Strathclair. Verna's nephew Robert Kerr, from Kelowna, B.C. joined the family in 1949. Art and Verna left the farm in the spring of 1956, and moved into the house formerly owned by an aunt, Miss Bella Gamey. Art Gamey was a staunch supporter of the Co-operative movement and the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF). He died in January 1968.
Custodial History
This fonds was accessioned by the McKee Archives in 1997. Prior custoridal history is unknown.
Scope and Content
Fonds contains documents relating to the Manitoba Farmer's Union, including copies of its publication "The Voice of the Farmer" (1961); the United Church of Canada, primarily Strathclair (1960-1989); the Manitoba Women's Institute and the National Institute for the Blind (1959-1976); the Manitoba Federation of Agriculture (1945-1961); the Birtle Presbyterian Church (1986-1989); the Social Credit League in Manitoba and B.C. (1947, 1953); the Manitoba Provincial Council of Women (1958-1959); the Manitoba Centennial Corporation (1966-1968); and the Shoal Lake Fair and Hamiota Exhibition (1949-1981).
Fonds also contains diaries (1923-1926); various political publications, newspaper clippings, and correspondance, primarily concerning the CCF and the New Democrats (1945-1971); the Cooperative Union of Canada (1949-1964); and the Manitoba Farm Forum (1942-1963). Included as well, are clippings from the Brandon Sun dealing with a wide variety of topics (1970-1991); publications on home/farm/highway safety (1949-1975); and the Manitoba Pool Elevators (1950-1955).
Fonds also contains correspondence to and from both Verna and Art Gamey.
Notes
History/Bio information taken from "Our Story to 1970" published by the R.M. of Strathclair and compiled by The Centennial History Committee (pp. 255-257).
RG 4 Manitoba Pool Elevators; Women's Institute collections: Manitoba (8-2002), Strathclair (7-2002), Rathwell (6-2002), Minnedosa (2-2002), Cordova (4-2002), Clanwilliam (3-2002), Crocus (5-2002), Douglas (20-2006), Binscarth (12-1997), Southwest A Region (26-1997); and the Greenway Fair (35-2006).
The Bertha School District, located south of Brandon in the Rural Municipality of Oakland, was established in 1896. It was integrated into the School Distict of Nesbitt in 1961. Subsequently, it became part of the Souris Valley School Division.
Custodial History
This fonds was accessioned by the McKee Archives in 1998. Prior custodial history is unknown.
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of annual registers (1910-1961), minute books (1896-1962), account books (1896-1911, 1924-1956), an award of a Board of Arbitration (1961), a petition for consolidation with the School District of Nesbitt (1961), a financial report (1961), a map of the Souris Valley School Division showing rural school districts, and one debenture certificate (1896).
William Wallace was born in Scotland around 1859. In 1881, when William was twenty-two, he emigrated to Canada with his father and brother. Once here they settled near what is today Forrest, Manitoba. The following spring they moved to the northwest margin of settlement in Manitoba, homesteading in the Shellmouth area. Wallace remained a resident of the region for the rest of his life. William Wallace was active in community affairs. He was appointed to the post of Secretary-Treasurer of the Shellmouth Municipality in 1887, and he held the position until 1904. In 1909, Wallace was injured in a railway accident, and he had to give up farming. He moved to Shellmouth and took up the position of postmaster, which he held for twenty-seven years. He died in 1945, and is buried at Shellmouth cemetery, Manitoba.
Custodial History
The letters contained in the fonds remained in the possession of Margaret Wallace, who was the original recipient of the correspondence. She emigrated to Canada in 1904. At some point the letters passed to William Wallace who kept them in his possession in Shellmouth. In 1941, William contacted Professor E. J. Westcott of Brandon College regarding the fonds. He offered it to the College for safekeeping. Westcott accepted the letters. Westcott passed the letters on to various officers and staff at Brandon College and then Brandon University. Since 1982, the collection has resided in the S. J. McKee Archives at Brandon University.
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of hundreds of letters that William Wallace and his brother, Andrew, wrote to their sister, Maggie, from 1881 until 1904. The first letter, dated 22 March 1881, was written by both William and Andrew aboard the S.S. Prussia as they sailed to North America from Scotland. The last letter was written on 4 January 1904 by William. It was written to inform Maggie and her husband that William had reserved a homestead in their name. This letter marks the end of the fonds. Later that spring Maggie and John emigrated to Canada to be with her family.
William was keenly interested in everything going on around him; his letters and Andrew's reveal what life was like for inexperienced settlers on the Canadian agricultural frontier in the last years of the ninteenth century. Fonds touches on a variety of social, political and economic themes.
Notes
CAIN No. 202641. A partial accession of the Wallace collection was completed in 1992 by Eileen McFadden.
Kathleen Emily Kenner was born in Pierson, Manitoba on December 6, 1903. Her father, W.S. Kenner, was a General Merchant there. Kathleen had one brother, Ewing. She took her early education in Pierson, then moved to Brandon to take her Grade XI course in 1919. The following year, Kathleen moved to the Clark Hall Annex on Louise and 11th, in order to attend Brandon College (B.C.) as a student in the Music Department. In the fall of 1921, she entered the Arts Department of Brandon College. During her time at the college, Kathleen was very involved with student life. She was elected Lady Stick for the school year 1924-1925, the highest position in student government that a woman could attain. In the spring of 1925, she graduated with her B.A., then begain studies in the Faculty of Education at the University of Toronto.
Kathleen taught school in Melfort, Saskatchewan from approximately 1930-1949, and for several years after that was an instructor at the Saskatchewan Government Correspondence School. Sometime during this period, Kathleen left to serve in the Air Force during the Second World War.
Kathleen Kenner married William A. Kennedy in 1950, and through marriage she gained one son, John Kennedy, and two daughters, Mrs. Claire H. A. Still and Mrs. Janet Sheridan. Around the same time, Kathleen and William moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba where Kathleen was very active in the church and the community. Kathleen Kenner Kennedy died suddenly on November 28, 1967 at the age of 61.
Custodial History
This fonds was accessioned by the McKee archives in 1997. Prior custodial history is unknown.
Scope and Content
The Kathleen Kenner Fonds are organized in three series:
Series 1 – scrapbook (6.5 cm.)
Series 2 - file of correspondence (8 mm.)
Series 3 - newspaper clippings (1 mm.)
The scrapbook contains pictures of Kathleen’s life and times at Brandon College and the University in Toronto. There are pictures of students and friends, Brandon College, the University of Toronto, Victoria College, Toronto City Hall, Grandpa Ewing’s Farm in Ontario, grad pictures, a train station, and much more. The pictures show dress, women’s activities, the ladies’ Basketball team, and what Brandon itself looked like in the 1920’s. She also included personal notes, cards, invitations to dinners, dances, and luncheons, poems, dance cards, hockey tickets, and various other university mementos.
There are numerous newspaper clippings. One file contains poetry, mainly from her friend Mary McLaughin MacDonald, letters from her father and mother, a list of College yells, and a copy of "Hail Our College". Kenner has various excerpts from The Quill, letters from former students, and a grapho-analyst report (1933) that she received. An interesting possession in this collection are two speeches that Kenner delivered and kept originals of. The first is her reply to being nominated for Lady Stick in 1924. The second is a speech that she made when she invested her duties of Lady Stick to the new Lady Stick, Rose Vasey in 1925.
Notes
A portion of the description was written by Kathleen Scammell (2000).
The idea of the Keystone Centre was first mentioned in 1958, at a meeting of the board of directors of the Manitoba Winter Fair. The Manitoba Winter Fair wanted a new facility because the old Wheat City Arena had a leaking roof and a deteriorating west wall. The old facility also had limited space and the Winter Fair felt it needed more space for expansion. The Provincial Exhibition of Manitoba also had problems with their facilities, such as old barns and poor display areas. The idea of the Keystone Centre was put on hold until 1969, when the boards of the Provincial Exhibition and the Manitoba Winter Fair joined together as the Provincial Exhibition Association of Manitoba and the Wheat City Arena was sold and demolished. The original estimate for the cost of the Keystone Centre facilities was $4.5 million and funding would be proportioned so that the federal and provincial governments would each put in one-third of the money, with the rest coming from local donations. The financial campaign for the Keystone Centre began in 1970, and construction began in November 1970. The grand opening of the Centre was in March 1973, and coincided with the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair of that year.
Custodial History
This fonds was accessioned by the McKee Archives in 1998. Prior custodial history is unknown.
Scope and Content
Fonds contains many folders full of correspondence, financial statements, meeting minutes and other documents relating to the development and construction of the Keystone Centre from 1970-1974, including those from the Keystone Executive Committee, as well as the Building Committee. Fonds also contains one folder that pertains to the Brandon Area Agricultural Development Survey from 1959. This folder contains the names and locations of all farmers in the Brandon area in 1959. The Brandon Area Agricultural Development Survey was created in 1959, in order to make farming in the Brandon area more profitable. The survey was aided by Doane Agricultural Service from St. Louis, Missouri, who had success creating agricultural development programs in the United States. Fonds also contains folders from the Provincial Exhibition with correspondence, pamphlets, estimates, and studies from the 1960's. There is also one folder belonging to the Manitoba Winter Fair, which contains correspondence and financial statements relating to the Wheat City Arena. Fonds also contains information pertaining to the proposals made in the 1960's, for the building of the Keystone Centre, as well as one folder about the Keystone campaign from 1970-73. There is also one folder about the opening of the Keystone Centre, which contains newspaper clippings and guest lists. Finally, the fonds contains information about a court case involving Albert Bobyk and Robert Stewart. Stewart was the project manager for the Building Committee and Bobyk worked on the Keystone Center. The fonds includes a report about the trial of the two men who were charged with fraud involving their work on the Keystone Centre.
File consists of correspondence, news releases, Annual Reports 1990-91 Cdn. Advisory Council on the Status of Women, convention on the Rights of the Child
Storage Location
RG 6 Brandon University fonds
MG 3 Brandon University Teaching and Administration
1.14.1 W. Leland Clark - political career
Box 28
File consists of correspondence, pamphlets and notices for various Brandon University departments/services/events, a membership list of the Brandon University Women's Auxillary, news releases, a Department of Extension report, a draft questionnaire, a detailed account of building structures past/present/future on Brandon University campus, and the listing of artists in the "150 years of Art in Manitoba" exhibit.
Archie Cleveland Miller owned and operated a farm near Roland, Manitoba from 1918 to 1938. Miller was engaged principally in a commercial grain operation.
Custodial History
This fonds was accessioned in 1997 by the McKee Archives. Prior custodial history is unknown. .
Scope and Content
Fonds contains legal documents from A.C. Miller's farm near Roland, Manitoba from 1916 to 1938. They include mortgage documents, lease agreements, and bank receipts.
The Douglas Women's Institute was established in 1948. Throughout its existence, the Institute undertook a variety of community based fund raising and educational activities, including the sponsorship of courses in first-aid, home nursing and sewing. The Douglas WI also provided a public space for women in the Douglas district to meet and engage in educational, social and political activities.
Custodial History
The records were in the possession of officers of the Douglas Women's Institute prior to their donation to the S.J. McKee Archives in April 2006 and May 2008, following the disbandment of the organization.
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of scrapbooks and Annual Programs assembled by members of the Douglas Women's Institute. Fonds also contain clippings related to local, provincial, national and international themes of interest to the members of the Institute. The scrapbooks are particularly strong on community stories directly connected to the Douglas Women's Institute and the Douglas-Carberry district including anniversaries, biographical sketches, obituaries, weddings and family related themes.
Notes
Description by Christy Henry.
Storage Location
2006 accessions, 2008 accessions
Related Material
Related women's institute collections in the McKee Archives include:
Manitoba Women's Institute; Minnedosa Women's Institute; Cordova Women's Institute; Clanwilliam Women's Institute; Rathwell Women's Institute; Strathclair Women's Institute; Crocus Women's Institute; Southwest A Region - Manitoba Women's Institute; Douglas Women's Institute
The Brandon Women's Institute was established in 1963, by several women residents in Brandon who had been associated with Women's Institutes in their home communities. The Brandon Women's Institute was established in 1963, received its charter in 1965, and continued in operation until 1992.
Custodial History
Fonds was donated to the Daly House Museum by Mrs. Edna Hammond sometime in the 1990s. The records were retained by Daly House Museum until June 23, 2005, when they were donated to the S.J. McKee Archives.
Scope and Content
Fonds contains records generated in the course of Institute activities including minutes, scrapbooks, miscellaneous reports, publications, newspaper clippings, photographs and correspondence.
Storage Location
2006 accessions
Storage Range
2006 accessions
Related Material
Related women's institute collections in the McKee Archives include:
Manitoba Women's Institute; Minnedosa Women's Institute; Cordova Women's Institute; Clanwilliam Women's Institute; Rathwell Women's Institute; Strathclair Women's Institute; Crocus Women's Institute; Southwest A Region - Manitoba Women's Institute; Douglas Women's Institute; Brandon Women's Institute
