In 1975, Brandon University in cooperation with the Manitoba Pool Elevators, founded the Rural Resources Centre. The Centre was designed to provide rural Manitoba with resource materials for use in the discussion and analysis of problems related to rural social development. It was given a mandate to collect publications and archival materials related to the history of the Manitoba Pool Elevators, cooperative societies, churches, exhibitions, school districts, and Women’s Institutes.
In September 1978, the University transformed the Rural Resources Centre into the Brandon University Archives. Originally housed in a trailer, from October 1981 to September 1998 the University Archives operated out of the Archives Centre located in the basement of the Jeff Umphrey Building at 20th Street and Victoria Avenue.
In 1990 the University Board of Governor’s renamed the University Archives the S. J. McKee Archives. The S. J. McKee Archives was so established on Saturday, November 19, 1990, to mark the anniversary of the opening of the Brandon Academy by S. J. McKee and his wife Laura McKee one hundred years earlier. In 1899, the Brandon Academy founded by Samuel and Laura McKee became Brandon College.
The S. J. McKee Archives moved to its current location on the mezzanine floor of the John E. Robbins Library in the summer of 1998.
The McKee Archives is the principal repository for records of archival value created by the University or which relate to the history and mandate of Brandon College and Brandon University. The Archives collects records of selected Brandon College and Brandon University faculty and alumni.
The McKee Archives also acquires manuscript collections, which support the research and teaching programs offered at Brandon University. These include archival records related to rural development, education, agriculture, heath studies, First Nations, and the city of Brandon.
UNIVERSITY ARCHIVISTS:
SALLY CUNNINGHAM (1975 - ?)
No biographical information yet.
EILEEN MCFADDEN (1981 - 1997)
See RG 6, series 8, sub-series 1 (University Librarian) for biographical information on Eileen McFadden.
TOM MITCHELL (1997 - present)
See RG 6, series 5 (Registrar's Office) for biographical information on Tom Mitchell.
Scope and Content
The sub-series has been divided into four sub sub series, including: (1) Archives - general files; (2) Archives - budget files; (3) Archives - correspondence files; and (4) Archives - exhibits and displays.
Notes
History/Bio information taken from articles in "The Quill" (September 24, 1981 and November 20, 1990) and the S.J. McKee Archives hompage at http://www.brandonu.ca/library/archives/ (September 2006).
Storage Location
RG 6 Brandon University fonds
Series 8: Library Services
File consists of correspondence with and photocopies sent by the Canadian Baptist Archives at McMaster University. The materials relate to Brandon College, Rev. W.C. Smalley, Howard Whidden and J.R.C. Evans (1930s).
Storage Location
RG 6 Brandon University fonds
Series 8: Library Services
8.2 S.J. McKee Archives
Box 1
In celebration of Brandon's 125th Birthday, the McKee Archives organized the photo exhibit "Wonder City of the Northwest," on display from June 28 until the end of August 2007 in the Curve Gallery, located on the second level of BU's John E. Robbins Library. The photographs in the exhibit marked various passages in the history of Brandon from 1882 to the beginning of the Great War in 1914. A special opening for "Wonder City of the Northwest," sponsored by the President's Office, was held on Thursday, June 28 at 2:00 p.m. in the Curve Gallery.
Custodial History
Contents of the file were created during the process of organizing and curating the Wonder City of the Northwest exhibit.
Scope and Content
File consists of all bids made on the photographic prints in the exhibit, the silent auction form, research gathered for the information boards (including sections of Steen and Boyce's book on Brandon)
Notes
Correspondence and budget records related to the exhibit are held in the annual correspondence and budget files.
Storage Location
RG 6 Brandon University fonds
Series 8: Library Services
8.2 S.J. McKee Archives
See RG 6 Brandon University fonds, series 14 (BUSU), sub-series 14.5 (BUSU publications), sub sub series 14.5.1 (The Sickle) for History/Bio information.
Scope and Content
Archival Copies:
Box 1 (Files 1-14): 1927-1929, 1931-1940
Box 2 (Files 15-26): 1941-1943, 1945-1953
Box 3 (Files 27-36): 1954-1963
Box 4 (Files 37-43): 1964-1970
Box 5 (Files 44-49): 1971-1976
Box 6 (Files 50-57): 1977-1984
*The archival copy of the 1956 Sickle contains the original music and lyrics to the Class of 1956 hymn.
Storage Location
RG 6 Brandon University fonds
Series 14: BUSU
14.5 BUSU publications
14.5.1 The Sickle
Arrangement
File number 4 has been set aside in the event that the Archives acquires an archival copy of the 1930 Sickle.
Some calendars, especially the early ones, are fragile.
History / Biographical
See RG 6, series 6 (Senate), sub-series 6.6 (Brandon College/University Calendars) for history/bio information.
Scope and Content
Sub sub series consists of bound archival copies of the Brandon College calendar dating from 1900 to 1985. Box 1 contains calendars from 1900 to 1944. Box 2 contains calendars from 1945 to 1974. Box 3 contains calendars from 1975-85.
Accruals
Further accruals are expected.
Storage Location
RG 6 Brandon University fonds
Series 6: Senate
6.6 Brandon College/University Calendars
Edward Walker was a native of England. In 1895, he left his home in Stockport England and traveled to the village of Millwood, Manitoba where, with three of his five children, he began a new life on the Canadian settlement frontier.
Walker was a professional photographer and his fonds contains a variety of images of Millwood and the surrounding agricultural community, its people, and life. These images were produced from gelatin dry plate negatives, a process introduced around 1880 to replace the wet collodin process in which a photographic solution was applied to a glass plate just prior to exposure. Edward Walker’s pictorial account of life in and around Millwood Manitoba circa 1900 is an important photographic legacy of pioneer life on the upper reaches of the Assiniboine Valley.
The village of Millwood was - and is - located in the Assiniboine River valley close to the Manitoba-Saskatchewan border just a few miles northwest of Binscarth and a similar distance southwest of Russell. It came into existence in 1887 with the construction of the Manitoba and North-Western Railway, a road that ran diagonally through the new West from Prince Albert, North West Territories to Portage la Prairie Manitoba.
Custodial History
These photographic images are drawn from the Edward Walker fonds held at the S.J. McKee Archives. They were used in an exhibit entitled "Millwood on the Assiniboine circa 1900" in 2005. The exhibit was located on The Curve Gallery in the John E. Robbins Library and curated by Tom Mitchell.
Scope and Content
Consists of 22 photographic prints mounted on foam board used by the Archives for the display.
Notes
A selection of thes images are on display in the S. J. McKee Archives. The balance are in storage at RG 6 Brandon University fonds, Series 8: Library Services, 8.2 S.J. McKee Archives.
Storage Location
RG 6 Brandon University fonds
Series 8: Library Services
8.2 S.J. McKee Archives
In the summer of 1986, faculty members at Brandon University developed a project aimed at identifying the archival records that existed in public and private collections throughout western Manitoba. A grant was secured from the Manitoba Heritage Federation, and reseachers were employed to travel throughout the region to identify and record the wide variety of records. The results of their work was a four volume set of inventories.
Custodial History
W.R. Morrison left the university in 1991. At the time he gave Tom Mitchell copies of volumes 1-3. In 2006, John Everitt provided the archives with a copy of volume 4.
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of four volumes: 1987, 1988, 1989 and 1991. The inventories were generated through extensive research at various centres throughout western Manitoba. Each inventory contains a record of archival materials held by individuals, organizations and/or municipalities throughout the region.
Images of a Prairie City was a photography display of early Brandon circa 1912. The exhibition presented images of Brandon in the years immediately prior to the Great War when the city had moved beyond a pioneer stage and taken on the features of a modern North American urban centre, boasting parks, exhibitions, paved streets, and the latest trends in architecture and transportation.
Custodial History
These photographic images were drawn from the Alfred Fowler collection held at the S.J. McKee Archives. They were used in an exhibit entitled "Images of a Prairie City" in March 2004. The exhibit was located on The Curve Gallery in the John E. Robbins Library and curated by Christy Henry.
Scope and Content
Consists of 21 photographic prints (in frames) used by the Archives.
Notes
Seven photographs and the information page are on display in Student Services, McKenzie Building, Room 102. Six are on dislay in McKenzie Building, Room 117 and two are on display in McKenzie Building, Room 104. The remainder of the display is in storage at RG 6 Brandon University fonds
Series 8: Library Services 8.2, S.J. McKee Archives. The prints stored in the Archives should be handled with great care.
Storage Location
RG 6 Brandon University fonds
Series 8: Library Services
8.2 S.J. McKee Archives