Co-operative finance : an American method for the American people, to encourage business, farming, home-owning, individual and corporate success, social justice and national prosperity
These records were created by the Director of Library Services from the year 1957 until 1963. It is mainly business correspondence and memorandums. The files include correspondence between the Director of Library Services and various people regarding the library. There are also memorandums to the faculty.
Storage Location
RG 1 Brandon College fonds
Series 14: Brandon College Library
Related Material
RG 6 (Brandon University fonds), sub-series 8.1 (Director of Library Services).
The sub-series contains the minutes from Library Committee meetings. There are also minutes from the meetings of various sub-committees such as the Open Shelf Sub-Committee and the Sub-Committee on Apportionment of Library Funds. Includes minute books and files.
Storage Location
RG 1 Brandon College fonds
Series 14: Brandon College Library
From the very beginning, Brandon College has maintained library services for its students. A professor was put in charge of the library, although in the beginning it was little more than an empty shelf in a cabinet. As it grew, there became more of a need for an administrative body. A Library Committee was created in order to keep the library running smoothly. With the construction of the A.E. McKenzie Building in 1960 came a permanent resting place for the Brandon College Library.
Scope and Content
The records include a 3 cm book of Library of Congress Card Orders of Recent Publications from 1957 to 1960. As well, there are applications for employment, minutes from the Library Committee and Sub Committees. There is also correspondence from the Director of Library Services and accession records.
Series has been divided into three sub-series, including: (1) Minutes; (2) Director of Library Services; and (3) Library Accession Records.
Storage Location
RG 1 Brandon College fonds
Series 15: Brandon College Library
Related Material
RG 6 (Brandon University fonds), series 8 (Brandon University Library Services).
Sub-series consists of accession records listing the accession number, author, title, publisher, cost and “source” for each book accessioned into the Brandon College Library. It includes a total of 10 accession catalogues covering the period December 1899 - June 1965: 2 accession catalogues (12x18x5) and 8 accession catalogues (9x12x .75 cm)
Storage Location
RG 1 Brandon College fonds
Series 15: Brandon College Library
The importance of knowledge and education to the Manitoba Wheat Pool is made clear in the The Scoop Shovel, the official organ of the Manitoba Wheat Pool and other co-operatives in Manitoba. Established in the 1920s, The Scoop Shovel owed its existence to a decision by the directors of the Pool to set aside small percentage of income per bushel for educational purposes. R.A. Hoey began to hold meetings to discuss the idea that the Pool was about more than just marketing grain, and in 1926 a Department of Education and Publicity was organized within the Pool. It was directed by J.T. Hull and advised by R.A. Hoey; they expanded and supervised The Scoop Shovel.
They also began to accumulate the educational volumes that would become the Pool library. Hull announced in November of 1926 that the library would be open by the end of the month and reported that: "We have a good representation of works on sociology... On co-operation we have about every book that we can find published in the English language. We have also a good selection of books on economics, history, science, general literature, and rural life. In a word, we have tried to make the library one of usefulness to people whose life is on the land."
He also encouraged Pool members--who were the only ones allowed to use the library at this time--to utilize the library to educate themselves, saying “Use it, for knowledge is power”.
Once the library was open to all Pool members, Hull wrote a regular column for The Scoop Shovel called “In the Library”, in which he would review books and recommend reading in response to frequent questions from members. When the library gained new books, which was almost continually, he would list them and sometimes discuss them.
The library service was a mailing one; the main collection was kept at the Manitoba Wheat Pool central office in Winnipeg and members could request a catalogue of all the library holdings. If they wanted to borrow a book or books on a specific topic, they could write to Hull and the books would be mailed out to the member and returned by mail, all postage costs covered by the Pool Library.
During the crisis of the early 1930s, the library was saved because the Manitoba Co-operative Conference believed it was vital to the success of the Pools and the co-operative movement. The Conference took over administration of the Pool library in 1931, leasing the books and equipment from the Wheat Pool. The library was formally incorporated under a charter after it changed hands, the other charters members being the Co-operative Marketing Board and the United Farmers of Manitoba.
In 1935 the service was made available free of charge to all rural Manitobans with the financial support of the Co-op Marketing Board. By 1939, Manitoba Pool Elevators had begun to prosper again, and took back responsibility for the administration and housing of the library. The traveling library was also established around this time, and hundreds of boxes were distributed to all MPE points. The boxes were rotated and refreshed twice a year.
In 1942 Hull estimated that there were approximately 4,700 books in the Pool Library with an annual circulation of 4,000 to 5,000 books. Operating the library cost around two thousand dollars per year, although the cost was split between the members of the Manitoba Co-operative Conference, at least it was in theory. The Pool library ran as a free service to all rural Manitobans, regardless of whether they were members of the Pool, and the federal government census in 1941 indicates that over half of Manitoba’s population (56%) still lived in rural areas. In 1948, the majority of the Pool Library’s services were rendered unnecessary by an act called the “Public Libraries Act” that had been passed by the Manitoba legislature on April 22, 1948, and would go into effect July 1, 1948. The act provided for the establishing of a provincial “Public Library Advisory Board” that would be appointed by the government. Once the board had been established, the act allowed for the establishment of municipal and regional libraries that would be the administrative responsibility of the municipality or region they served and would be supported by a land tax levied on the population that would have access to the library. All employees of the central provincial library would be considered civil servants.
When the Provincial Library was being established in 1949, the Minister in charge of education--Ivan Shultz--actively sought both the advice of those who operated the Pool Library and the physical resources of the Library. In a letter to W.J. Parker, the President of Manitoba Pool Elevators, Shultz wrote that: "We find that in looking at the province as a whole that the box library service of the Manitoba Pool Elevators is the best developed and the best distributed within the province... We would feel that to a considerable extent you had pioneered in this field and we would be using your accomplishments as a springboard for a wider coverage of the province and an enlargement of the service."
He also requested that Miss E.L. Shields—the Pool Librarian--be released from Pool employment so that the Provincial Library could hire her for a year to aid in setting up the new library system.
An agreement was reached between MPE and the Provincial Library, and the bulk of the Pool Library was transferred to the province. The Pool retained the volumes it wished to keep as reference for its employees, and donated the rest of the open shelf library to the province. The traveling library service was sold at a discount to the province, with the caveat that service not be interrupted during the transfer and that the quality of service to rural Manitoba not diminish once the Library had been entirely transferred to the government. In a letter to Ivan Shultz after the agreement to sell the traveling library had been reached, W.J. Parker wrote that: "...Manitoba Pool Elevators has maintained an open shelf library for a period of some twenty years. These books have been made available to anyone in Manitoba, outside the City of Winnipeg, and the postage both ways was paid by the Pool. We feel it has served a very useful purpose, but that it is not primarily our function and if the government proposes to offer a more complete and universal service we are prepared to retire from the field and avoid what might be considered unnecessary duplication."
Scope and Content
Series contains items once held as part of the Manitoba Pool Library. It has been divided into the following four sub-series: (1) MPE E 1 Manitoba Pool Library publications; (2) MPE E 2 The Scoop Shovel; (3) MPE E 3 The Manitoba Cooperator; and (4) MPE E 4 Pamphlet collection.
Sub-series Brandon College track and field programs for 1920 and 1922; two copies of Brandon College songs and yells, along with a typed copy of the class song for the class of 1929; a copy of the Brandon College students' directory for 1914-1915; and a donations pamphlet for the Brandon College Students' Memorial Gymnasium ca. 1918.
Notes
Located on the front page of the Memorial Gymnasium pamphlet is a proposed campus development plan showing the site of the proposed gymnasium, with other additional facilities including: a science building, a library/chapel, a conservatory, and a new women's residence.
At the front of the Brandon College songs and yells is a copy of the Brandon College Students' Association constitution.
The students' directory contains the constitution of the Literary Society, and a newspaper clipping regarding the death of Dorothy Nelson (nee Werthembach), former Dean of Women at Brandon College 1934-1935.
Storage Location
RG 1 Brandon College fonds
Series 12: Brandon College publications
6 cm (excluding The Quill, The Sickle, Student Handbooks and The Spectrum)
History / Biographical
See sub-series descriptions for History/Bio information on:
The Quill
(RG 6 Brandon University fonds, series 14 (BUSU), sub-series 14.5 (publications), 14.5.3 (The Quill))
The Sickle
(RG 6 Brandon University fonds, series 14 (BUSU), sub-series 14.5 (publications), 14.5.1 (The Sickle))
Student Handbooks
(RG 6 Brandon University fonds, series 14 (BUSU), sub-series 14.5 (publications), 14.5.2 (Student Handbooks))
Brandon College Bulletin
(RG 1 Brandon College fonds, series 12 (Brandon College publications), 12.4)
Brandon Reflections
(RG 1 Brandon College fonds, series 12 (Brandon College publications), 12.5)
The Spectrum
(RG 6 Brandon University fonds, series 14 (BUSU), sub-series 14.5 (publications), 14.5.1.3 (The Spectrum))
Scope and Content
Series consists of magazines, newspapers, yearbooks, bulletins and directories published by Brandon College. It has been divided into seven sub-series, including: (1) The Quill; (2) The Sickle; (3) Brandon College Student Handbook; (4) Brandon College Bulletin; (5) Brandon Reflections; (6) Miscellaneous Brandon College publications; (7) The Brandon College Gazzette; and (8) The Spectrum.
Notes
Although many of the records in this series are part of RG 1 Brandon College fonds, it was decided administratively, because of the continuity with Brandon University and the ongoing character of the records, to locate the Quill, the Sickle (and the Spectrum) and the Student Handbooks within RG 6 Brandon University fonds as part of series 14 (BUSU), sub series 14.5 (BUSU publications).
Storage Location
RG 6 Brandon University fonds
Series 14: BUSU
14.5 BUSU publications
RG 1 Brandon College fonds
Series 12: Brandon College publications
Related Material
RG 6 (Brandon University fonds), series 14 (BUSU), sub series (BUSU publications).
Arrangement
Due to the relocation of the Quill, the Sickle, the Student Handbooks and the Spectrum within RG 6 Brandon University fonds, sub-series' 12.1, 12.2, 12.3 and 12.8 do not exist within the arrangement of RG 1 Brandon College fonds.
These are minutes from meetings of the Publications Committee from 1965 to 1968. The Publications Committee was in charge of the operation of The Quill, The Sickle, and the Student Handbook.
Storage Location
RG 1 Brandon College fonds
Series 8: Brandon College Students Association
Esther Moore was born in Norfolk, Nebraska and moved to Canada at age 3. There is a vague reference to her being related to the composer Dvorak in The Quill of 1913. She registered as a music student at Brandon College in 1909. In 1910, Miss Moore received a medal for sight-reading and accompanying in Edmonton. She took her examinations of the Toronto Conservatory of Music in 1910, and her Senior examinations in 1911. She completed her theory work in 1913, as well as finishing the academic requirements. In 1913, Esther Moore became the first graduate of the Music department at Brandon College. After graduation, Miss Moore taught music in Unity, as well as being the choirleader and organist. She returned to her home in Olds, Alberta for a rest from teaching. However, she was not idle for long. She took up teaching again, and she was the organist and choirleader at church. She also began a Glee Club. Between these responsibilities Miss Moore finished a course in the Household Science Department at the Olds Agricultural College. She returned to Brandon College to take postgraduate work, becoming the first Brandon College student to receive her L.T.C.M. in 1916. In 1922 Miss Moore began to teach piano at Brandon College. She received her Bachelor of Music in 1925, and her Master of Music in 1926.
Custodial History
Records were accessioned by the McKee Archives in 1998. Prior custodial history is unknown.
Scope and Content
Esther Moore’s records consist of newspaper clippings, recital programmes, concert programmes, and commencement programmes. As well, there are dance cards, invitations, tickets, and the programme for the annual Graduation Banquet for several years. There are Track and Field programmes and a ribbon. There are also Alumni Luncheon programmes for a few years. There is an issue of The Western Baptist from 1926, and the programmes for the installation of Dr. Robbins as President and the opening of the Arts and Library building and the J.R.C. Evans Lecture Theatre in 1960. There is also a letter from William L. Wright, director of the music department at Brandon College.
