Gustave Bellegro “Gus” Yaeger was born on July 10, 1878 at Genoa, Italy. The son of Swiss parents, he immigrated to the United States, working in West Virginia then North Dakota before arriving in Brandon, MB in 1910. He worked at various jobs before opening Yaeger's Furs, a fur-coat factory and retail store at 602 Rosser Avenue, in 1919.
Yaeger married Sarah Ellen Williams (1883-1966) of Big Rock, Idaho in 1907. They had two children: Karl Williams Yaeger (1908-1975) and Barbara Yaeger (m. H.H. Ricketts).
Gus Yaeger died on March 25, 1942 in Brandon, MB. His son carried on the business after his death before selling it to one of the managers in 1969.
The Dionne quintuplets, born May 28, 1934, were the first quintuplets known to have survived their infancy. They were born just outside Callandar, ON.
Scope and Content
Item is a photograph of the Yaeger's Furs Dionne quintuplets Christmas window display. The display features five dolls dressed in fur coats and bonnets, a framed photo of Gus Yaeger, a Christmas tree and a cardboard Santa.
Notes
History/Bio information taken from the Manitoba Historical Society website (http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/people/yaeger_gb.shtml)
1.2 m of textual records;
c. 2700 photographs -- Primarily black and white;
c. 42,500 stamps
History / Biographical
Lawrence Adne Stuckey was born in Brandon, Manitoba in 1921 to Adne and Catherine Stuckey, and was the grandson of a Brandon pioneer family, the Gilmours. Stuckey attended both Fleming and Earl Oxford schools, as well as the Brandon Collegiate Institute. In May 1941, he began working for the CPR as a wiper/fireman. In October of the following year he joined the RCAF. During World War II, Stuckey served overseas as a Navigator/Bomb Aimer and was promoted to the rank of Flight Sergeant. He continued his work with the CPR after the war, and was promoted to fireman/engineer in 1950. Stuckey left the CPR in January of 1958 to purchase Clark-Smith Photo Studio in Brandon.
Stuckey and his wife Mavis, whom he married in 1946, ran the studio until their retirement in the mid 1980s. Throughout his life Stuckey pursued a number of interests, such as botany, history, photography and politics and was active in many local, provincial and national organizations. He was a member of the Brandon Stamp Club, the Allied Arts Council, Brandon Horticultural Society, Brandon Model Railroad Club, the Brandon Historical Society, and the Fort Whyte Centre. Stuckey was also the author of four books, as well as numerous articles on horticulture, railways, and Brandon area history. In 1987 he received the Manitoba Order of the Buffalo Hunt and in 1997 he was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Laws Degree from Brandon University. Lawrence Stuckey passed away on June 13, 2001.
Custodial History
The entire collection was housed in Mr. Stuckey's residence at 658 11th St. Brandon, Manitoba, prior to its transfer to the McKee Archives. A portion of the stamp collection was donated to the Archives in August 2001. The balance of the materials were deposited in the Archives following Mr. Stuckey's death.
Scope and Content
Collection consists of a variety of materials, both textual and graphic.
The philately collection is the largest part of the Stuckey Collection and covers a wide geographical and temporal range. The majority of the stamps are from the United States, the British Commonwealth, France and the French Empire. There are also a number of stamps portraying animals, art and flowers.
The slide collection includes approximately 10,000 images of various topics, such as landscapes, flora and fauna of North America and Expo 1967.
The Stuckey photograph collection is perhaps the best collection of Brandon and Southwestern Manitoba photographs in one place. Images include grain elevators and historical buildings of the northern United States and western Canada, railways, the City of Brandon, as well as ships and boats, sporting activities, portraits, animals, flora and fauna, landscapes and farming/homestead photographs. This series also includes a large number of negatives, including glass plate negatives.
The textual materials within the collection include personal journals written by Stuckey covering the years 1935-2001. These journals are autobiographical and act as a key to the rest of the collection in that they provide general time frames and the motivations behind Stuckey's activities. In addition to the journals, the collection consists of copies of Stuckey's four books and a few papers he wrote for the committees and clubs he belonged to. Other textual materials included are a small amount of personal correspondence, and research materials on a number of topics such as the CPR and Brandon area history. There are also three scrapbooks created by Stuckey dealing with his various interests. The collection also contains certificates presented to Stuckey by a number of the organizations he belonged to, as well as his honorary degree from Brandon University and his Order of the Buffalo Hunt award. A number of books, newspapers and articles on various topics, such as stamp collecting and horticulture are included in the collection.
The McKee Archives is the copyright holder for the Stuckey materials.
Finding Aid
A copy of the photograph inventory is in the blue binder on the reference shelf in the reading room.
Related Material
Alf Fowler collection 6-1999 (Brandon photographs) and the BU Art Exhibitions Committee fonds 69-1997 (Georges Cesari).
Arrangement
A description for the photograph collection has been entered as a separate series of the Lawrence Stuckey collection. The collection remains in original order.
