The condition of the books varies from very good to poor. Physical condition notes have been made on the inventory.
History / Biographical
Florence Marion Stone was born of Swedish parents, Freda and Ernest Peterson, in Saskatchewan in 1921 and adopted by Dr. and Mrs. Stone when her birth parents died early in her life. Marion graduated from high school when she was fifteen and she went on to obtain a B. A. degree from Brandon College in 1940. She served with the Royal Canadian Air Force Women's Division in England during the Second World War.
Following the war, Marion achieved her teacher training certificate and then spent most of her long career teaching English at Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School in Vancouver, BC. Throughout her life, Marion was very active in the Anglican Church. She also associated with the Swedish community, attending the Lucia pageant every year.
Marion Stone passed away at the Vancouver General Hospital on December 1, 2003 at the age of 82.
Custodial History
The books in this collection were donated to the McKee Archives in September 2003 by Marion Stone. Prior to this time, the books had been a part of her private collection in Vancouver.
Scope and Content
Collection consists of 64 books, mainly works of fiction and literature. The following is an inventory of the titles in the collection:
Armstrong, Anthony. The Naughty Princess. London: MacDonald & Co. Ltd., [no date]. (TORN COVER)
Ashford, Daisy. Daisy Ashford: Her Book. New York: George H. Doran Company, 1920.
Ashford, Daisy. The Young Visiters or, Mr. Salteena’s Plan. New York: George H. Doran Company, 1919. (BINDING TORN)
Bryant, William Cullen. The Iliad of Homer. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1898.
Buchan, John. The Path of the King. London: Thomas Nelson & Sons, Ltd., 1925.
Buchan, John. Prester John. London: Thomas Nelson & Sons, Ltd., 1925.
Chambers, Edmund K. ed. The Arden Shakespeare: The Tragedy of Coriolanus. Boston: D.C. Heath and Company, [no date].
Chambers, Sir Edmund K. ed. The Warwick Shakespeare: The Tragedy of Coriolanus. London: Blackie & Son Limited, [no date].
Cofer, David Brooks ed. Noble English Fifth Volume: Nineteenth Century Essays from Coleridge to Pater. New York: Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1929.
Compton, J., ed. The Dickens Book: Scenes from the Works of Charles Dickens. Toronto: Clarke, Irwin & Company Limited, 1938.
de Walden, Howard and Acton Bond, ed. As You Like It. London: Farmer & Sons, [no date].
de Walden, Howard and Acton Bond, ed. Hamlet. London: George Routledge & Sons, Limited, 1913. (FRAGLIE)
de Walden, Howard and Acton Bond, ed. The Merchant of Venice. London: George Routledge & Sons, Limited, 1913.
de Walden, Howard and Acton Bond, ed. Twelfth Night or What You Will. London: George Routledge & Sons, Limited, 1914.
de Walden, Howard and Acton Bond, ed. The Winter’s Tale. London: Farmer & Sons, [no date].
Dowden, Edward. Shakspere. London: Macmillan and Co, 1895. (FRAGILE)
Erskine, John, ed. Selections From Spenser’s The Faerie Queene. New York: Longmans, Green and Co., 1906.
Frazer, Sir James George. The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion. London: Macmillan and Co., Limited, 1925.
Gallico, Paul. The Snow Goose. London: Michael Joseph Ltd., 1945.
Garnett, David ed. The Letters of T.E. Lawrence. London: Jonathan Cape, 1938.
Gollancz, Israel, ed. Shakespeare’s Comedy of a Midsummer Night’s Dream. London: J.M. Dent and Co., 1902.
Hardy, Thomas. Far From the Madding Crowd. London: Macmillan and Co., Limited, 1940.
Hubbard, Elbert. Little Journeys to the Homes of Great Americans. New York: The Roycrofters
Vol. 27, March 1911, No. 3. Abraham Lincoln
Vol. 27, February 1911, No. 2. Robert G. Ingersoll
Vol. 25, January 1910, No. 1. Parnell
Vol. 25, December 1909, No. 6. James J. Hill
Vol. 25, August 1909, No. 2. Andrew Carnegie
Vol. 25, July 1909, No. 1. Peter Cooper
Vol. 24, May 1909, No. 5. Philip Armour
Vol. 24, April 1909, No. 4. Mayer A. Rothschild
Hudson, Rev. Henry N. Shakespeare’s As You Like It. Boston: Ginn & Company, 1895. (FRAGILE)
Jerome, Jerome K. The Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow. Philadellphia: Henry Altemus Company, 1890.
Johnson, William Savage ed. Sartor Resartus: The Life and Opinions of Herr Teufelsdrockh by Thomas Carlyle. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company and Cambridge: The Riverside Press, 1924.
Johnson, William Savage, ed. Selections from the Prose Works of Matthew Arnold. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1913.
Kittredge, George Lyman. The Tragedy of Othello the Moor of Venice by William Shakespeare. Boston: The Athenaum Press, Ginn and Company, 1941.
Knight, Charles, ed. The Works of Shakspere with Notes. Imperial Edition. Vol. I. New York: Virtue & Yorston, [c. 1886].
Knight, Charles, ed. The Works of Shakspere with Notes. Imperial Edition. Vol. II. New York: Virtue & Yorston, [c. 1886].
Lamb, Charles. Tales from Shakespeare: Designed for the Use of Young People. London: Blackie & Son Limited, [no date].
Leeper, Janet. English Ballet. London: Penguin Books Limited, 1944.
MacGillivray, Duncan, ed. Blackie’s Pocket Dictionary. London: Blackie & Son Limited, [no date].
McLeod, Thomas H. and Ian McLeod. Tommy Douglas: The Road to Jerusalem. Edmonton: Hurtig Publishers Ltd., 1987.
Neilson, William Allan and Ashley Horace Thorndike. The Facts About Shakespeare. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1947.
Palgrave, Francis Turner, ed. The Golden Treasury of the Best Songs and Lyrical Poems in the English Language. London: Macmillan and Co., 1888. (FRAGILE)
Pope, Alexander. The Rape of the Lock: An Essay on Man and Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Company, 1901.
Quiller-Couch, Sir Arthur T. The Age of Chaucer. London: J.M. Dent and Sons Ltd., 1939.
Reynolds, Francis J. and Adam Ward, ed. The New World Atlas and Gazetteer. New York: P.F. Collier & Son Company, 1925. (FRAGILE)
Ridley, M.R. ed. and Eric Gill. The New Temple Shakespeare: Cymbeline. Edinburgh: Turnbull & Spears and London: J.M. Dent & Sons, Ltd., 1935.
Robertson, William, ed. Selected Poems of S.T. Coleridge. London: George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd, [no date].
Rostand, Edmond. Cyrano de Bergerac. New York: Random House, 1923.
Scott, Sir Walter. The Lady of the Lake. New York: Hurst & Company Publishers, [no date]. (FRAGILE)
Scott, Sir Walter. Peveril of the Peak. London: J.M. Dent & Co., [no date]
Shakespeare, William. Othello: The Moor of Venice. London, Cassell and Company, Limited, 1902.
Smith, G.C. Moore ed. The Warwick Shakespeare: The Life of Henry the Fifth. London: Blackie and Son Limited, [no date].
St. Pierre, Paul. Breaking Smith’s Quarter Horse. Toronto: The Ryerson Press, 1966.
Stevenson, O. J. ed. Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. Toronto: The Copp Clark Company, Limited, 1933.
Tennyson. In Memoriam. New York: H.M. Caldwell Co., [no date]. (BROKEN BINDING)
Thackeray, W.M., ed. The History of Henry Esmond, ESQ. London: Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1906. (A FEW LOOSE PAGES)
Tinker, Harold L. ed. Essays: Yesterday and Today. London: Macmillan and Company, 1934.
Wallace, Malcolm W. Milton’s Prose: A Selection. London: Humphrey Milford Oxford University Press, 1942. (TORN COVER)
Complete Lectures of Col. R.G. Ingersoll. Published for the Trade, [no date].
The New Testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1881. (BROKEN BINDING)
The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes. London: George Routledge and Sons, 1883. (BINDING BROKEN)
The Works of William Shakespeare, Volume I. London: Methuen & Co., 1905. (BROKEN BINDING)
Young England: An Illustrated Magazine for Recreation and Instruction. Vol. XI. London: William Rider & Son, 1890?
Notes
History/Bio information was provided by the Brandon University Alumni Association (Carla Eisler) in March 2007. An appraisal of the Marion Stone collection was performed by Richard Spafford. The file containing this appraisal is in the donation file held by Donna Lowe, the Library Assistant responsible for donation to the John E. Robbins Library. Description by Christy Henry.
Harold Arthur Kinniburgh was born in New Zealand in 1883. He spent two years in Brandon working at the Experimental Farm during the summer and studying at Brandon College during the winter. After his years at Brandon College he worked in Canada in the dairy industry from two years and then returned to New Zealand for the balance of his life. He devoted his time to developing a dairy farm in New Zealand. Harold Kinniburgh died in 1953.
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of copies of correspondence written by Kinniburgh to his mother in New Zealand while he was attending Brandon College. The photograph is a copy of the 1905 First Year Academic class at Brandon College.
6 cm. textual records; 1921 Brandon College Quill (Commencement Number); approx. 150 photographs
History / Biographical
Evan McDonald Whidden (1898-1980) was born in Galt, Ontario. He was educated at Brandon College. Following service in the Great War he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from McMaster University (Brandon College) in 1921. He obtained a Master of Arts in history (McMaster [n.d.]) and in 1928, a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Yale. Whidden married Frances Margaret Billington in 1941. Together they had three children: Howard John (b.1943), Roberta Katherine (b. 1945) and Eric Christopher (b. 1947).
Dr. Whidden served in Baptist churches in Saskatchewan and Manitoba before joining the faculty of Brandon College in 1936. In 1938, he was appointed Thomas J. Armstrong Professor of church history at Acadia University. He became Dean of the School of Theology at Acadia in 1954, and served in that capacity until 1963. He retired from the faculty of Acadia University in 1967. Dr. Whidden has written in the field of church history and education. He was awarded honorary degrees by the Pine Hill Divinity Hall, Halifax, N.S. (1950), McMaster University [n.d.] and Acadia University (1969).
Custodial History
Since his death in 1980, the fonds has been in the custody of his widow, Mrs. Frances Margaret Whidden. The first accession was donated to the McKee Archives in April, 2001; the second in 2003; and the third in May 2005.
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of Evan Whidden's reports to family members, in particular to his father and mother, on his experience as a member of the Canadian Expeditionary Force during the years 1917-1919. Records also include correspondence from his mother, Katherine Louise Whidden (nee Ganong), to Evan during these years. In these reports, Whidden records his impressions of military life through his training in Canada and England and his experience of war in Europe with the Canadian Expeditionary Force from 1917-1918. He was involved in the conflict only briefly at the conclusion of the war. His letters provide an account of life in France, Belgium and Germany in 1918.
The fonds also contains correspondence dating from the early 1920s from Chester New, a history professor at McMaster, who had previously taught at Brandon College. Fonds also contains correspondence from Whidden's father, Howard Primrose Whidden, President of Brandon College 1912-1922 and, from 1922-1949, Chancellor of McMaster University. This correspondence deals principally with the progress of Evan Whidden's education and his choice of a career in the church or the academic world.
Fonds contains several publications containing the work of Evan Whidden, mostly on religious themes. It also includes newspaper clippings and convocation programs dealing with Dr. Whidden's graduation from Yale and the presentation of honorary degrees to him at Pine Hill and Acadia. The fonds contains newspaper stories on the occasion of the retirement of Howard Primrose Whidden following his lengthy career as President of McMaster University. Death notices for Dr. H.P. Whidden and his wife are also to be found.
Finally, fonds containts approximately 150 b&w photographs of group portraits, individual portraits and activites at Brandon College and a copy of the 1921 Commencement Issue of the Brandon College Quill.
MG 1 Brandon College Teaching and Administration
1.8 Evan McDonald Whidden
Related Material
Whidden's father, Howard Primrose Whidden served as President of Brandon College 1912-1922. His records are located in RG 1, series 2.2 (Brandon College fonds, Office of the Pesident). Records from Evan Whidden's time as College Dean are located in RG 1, series 6 (Brandon College fonds, Office of the College Dean).
Georgina Bernice Matiation (Hill) was born in Virden, Manitoba on February 19, 1936, daughter of Gordon and Florence Hill. She received her education at Brandon College (1954-1956). Originally a student in Arts, she graduated from the Teacher Training program in 1956. During her time at Brandon College, Matiation participated in the College Glee Club as well as college track and field meets. She also acted as Junior Ladies Athletic Representative in 1955. In addition, Matiation was was the President of her Normal School class.
Matiation began her teaching career in Hargrave and Melita, before taking a position at Prince Charles School in Portage la Prairie in 1960. She remained at that institution until her retirement in 1991. In addition to her teaching career, Matiation was a past president of the Portage Evening Ladies Curling Club, a past president of the La Prairie Lioness and a leader of CGIT. She was a lifelong member of the Lenore Presbyterian Church.
Georgina Hill married Zane Matiation in 1970. They had no children. Georgina Matiation died on October 28, 1995 in Portage la Prairie at the age of 59 years.
Custodial History
This collection was donated to the McKee Archives by Bessie Marie Hill of Winnipeg on May 1, 1998.
Scope and Content
The collection consists of items collected by Mrs. Matiation (Hill) during her years as a student at Brandon College. The collection contains a scrapbook of photos of students and activities at the College taken from 1954-1956. Fonds includes copies of speeches made by her at various school events, such as her validictorian speech at the Normal School Graduation in 1956. There is also an autograph book with messages to her from friends and classmates. Finally, the collection includes two photographs of students in the 1924-25 Brandon Normal School, and one photograph of the Westminister Presbyterian Church in Brandon.
MG 2 Brandon College Students
2.23 Georgina Matiation (Hill)
The collection is located with MG 2 2.2 Gerald Brown. It was placed there as a result of space issues.
Edith Mary Laycock was born on June 25, 1913. She attended Brandon Collegiate from 1929 until her graduation in 1931. Ms. Laycock attended Brandon College from 1931-1934, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree. In 1935, she attended the Wheat City Business College and graduated from the Stenographic Course. Ms. Laycock was employed by the Canadian Pacific Railway as a stenographer for many years and belonged to the Canadian Pacific Expressmen's Mutual Benefit Society from 1939.
Edith Laycock was very interested in drama. While attending Brandon Collegiate and Brandon College she participated in school and college plays. She was involved in drama and theatre throughout her aadult life. Edith Laycock directed many of Brandon College's major productions beginning in 1950. She was also the director of many of the plays put on by the Brandon Little Theatre from 1950. Ms. Laycock also performed in the Little Theatre productions when she was not directing.
Ms. Laycock was also involved in many other elements of Brandon life. She served alternatively as the vice-president, secretary, treasurer, and production manager of the Little Theatre throughout the 1940's and 1950's. She was the Social Manager for the Brandon Festival Committee in 1948, the Publicity Chairperson for the Brandon Music Festival Association in the 1950's, and the Secretary of the Brandon Overture Concert Association. Laycock also wrote play reviews for the Brandon Sun in the 1950's. She was the director of the Manitoba Delta Chapter of Beta Sigma Phi. In the 1960's Laycock was a member of the Brandon Council of Women and Chairperson of its Arts and Letters Committee. She was also the Vice-President of the Brandon Art Club in 1960. Edith Laycock also held a 12-week class in creative dramatics for children at the Allied Arts Centre in the early 1960's.
Edith Laycock died in Brandon on December 17, 1987.
Custodial History
This fonds was accessioned by the McKee Archives in 1998. Prior custodial history is unknown.
Scope and Content
This fonds consists of memorabilia kept by Edith Laycock. A large part of the collection consists of programs from plays that Laycock performed in or directed during the 1950's and 1960's. There are also numerous newspaper clippings about Laycock's plays including reviews, pictures, and advertisements. This collection also includes a folder of programs from the Brandon Little Theatre productions in the 1950's, as well as clippings about the Little Theatre. There are also numerous articles about miscellaneous drama and art events throughout Brandon, Manitoba, and Canada. The fonds also includes Laycock's daybook from 1962, and travel notes from Laycock's 1952 trip to Great Britain and Europe. The latter contains a passenger list for the Empress of Scotland, August 5, 1952. The collection further includes Canadian Pacific Railway passes dating from 1947-1963 and a copy of the Canadian Pacific Pension Plan. Fonds also contains material from the various organizations that Laycock was involved with including the Brandon Council of Women and Beta Sigma Phi. Fonds includes 12 photos that appear to be family photos from Laycock's childhood. Finally, the fonds contains various copies of plays that Laycock performed in or directed.
Wilfred Whyte McCutcheon was born 20 April 1919 in Leeds Village, Quebec. McCutcheon attended Macdonald College at McGill University, graduating with a Bachelor of Agriculture in 1942. He completed a Bachelor of Science in 1943 at Concordia, a Bachelor of Arts in 1944, and a Bachelor of Education at Acadia in 1946. McCutcheon gained a Master's Degree in Economics from the University of Toronto in 1948 and completed his Doctoral studes at Cornell University in 1951. McCutcheon spent 1951-52 at the London Institute of Education engaged in postdoctoral studies.
McCutcheon was appointed the Dean of the Faculty of Education at Brandon College in 1955. He was the first Dean of Education at Brandon University. McCutcheon served as Dean until 1967.
With Ms. Joan Garnett, Co-ordinator of the Office of BU Alumni Relations, McCutcheon helped to to establish many awards. With the collaboration of "Tommy" Douglas, Mrs. J.G. Diefenbaker, and Mr. D.L. Campbell, he assisted in the creation of the JRC Evans Student Loan Fund as a memorial tribute to Dr J.R.C. Evans, President of Brandon College 1928-1959.
From 1967 to 1974, McCutcheon taught at the Ottawa Teachers' College, later integrated into the Faculty of Education at the University of Ottawa.
McCutcheon authored over fifty academic articles. He was awarded a honorary Doctor of Education by Brandon University in 1989 and an honorary Doctor of Laws from Concordia University in 1996.
Wilfred Whyte McCutcheon died 31 March 2008. He was predeceased by his wife Phyllis Bishop in 2003.
Custodial History
These records were in Dr. McCutcheon's possession until his death. They were donated to the S.J. McKee Archives by his estate executors and delivered to the archives by Mr. Gerald Brown on their behalf.
Scope and Content
Fonds contains correspondence, pamphlets, publications, photographs, dilpomas and certificates of standing, newspaper clippings, a report prepared by Dr. McCutcheon for the Canadian Governor General's Office concerning the Canadian honours system, a copy of Dr. McCutcheon's doctoral thesis - Cornell University, 1951- and miscellaneous materials related to Dr. McCutcheon's long and distinguished career in Canadian post secondary education and public service.
Ray Bailey was born in Brandon Manitoba in 1922. A Bachelor of Science degree from Brandon College in 1944 completed his education there. Following a short stint as a Chemist he entered the University of Manitoba. There, in 1946, he earned a Diploma in Education. Subsequent study brought a Master of Education degree in 1966. In 1973, he was awareded a Canada Council grant for additional studies.
He began his teaching career at Killarney, MB in March 1946, teaching science. Later he held teaching and adminitrative positions in Melita, Morris and Seven Oaks School Divisions. He retired as Principal of Arthur E. Wright Elementary School in 1986. Bailey was active in the Manitoba Teachers Society and the Manitoba Library Trustees Association. In 1973, the city of Winnipeg gave him a community service award. In 2005, he was a recipient of the Brandon University Alumni Association's Distinguished Alumni Award.
He married Joan Pettipher in 1949. They had four children, Ronald, Ann, Mary and Robert. Joan Bailey died in 1988. Raymond Bailey lived in Winnipeg with his wife Barbara until his death on July 23, 2015.
Custodial History
Book was acquired at a book launch sponsored by Pennywise Books, Brandon, Manitoba in January 2006. The Brandon College documents were probably collected by Bailey during his time as a student in the early 1940s. He donated them to the McKee Archives in November 1994. The yearbooks were delivered to the Archives by Gerald Brown for Bailey in April 2008.
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of an autographed copy of Bailey's book "tadpole to Little Frong (in a big pond)." It also includes three Brandon Collegiate Institute yearbooks the New Era for 1938-40, one file of Brandon College records, including eligibility lists for the Students' Association, a Physics IV test, a letter to Bailey excusing him from non-combat duty due to his work as an assistant in the Chemistry Department, a dance program for the Valentine Formal (1943), a freshman reception list and a program/invitation to a musical evening at the home of Martin Johns, Professor in the Physics Department.
Notes
History/Bio information taken from the author description in Bailey's book. Description by Christy Henry.
Dr. Robert Harvey graduated from Brandon College in 1913 (McMaster Arts). He received a diploma in theology from Brandon College in 1915. Initially a minister in the Presbyterian Church, Dr. Harvey spent the greater part of his life as a minister in the service of the United Church of Canada.
Custodial History
This fonds was accessioned by the McKee Archives in 1998. Prior custodial history is unknown.
Scope and Content
This fonds consists of manuscripts written by Dr. Robert Harvey, various newspaper clippings, primarily from the Brandon Sun, featuring articles written by Harvey. Fonds also contains war-time publications from the Soviet Union, United States of America, and Canada. Topics include: the armistice, biographical accounts of war-time figures, the history of the church in Canada, human rights, communism and fascism.
Robert (Bob) Troy Blair was born on March 11, 1930 in Brandon, MB. His first six years were spent in Alexander, MB, where his father and uncle operated a grocery store. In 1936, his family moved to Souris, MB, where his father ran a grocery store. Blair received his primary and high school education, with the exception of Grade 12, in Souris.
Blair remembers his school years in Souris as mainly happy years. He was involved with both piano and organ music lessons. he was never interested in physical sports with the exception of golf. World War II broke out in September of 1939. Souris became the site of #17 SFTS and home base for the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. Many of the service men came from England, Australia and New Zealand. Blair's mother always entertained at least two for dinner every Sunday. Rationing of sugar, tea and coffee, butter and meat became a way of life. Blair had the job every Saturday of pasting the ration coupons into booklets. It was also when he was in Grade 6, that Blair realized he was more attracted to boys than to girls. Perhaps it was because so many attractive airmen surrounded him!
In November of 1947, the Blair family relocated to Alexander where Bob Blair finished his Grade 11. This was not a good year due to bullying. In September of 1948, Blair moved to Winnipeg to attend United College for his Grade 12. Upon completion of Grade 12, Blair remained in Winnipeg until June 1950. he worked at a number of businesses - Gestetner, Eaton's Mail Order shoe department, Maple Leaf Milling, and the drug store in the Medical Arts Building. In September 1950, he entered Brandon College. Blair was very active in extra-curricular affairs while at Brandon College; particularly drama. Following his B.A. he enrolled in the Education Faculty, having decided to become a teacher.
Blair's teaching career spanned 34 years. All but one year was spent in the Brandon School Division. On his first day of teaching in the Division he met the man with whom he would spend the next 46 years. He was primarily a teacher of English and Music. A highlight of his career was exchange teaching in Sacramento, California in 1961. Orientation for exchange took place in August in Washington, D.C., where Blair had the opportunity to meet President J.F. Kennedy. He vividly recals the morning that JFK was assassinated on November 22, 1963. In September 1965, Blair assumed the principalship of Park School and in September of 1969, the same position at George Fitton School where re remained until his retirement in 1989. He was a member of the Brandon Picnipals' Association, the National Association of Elementary School Principals, and servedas President of the Brandon Teachers' Association. Among his major accomplishments during his time as principal were the introduction of a centralized school library in both Park and George Fitton Schools and the integration of special needs students into regular classroom situations wherever possible. He was made a Life Member of the Manitoba Teachers' Society (Brandon) in June 1990. Following his retirement Blair worked as a Library Automation Consultant (1989-1993).
Blair also had numerous community involvements during his time in Brandon. he was active in the Brandon Little Theatre (Best Actor Award, Manitoba Drama Festival for One Act Plays in 1963), the Brandon Festival of the Arts, the Eckhardt-Gramatte National Music Competition, and Arm Industries to name a few.
Following the death of his partner in 2001, Blair moved to Saskatoon to live with a younger gay couple. He has been active in volunteerism: as an Ambassador for the Saskatoon Airport Authority, assistant with the Saskatoon Health Region's Immunization Clinics, information clerk for the Festival of Trees, data entry clerk for the Saskatoon Music Festival, on the Board of the Saskatoon Jazz Society, and Hospitality Coordinator for the Saskatoon Jazz Festival.
Robert Troy Blair died on July 2, 2024 in Saskatoon, SK. He is buried in Brandon, MB.
Custodial History
Records were in Blair's possession until he donated them to the Mckee Archives on Homecoming weekend October 2013.
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of two scrapbooks containing 145 photographs and ephemera (play and graduation programs, tickets, pins, newspaper clippings) documenting Bob Blair's days at Brandon College. Social events and extra-curricular activities are heavily featured in the two scrapbooks. Also included are graduation portraits for the Classes of 1951, 1952 and 1953. Of the 145 photographs all are black and white except for two photos of the Class of '53 reconvocation (May 1993), and one from the Class of '53 reunion (2003).
Martin Wesley Johns was born to missionary parents Alfred and Myrtle Johns in Chengtu, West China on March 23, 1913. The family returned to Canada in 1925. Johns attended high schools in Tacoma, Washington; Vancouver, BC; Brandon, Manitoba; and Exeter, Ontario. He studied at Brandon College from 1928-1931 before obtaining his B.A. (1932) and M.A. (1934) from McMaster University and his Ph.D. From the University of Toronto (1938). From 1937-1946, he taught physics at Brandon College. In 1972, Brandon University awarded him an honorary Doctor of Science degree.
Johns served in the Canadian Officers Training Corps (C.O.T.C.) in 1940-1941 doing research concerned with neutron physics at Chalk River. In 1947, he joined the Physics Department at McMaster University, where he remained for the remainder of his career.
Johns married Margaret Mary Hilborn on July 15, 1939. Together they have four children: Robert, Elizabeth, Kenneth and Kathryn. Following Margaret's death c. 1979, Johns was married to Elsie North for twenty years. At the age of 90, Johns fell in love with his sweetheart Marian Thompson.
Martin Wesley Johns died on September 18, 2008 at McMaster Hospital.
Custodial History
The notebooks in accession 17-2007 were in the possession of Wesley Wong, former member of the Physics Department at Brandon College, who mailed them to Martin Johns in 2002. Wong suggested Johns donate them to the McKee Archives, which he did on January 28, 2004. The photographs in accession 8-2009 were sent to Carla Eisler, Alumni Relations Officer, Brandon University by Ken Johns (Martin Johns' son) following Martin's death. Eisler transfered them to the Archives in February 2009.
Scope and Content
Accession 17-2007 contains two lab record notebooks used by Martin Johns while he was a member of Brandon College's Department of Physics. The notebooks record class lists, grades, absences, and seating charts for courses Johns taught, as well as regulations for lab reports and major assignments.
Accession 8-2009 contains twenty-one black and white photographs dealing with Brandon College students, faculty and buildings. There a a few photographs of Brandon, as well as one of the Queen Mother from her visit to Brandon in 1939.
Notes
History/Bio information taken from the Martin W. Johns bio file in the Archives reading room.
Bertha Miriam Clark was born on Prince Edward Island but attended public and high school in Brandon, MB. She was a member of the Class of 1929 and served as Lady Stick in her final year at Brandon College.
Clark married J. Scott Leith, Brandon College Class of 1928. Scott and Bertha Leith's son James Clark Leith is in the Canadian Who's Who.
Custodial History
Album was sent to Pat Britton, Brandon University Director of Alumni Relations, by Bertha Leith in April 1991. Britton then transferred it to the McKee Archives.
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of a small accordian style photograph album (7 x 10.5 x 3.5 cm) created by Bertha Clark during her years at Brandon College. The photographs, which measure 4" x 2.75", depict numerous people and events.
Notes
History/Bio information taken from the 1928-1929 Sickle.