Hugh McPherson was born January 25, 1845 at West River, Nova Scotia. He married Margaret Esther Sellers (b. March 18, 1849 at Six Mile Brook, Nova Scotia) on February 5, 1875 at Six Mile Brook, Nova Scotia. The couple moved to Brandon Hills, MB c. 1880. Together they had four children: Georgina (Georgie) Jane; Harriet (Hattie); Johnston (Jack); and Angus.
The couple lived at Watervale, NS until they moved to Manitoba with the Brandon Hills settlers. Hugh travelled to Brandon Hills with the Roddick group in 1879, leaving his wife and three children in Nova Scotia. He selected the N.E. 1/4 of section 10, township 9, range 18 as his homestead. Margaret and the children joined Hugh in 1880.
Situated as it was just north of the river and slightly to the east of the end of the hills, the McPherson home became a sopttin house for travellers from the south making their way to and from Grand Valley and later Brandon. The family records show that literally scores of people stayed with the family during the early years. The fee charged for a meal for the driver plus feed for a team was thirty-five cents. Nellie McClung later described the farm and the stopping-house in one of her early books.
Hugh McPherson died at Brandon Hills, MB on March 7, 1916. Margaret Esther Sellers McPherson died at Brandon Hills, MB on July 13, 1935.
In the fall of 1892, Margaret's brother, Angus Sellers and his family arrived at the McPherson home. Included in this part was Margaret's two sisters Jessie Murray and Libby Sellers. The Sellers family remained with the McPherson's until mid-summer of 1893, when they moved to their new farm at Bunclody.
In 1902, after the death of his wife Blanche, Arthur Prowse accepted Margaret McPherson's offer to foster his daughters Winnie and Kitty. The girls stayed with the McPherson's until their marriages; Winnie to Alex Brown and Kitty to Frank Allbright.
Scope and Content
Contains the following files:
5.1 Margaret McPherson correspondence 1903-1926
5.2 Margaret McPherson correspondence 1927-1931
5.3 Margaret McPherson correspondence 1932-1935
5.4 Margaret McPherson correspondence (undated)
5.5 Margaret McPherson burial/marriage notices 1895-1924
5.6 Margaret McPherson greeting postcards
5.7 Mr. and Mrs. H. McPherson non-greeting postcards
5.8 Margaret McPherson non-greeting postcards
5.9 Hugh Mcpherson notebook 1871
5.10 Hugh McPherson financial records 1913-1918
5.11 Hugh McPherson postcards
5.12 Libby Sellers non-greeting postcards
5.13 Libby Sellers greeting postcards
5.14 Libby Sellers correspondence 1882-1936 (some undated)
5.15 Kitty and Winnie Prowse correspondence and postcards 1916-1923
Notes
Part of the Alfred Angus Murray McPherson collection
For biographical information on Angus McPherson and Hattie McPherson Morrison see the description for Box 6 of the Alfred Angus Murray McPherson collection.
For biographical information on Murray McPherson see the fonds level description for the Alfred Angus Murray McPherson collection.
For biographical information on Hugh McPherson see the description for Box 5 of the Alfred Angus Murray McPherson collection.
For biographical information on Georgie McPherson see the description for Box 4 of the Alfred Angus Murray McPherson collection.
There is no biographical information for George Richardson.
Scope and Content
Contains the following files:
15.1 Medical receipts 1945-1950
15.2 Miscellaneous farm receipts 1945-1950
15.3 Cattle and grain papers 1941-1953
15.4 Correspondence 1943-1951
15.5 Insurance 1909-1952
15.6 Angus McPherson wills 1937-1953
15.7 Angus McPherson - income tax forms and papers 1946-1956 (includes Farmers Income Tax Guides and Farm account book)
15.8 Murray McPherson correspondence 1934-1956
15.9 Hugh McPherson - blank form for Fenian Raid Volunteer Bount Act 1912
15.10 Miscellaneous 1929-1950
15.11 Angus McPherson income tax forms and papers 1943-1947
15.12 Income tax forms/papers 1943-1947 for George Richardson (1947), George McPherson and Hattie McPherson
15.13 Angus McPherson - income tax forms 1918
15.14 Receipts 1947
15.15 Receipts 1949
Notes
Part of the Alfred Angus Murray McPherson collection.
The Original Music Building was completed in 1963. The School of Music moved to the Queen Elizabeth II Music Building in 1985. From c.1986 until 1997, the Original Music Building housed Student Services. Since 1997, the building has been used by the School of Health Studies; a new segment was added to the Original Music Building in 2003 to create the Health Studies Complex.
Scope and Content
Sub-series consists of photographs of the Original Music Building and the Queen Elizabeth II Music Building.
Notes
Queen Elizabeth II Music Building has been abbreviated to QEII Music Building.
Arrangement
All photographs of the Health Studies Complex, which includes the Original Music Building, are part of BUPC sub-series 2.10.
BRANDON COLLEGE BUILDING
The construction of the Brandon College Building, also known as the Original Building, was primarily financed by Mr. and Mrs. William Davies, a Toronto based Baptist meat packer, and his sister Mrs. Emily Davies, also of Toronto, who pledged $5,000 a year for five years to the new Baptist College. Four city blocks between 18th and 20th streets were purchased for the College campus and the tender of Messrs. T.M. Harrington of Winnipeg was accepted in the spring of 1900; Mr. Hugh McCowan of Winnipeg appointed as architect. Mrs. Davies laid the cornerstone for the Brandon College Building on July 13, 1900.
The Brandon College Building was conceived as a substantial five story brick structure with a stone basement. The Tyndall Manitoba quarries, located thrity miles northeast of Winnipeg, supplied the stone and presented the College with the stone steps at the main entrance. The basement contained the dining room, kitchen, laundry, furnace room, a science laboratory, and maids' rooms. The first floor housed the reception room, office, library, four classrooms and the teachers' cloak rooms. The second floor had five classrooms, a reading room, five rooms for resident students and a resident teacher. Teachers' rooms and seventeen rooms for students comprised the third floor; and additional thirteen rooms for residents took up the fourth floor. The residence was to house 70 men. The total cost of the building and furnishings was $44,000. The Brandon College Building was ready for occupancy by October 1, 1901.
CLARK HALL
The cornerstone of Clark Hall was laid by Mrs. A.P. McDiarmid, wife of the Principal of Brandon College, on May 24, 1906. The residence was officially opened on Thanksgiving Day, October 18, of the same year. The construction of the building grew our of a demand for a ladies' college. A canvass made in Eastern Canada had resulted in subscriptions totaling $10,000. When Dr. McDiarmid reported the results of the canvass to the Chairman of the Board, Dr. C.W. Clark of Winnipeg, Clark proposed that he and his wife be allowed to provided the balance of the funds, some $30,000. While presenting the building at the opening ceremony, Clark stated that the reason for his donation was his belief in the power of cultured womanhood - he believed "that refined and Christian mothers were the strength of a nation and that he wished to see in Brandon a chool of learning for women in which every Christian virtue and grace might be illustrated."
Clark Hall was built immediately north of the Brandon College Building and was connected to it by classrooms and the iron door with its door bell, which was rung by gentlemen before being admitted. It is a five story brick building, with fittings of imported Georgia pine. In the basement was the gymnasium, studios and maids' rooms. On the main floor was a spacious reception room furnished by the Honorable A.C. Rutherford, the Premier of Alberta and the Lady Principal's suite, furnished by Mrs. N. Wolverston, wife of the treaurer of the College Board. Music studios and the offices of the resident matron were also on the main floor. The second and third floors were dormitories. The fourth floor was meant to be art studios, but due to registration demands, it was divided into students' rooms. The residence was designed to house fifty students and seven teachers. Piano practice areas were also designated on the west side of the building and on the groundlevel half way between the basement and the first floor.
BRANDON COLLEGE BUILDING AND CLARK HALL RESTORATION PROJECT
By the early 1990s, it was clear that major reconstruction work on the Brandon College Building and Clark Hall was necessary if the buildings were to remain in use. The alternative was to demolish both buildings and construct a new central administrative structure for the campus. Because of the historic character of the two original campus buildings, the decision was taken to mount a complete restoration of the structures that involved a complete removal of everything except for the surrounding brick fascade and the construction of new buildings within the old external walls. This project was financed by the Provincial government of Manitoba, who granted the University approximatley 10 million dollars. The Chief Architect for the restoration was George Cibinal. Work began in 1996 and was completed by the fall of 1997. In addition to the restoration of the Brandon College Building and Clark Hall, a new entrance was built on the west side of the buildings, as well as an addition to Clark Hall, which included a skywalk connecting it to the A.E. McKenzie Building.
Scope and Content
Sub-series consists of photographs of the Brandon College Building and Clark Hall.
Notes
History/Bio information was taken from Brandon College: A History, 1899-1967 by C.G. Stone and F. Joan Garnett (Brandon, Manitoba: Brandon University, 1969), chapters 2 and 3. Tom Mitchell provided history/bio information on the restoration project.
The Citizens' Science Building was built in 1922 and financed by Brandon citizens. It was renamed the Knowles-Douglas Student Union Centre c. 1984 in honour of Brandon College graduates Stanley Knowles and Tommy Douglas, both of the Class of 1930. The Knowles-Douglas Addition was completed in 1987.
Scope and Content
Sub-series consists of photographs of the Citizens' Science Building and the Knowles-Douglas buildings, which include the Knowles-Douglas Student Union Centre and the Knowles-Douglas Addition.
The J.R.C. Evans Lecture Theatre and the A.E. McKenzie Building were both completed in 1960. The Evans Theatre is named for John Robert Charles Evans, who served as president of Brandon College from 1928 to 1959. The A.E. McKenzie Building was originally the Library and Arts building, and was named for A.E. McKenzie, a local businessman and supporter of the College. The George T. Richardson Centre, which includes the Evans Theatre and the John E. Robbins Library, was completed in 1993.
Scope and Content
Sub-series consists of photographs of the A.E. McKenzie Building, the George T. Richardson Centre, the J.R.C. Evans Lecture Theatre, the John E. Robbins Library and the link between the Evans Theatre and the McKenzie Building.
Aerial photographs of the campus were generally commissioned by the College/University to record important milestones, such as centennials, changes in status, and building projects. The general campus photographs were placed in this sub-series because the composition of the images made it difficult to place them with individual buildings.
Scope and Content
Sub-series consists of photographs of the Brandon College and Brandon University campus.
