The United Farmers of Manitoba was founded in 1920. It was an inclusive farmers' organization established to replace the Manitoba Grain Growers' Association. The UFM supported farmer candidates in the 1920 provincial election. In 1922, it helped elect the UFM government of John Bracken (1922-42). The UFM also participated in federal politics, supporting twelve successful candidates in the 1921 federal election. The UFM was financed by its members. Its membership varied from 15,700 in 1923, to 3700 in 1931. In 1939, the UFM became the Manitoba Federation of Agriculture.
Custodial History
This fonds was accessioned by the McKee Archives in 1997. Prior custodial history is unknown.
Scope and Content
Fonds includes documents relating to the membership, both male and female, of the Wingham branch of the United Farmers of Manitoba and the United Farm Women of Manitoba. Documents dealing with the position of the branch on prohibition c. 1922, discussion within the branch of the "wheat pool" movement, annual reports for the organization, newsletters, correspondence on matters political and agrarian, and records relating to the activities of the branch as a cooperative buying agency are also included. Fonds also contains minutes of the provincial convention of the UFM and correspondence from the central office of the UFM.
Industrial Cooperation : the story of a peaceful revolution, being on account of the history, theory, and practice of the co-operative movement in Great Britain and Ireland
William Wallace was born in Scotland around 1859. In 1881, when William was twenty-two, he emigrated to Canada with his father and brother. Once here they settled near what is today Forrest, Manitoba. The following spring they moved to the northwest margin of settlement in Manitoba, homesteading in the Shellmouth area. Wallace remained a resident of the region for the rest of his life. William Wallace was active in community affairs. He was appointed to the post of Secretary-Treasurer of the Shellmouth Municipality in 1887, and he held the position until 1904. In 1909, Wallace was injured in a railway accident, and he had to give up farming. He moved to Shellmouth and took up the position of postmaster, which he held for twenty-seven years. He died in 1945, and is buried at Shellmouth cemetery, Manitoba.
Custodial History
The letters contained in the fonds remained in the possession of Margaret Wallace, who was the original recipient of the correspondence. She emigrated to Canada in 1904. At some point the letters passed to William Wallace who kept them in his possession in Shellmouth. In 1941, William contacted Professor E. J. Westcott of Brandon College regarding the fonds. He offered it to the College for safekeeping. Westcott accepted the letters. Westcott passed the letters on to various officers and staff at Brandon College and then Brandon University. Since 1982, the collection has resided in the S. J. McKee Archives at Brandon University.
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of hundreds of letters that William Wallace and his brother, Andrew, wrote to their sister, Maggie, from 1881 until 1904. The first letter, dated 22 March 1881, was written by both William and Andrew aboard the S.S. Prussia as they sailed to North America from Scotland. The last letter was written on 4 January 1904 by William. It was written to inform Maggie and her husband that William had reserved a homestead in their name. This letter marks the end of the fonds. Later that spring Maggie and John emigrated to Canada to be with her family.
William was keenly interested in everything going on around him; his letters and Andrew's reveal what life was like for inexperienced settlers on the Canadian agricultural frontier in the last years of the ninteenth century. Fonds touches on a variety of social, political and economic themes.
Notes
CAIN No. 202641. A partial accession of the Wallace collection was completed in 1992 by Eileen McFadden.
The idea of the Keystone Centre was first mentioned in 1958, at a meeting of the board of directors of the Manitoba Winter Fair. The Manitoba Winter Fair wanted a new facility because the old Wheat City Arena had a leaking roof and a deteriorating west wall. The old facility also had limited space and the Winter Fair felt it needed more space for expansion. The Provincial Exhibition of Manitoba also had problems with their facilities, such as old barns and poor display areas. The idea of the Keystone Centre was put on hold until 1969, when the boards of the Provincial Exhibition and the Manitoba Winter Fair joined together as the Provincial Exhibition Association of Manitoba and the Wheat City Arena was sold and demolished. The original estimate for the cost of the Keystone Centre facilities was $4.5 million and funding would be proportioned so that the federal and provincial governments would each put in one-third of the money, with the rest coming from local donations. The financial campaign for the Keystone Centre began in 1970, and construction began in November 1970. The grand opening of the Centre was in March 1973, and coincided with the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair of that year.
Custodial History
This fonds was accessioned by the McKee Archives in 1998. Prior custodial history is unknown.
Scope and Content
Fonds contains many folders full of correspondence, financial statements, meeting minutes and other documents relating to the development and construction of the Keystone Centre from 1970-1974, including those from the Keystone Executive Committee, as well as the Building Committee. Fonds also contains one folder that pertains to the Brandon Area Agricultural Development Survey from 1959. This folder contains the names and locations of all farmers in the Brandon area in 1959. The Brandon Area Agricultural Development Survey was created in 1959, in order to make farming in the Brandon area more profitable. The survey was aided by Doane Agricultural Service from St. Louis, Missouri, who had success creating agricultural development programs in the United States. Fonds also contains folders from the Provincial Exhibition with correspondence, pamphlets, estimates, and studies from the 1960's. There is also one folder belonging to the Manitoba Winter Fair, which contains correspondence and financial statements relating to the Wheat City Arena. Fonds also contains information pertaining to the proposals made in the 1960's, for the building of the Keystone Centre, as well as one folder about the Keystone campaign from 1970-73. There is also one folder about the opening of the Keystone Centre, which contains newspaper clippings and guest lists. Finally, the fonds contains information about a court case involving Albert Bobyk and Robert Stewart. Stewart was the project manager for the Building Committee and Bobyk worked on the Keystone Center. The fonds includes a report about the trial of the two men who were charged with fraud involving their work on the Keystone Centre.
The Westman Oral History collection was a project of the Westman Oral History Association and ran from 1980-84. The Westman Oral History Association was created on August 12, 1980, by a steering committee of the Assiniboine Historical Society. The Oral History Association undertook a project called "Voices of Yesteryear." The project was created in order to record and preserve the lives and experiences of early settlers to the Westman area. Work began in 1981, and included interviews conducted with approximately seventy senior citizens from over twenty communities in western Manitoba. The Association held a training session for committee members on April 11, 1981, where 125 participants learned how to conduct an effective interview and how to operate the recorders used in the interviews. The chairman of the Westman Oral History Association was Effie McPhail, the coordinator was Sally Cunningham, and the secretary was Bob Coates. Some of the interviews recorded were used in the early months of 1982 on a local radio station, CKLQ, as part of a program called "Centennial Memories." The project resulted in the creation of the Westman Oral History Collection.
Custodial History
This collection was accessioned by the McKee Archives in 1998. The original tapes from the Westman Oral History project were deposited in the Brandon Public Library. Copies of these originals were made by Margaret Pollex of the Brandon University Language Lab at the request of Eileen McFadden, University Archivist in the early 1990s. These copies compose the collection held in the McKee Archives.
Scope and Content
The collection includes the audiotapes used to record the interviews, as well as corresponding files for each interview subject. The files contain facts about the interviewees, including date and place of birth, occupations, and marital status. The files also include a summary of the interview heard on each tape.
The interviews were done with men and women pioneers from the Westman area of Manitoba, and describe the daily lives of common people during the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. The topics covered in the interviews include the following: Agriculture, Associations and Clubs, Churches and Church Life, Cultural Events, Early Politics, Education, Health Services, Immigration, Local Businesses, Native-White Relations, Pioneer Settlements, Pioneer Way of Life, Social Life, Sports, Transportation, and War Brides. This collection includes interviews with residents from the following communities: Brandon, Boissevain, Brookdale, Carberry, Deloraine, Douglas, Elkhorn, Erickson, Forrest, Glenboro, Hamiota, Hartney, Justice, Kenton, Killarney, Melita, Minnedosa, Neepawa, Ninette, Oak Lake, Rapid City, Reston, Rivers, Shoal Lake, Sioux Valley Reserve, Souris, Strathclair, Virden, and Wawanesa. The interviews also disclose the unique experiences of pioneer women in rural areas. Many of the interviewees provide brief family histories during their interviews.
Notes
Some of the files include photocopied pictures of the interviewees. Description written by Robyn Mitchell (2001).
