The Toal Commission was a Commission of Inquiry conducted by James Toal at the Prince Edward Hotel in Brandon,MB from 1971-1972. The purpose of this inquiry was to investigage a report published by the Brandon Police Department entitled, "Problem Metis Families, City of Brandon," as well as allegations of police harassment in the City of Brandon from January 1, 1970, onward. The report was prepared by the Brandon Police Department following a petition submitted to Mayor Wilton. The petition, signed by approximately thirty residents of Brandon's East End, requested that the city prohibit the sale of homes in their neighborhood to Native families. A copy of the report was obtained by the Brandon Sun, which generated a considerable public response that resulted in the investigation in question.
Custodial History
Records were ordered from the Archives of Manitoba by Brandon University Archivist Tom Mitchell and Brandon University history professor Jim Naylor in 2013.
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of records created over the course of the Toal Commission. It includes copies of verbatim transcripts of the Toal Commission hearings, as well as a commission of inquiry, a report on the commission, and indexes, which list the witnesses and evidence presented for each day of the hearings.
The name Berbank was created by combining the names of two local districts: Riverbank and Bertha. Both were located south of Brandon in the Rural Municipality of Oakland. The Berbank Church was built in 1919. Its construction grew out of the work of the Berbank Red Cross founded in 1917. The Berbank Church was a "union" church, constructed in anticipation of the formation of the United Church of Canada. In 1966, the Berbank congregation joined with the Nesbitt congregation to operate out of the Nesbitt United Church. The final service at the Berbank United Church was held in 1966.
Custodial History
This fonds was accessioned by the McKee Archives in 1997. Prior custodial history is unknown.
Scope and Content
Fonds contains a document titled "Berbank Church History." This document is partially in a printed format with a portion handwritten. Fonds also contains minute books and legal documents pertaining to the ownership of the land upon which the Church was constructed.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees came into existence in September 1963, during a convention in Winnipeg when The National Union of Public Employees and the National Union of Public Service Employees merged. In 1964, the Manitoba Division of CUPE (now CUPE Manitoba) held its founding convention in The Pas. At that time, there were 12 affiliated local unions and a total membership of 1,300. The Canadian Union of Public Employees is Canada's largest union. Public service employees formed CUPE to protect their rights, to negotiate wages and working conditions, and to achieve dignity in the workplace.
Custodial History
Fonds was in the possesssion of the Brandon CUPE Office until its donation to the S.J. McKee Archives in 1995.
Scope and Content
Fonds contains general administrative files of the CUPE including agreements, newspaper clippings, correspondence, and convention records. In addition, fonds includes records for many CUPE locals in southwestern and north-central Manitoba. These includes files for each local containing agreements, lists of officials, correspondence and financial records. An extensive body of records dating from 1956 exists for CUPE local #69. This local began its existence as the Brandon Civic Employees Federal Union formed in April 1919.
2 mm (1 two-page letter -- 1 letter with envelope)
History / Biographical
David Sommerville Charleson was born January 14th, 1884, in Brandon, Manitoba. The Charleson's settled in the GlenSouris area south of Brandon, Manitoba in 1882. David Charleson enlisted on 24 September 1914. He served as a lieutenant in the 6th Infantry Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. Later, he transferred to the 8th Battalion. In Belgium, Charleson was a victim of an enemy gas attack early in the war, following which he returned to Canada incapacitated. Miss Estella Cullen, a trained nurse, cared for him following his return to Canada. David Sommerville Charleson died on May 12, 1925 a victim of war-time injuries. He is buried in the GlenSouris Cemetery just south of Brandon.
Custodial History
This fonds was accessioned by the McKee Archives in 1997. Prior custodial history is unknown.
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of one letter written by Charleson from Belgium in early 1915 to Miss Estella Cullen in Rounthwaite, Manitoba. In the letter, Charleson describes the circumstances facing the Canadian troops in the trenches during the Great War and provides an account of the German trenches facing him. This is an evocative and reflective letter. Philatelists may find the condition of the stamps on the letter envelope of interest.
The International Toastmistress Club was officially organized in October of 1938, in California by Ernestine White. White thought that communication was the key to success in government, business, and community service. The purpose of the club was to help women gain communication and leadership skills. The North Central Region of the International Toastmistress Club began with the formation of the Winnipeg Toastmistress Club in 1946-47. This club was the first Toastmistress Club in Manitoba and the second club in Canada. The idea of forming a Toastmistress Club in Winnipeg came partly from some members of the Toastmaster Club in the city who had heard of the women's club formed in California. Other North Central Toastmistress Clubs soon followed, including more clubs in Winnipeg, and others throughout southern and central Manitoba, such as the Yellow Quill (Portage), Fort La Bosse (Virden), Colleen (Killarney), Cornucopia (Neepawa), Dauphin, Prairie Horizons (Brandon), Valley Echoes (Swan River), Urban Acres (Brandon), and Kinrossie (Souris) Toastmistress Clubs. The North Central Region was renamed the Land O'Lakes Region in 1966. In 1985, the International Toastmistress Club became the International Training in Communication organization.
Custodial History
This fonds was deposited at the McKee Archives on June 2, 1995 by Marlene Brichon of Brandon, Manitoba.
Scope and Content
Fonds includes a scrapbook made by the Urban Acres Toastmistress Club of Brandon, which spans the years 1963-1977. The scrapbook includes pictures, newspaper clippings, and programs. The fonds also includes the minutes of the Urban Acres Club from 1973-1986 and the club's reports from 1964-1986. A large number of newsletters such as the C4 News, Land O'Lakes Schooner, Ten-Talk, The Communicator, Pieces of Eight, and The Gavel, running from 1967-1990, as well as the official newsletter of the International Toastmistress Club "Toastmistress" from 1963-1972 are included. Fonds contains a history of the Winnipeg Toastmistress Club, as well as a history of the North Central Region, which later became the Land O'Lakes Region. There are also brief histories of the Yellow Quill, Urban Acres, Greenmantle, and Nellie McClung Toastmistress Clubs. Included in the fonds are bylaws and standing rules of the Land O'Lakes clubs, as well as the charters of the Yellow Quill, Colleen, Cornucopia, Fort La Bosse, Dauphin, and Prairie Horizons Clubs. A large part of the record consists of the minutes from international and regional meetings for the years 1969 to 1988. The fonds includes a public relations survey from the Land O'Lakes Region 1977-78, evaluations of various council meetings, Land O'Lakes' agendas and budgets from 1980-1985, and lists of Land O'Lakes executives. Finally, the fonds contains reports from various Land O'Lakes clubs from 1968-1992, as well as Land O'Lakes rosters from 1979-1985.
Mildred (Mollie) Norton Kellet was born April 5, 1914, in Birmingham, England to Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Travers. At the age of 18, she joined the Cadbury Brothers Co. as a contometer. In 1942, she married George Crawford Kellet Jr. Mollie and George Kellet had two children together: Patricia (b. 1944) and Ian (b. 1949). In February of 1944, Mollie and her husband relocated to Manchester where George Kellet worked as an accountant.
Following World War II, the Kellets emigrated to Winnipeg, Canada. Mollie remained a mother and homekeeper until 1954, when she was hired as a secretary for Mitchell, Green, and Menouk Lawyers. She was also employed by The Bay and in the securities department of Montreal Trust Co, where she was the manager until 1966. She retired at age 65, but was recalled by the company to work until 1984, when she was 70 years old. In 1990, Mollie moved to Brandon to be closer to her daughter, Pat Alvested. Due to complications from surgery and a weak heart, Mollie Kellet passed away on January 31, 1999.
George Crawford Kellet Jr. was born to George Crawford Kellet Sr. and Lizzie Auld Halliday Kellet on July 16, 1911, in Glasgow, Scotland. An only child, he attended private school, and in 1933, at the age of 21, he was the youngest Chartered Accountant graduate in Britain. At some point between 1933 and his marriage to Mildred (Mollie) Norton in 1942, George joined the British army; while with the army his job was to receive the orders concerning army accounting and process them for soldiers in the field.
George left the army after the war and sailed with his wife and daughter on the Mauretania for Canada. Upon settling in Winnipeg he worked for Family Fair. In 1956 and 1957, he continued to work while setting up his own accounting firm, Kellet & Co. He was also diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 1956. In 1971, George's health forced him to retire. Mollie continued to work at this time. Five years later she was unable to care for him adequately and he moved to a nursing home. In 1985, at age 74, George Kellet passed away.
Custodial History
In January 2000, Pat Alvestad, the Kellets' daughter, donated this fonds to the McKee Archives.
Scope and Content
The records contained within the Mollie Kellet fonds are contributions from both Mollie and her husband George. Included are: a collection of handwritten recollections by Mollie Kellet concerning her experiences during the Second World War (Mollie had been living in London and experienced life under German bombing); a document from WWI, presumably from her father, who was a veteran of this war; and records acquired by George Kellet during his service in the Second World War concerning the practical arrangements made to support troops following the 1944 D-day invasion of Nazi Europe. Marked "top secret," these records set out procedures for paying and provisioning the invading army.
Laurie V. Smith served as the President of the Brandon Branch of the Royal Canadian Legion during the 1940s.
Custodial History
This fonds was accessioned by the McKee Archives in 1997. Prior custodial history is unknown.
Scope and Content
Fonds includes correspondence, policy documents, and publications relating to the activities of the Royal Canadian Legion, primarily in Brandon under the Presidency of Laurie V. Smith, during and after the Second World War. Prominant themes include the aquiring of gifts for hospitalized veterans, primarily through the Canadian Legion Christmas Tree project, veteran rehabilitation, and promotion of the Canadian Victory Loans project.
The Chater Protestant School District was established in 1883, with the arrival of settlers in southwestern Manitoba. In 1890, it became the Chater School District following school reform in Manitoba. The original Protestant District school was a wooden structure constructed in the village of Chater a few miles east of Brandon, Manitoba. In 1906, funds were raised for the building of a cement structure to replace the original wooden one. The Chater School District was dissolved in 1966, but the school house continued to serve as a community center until 1973, when it was demolished.
Custodial History
This fonds was accessioned by the McKee Archives in 1997. Prior custodial history is unknown.
Scope and Content
Fonds includes minutes of the School Trustees (1891-1931, 1940-1959), teaching contracts (1937-1957), financial records of the school (1939-1958), a booklet titled "The Public School Act, The Education Department Act, The School Attendance Act, The Teachers Retirement Allowances Act"(1954), and a collection of school registers (1912-13, 1915-49, 1954-55, 1957-58) from the Chater School District. Included within the minute books of the Chater School District are financial records for the "Chater Association of Patrons of Industry, charter # 3532" (1891-1895). Also included is an ink stamp reading "Chater Protestant School District, No. 181, Manitoba Canada."
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 Berbank Red Cross was founded in November 1917, as a local feature of the Great War. The name Berbank was created by combining the names of the two local districts, Riverbank and Bertha, located south of Brandon in the Rural Municipality of Oakland. The Berbank Red Cross sent supplies of various kinds to local soldiers serving in the Canadian Expeditionary Force in Europe. The organization also organized social gatherings in the Berbank area. With the end of the war most rural Red Cross organizations were disbanded, but the Berbank group agreed to remain intact to assist with the construction of a church. (See accession 28-1997 Berbank Church fonds)
Custodial History
This fonds was accessioned in 1997 by the McKee Archives. Prior custodial history is unknown.
Scope and Content
Fonds includes a minute book, which provides a complete record of every meeting held by the Berbank Red Cross, from its creation in 1917 to 1919, when it became the Berbank Ladies Aid. Fonds also includes a roll call, financial records, and meeting minutes.
Janet Louisa May More was born on the family homestead south of Hartney, Manitoba in 1896. She attended Chain Lakes School and Hartney High School prior to completing Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Education degrees at the University of Manitoba. Following her graduation, More taught in various Manitoba schools for fifty years. In addition, she was a member of the Manitoba Education Association, the Manitoba Library Association, the Turtle Mountain Teachers' Association (of which she was the first President), and the Manitoba Teachers' Society, which nominated her for a Life Mmembership. Janet Louisa May More retired in 1967, and resided in Winnipeg, Manitoba until her death.
Additional biographical information for Janet Louisa May More can be found in her profile as a "Memorable Manitoban" on the Manitoba Historical Society website (http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/people/more_jlm.shtml).
Custodial History
Materials passed into the hands of Gerald Brown who donated them to the McKee Archives.
Scope and Content
Collection contains curriculum materials related to the study and teaching of Chemistry, Algebra, Geometry, Mathematics, English and French language studies in Manitoba dating mostly from the 1940s. Collection also contains Christmas concert and dramatic materials; notes from the Manitoba Fine Arts Committee (April 1939); and notes concerning the Manitoba Camera Club, the Manitoba Drama League, Manitoba Society of Artists, Manitoba Adult Education Association, Winnipeg Sketch Club and the Manitoba Handicraft Guild.
The first Women's Institute in Canada was created by Mrs. Adelaide Hunter Hoodless in Stoney Creek, Ontario, on February 19, 1897. The Women's Institute was created to unite rural women with the hopes that this would help women improve their homes and communities. The motto of the Women's Institute became, "a nation could not rise above the level of its homes." The group was to be non-partisan and non-sectarian to allow for maximum participation. The Women's Institute became one of the very few ways for rural women to meet and share ideas and problems with others. The Women's Institute spread throughout Canada and reached Manitoba in 1910, when Morris and Valley River, Manitoba, formed Women's Institute branches. The Women's Institute branches in Manitoba were known as Home Economics Societies until 1919, when they became branches of the Manitoba Women's Institute. The Home Economics Societies specialized in community service work. At first, the groups concentrated on home management and child care, and eventually they became involved with social and political issues. In addition to community work, the Women's Institute branches also invited many guest speakers to their meetings and promoted education and the dissemination of information to rural women on subjects such as canning, growing fruits and vegetables, dental hygiene and rural electrification. The Manitoba Women's Institute continues its work today.
Custodial History
This fonds was accessioned in 2002 by the McKee Archives. Prior custodial history is unknown.
Scope and Content
This collection has been artificially created and consists of miscellaneous newspaper and magazine clippings, handbooks, newsletters, photos and song sheets collected by various unknown Manitoba Women's Institute branches. Some newletters included in the collection are "Institute News" from the Manitoba Women's Institute, "National Farm Forum Guide", "Federated News" from the Federated Women's Institute of Canada and "The Country Woman" from Associated Women of the World. The newspaper clippings in the collection relate to Women's Institute branches around Manitoba and the rest of Canada.
Related women's institute collections in the McKee Archives include:
Manitoba Women's Institute; Minnedosa Women's Institute; Cordova Women's Institute; Clanwilliam Women's Institute; Rathwell Women's Institute; Strathclair Women's Institute; Crocus Women's Institute; Southwest A Region - Manitoba Women's Institute; Douglas Women's Institute
The first Manitoba Women's Institute was formed in 1910, in Morris, Manitoba. In 1919, existing institutes joined to form the Federated Women's Institutes of Canada at Winnipeg. In 1929, the Associated Country Women of the World was formed with it headquarters in London England; the Canadian Women's Institute affiliated with this organization. As of 2001, the Manitoba Women's Institute still exists, with its headquarters in Winnipeg.
Custodial History
This fonds was donated to the McKee archives by Wilma Bell of Harding, Manitoba in 1997. Prior custodial history is unknown.
Scope and Content
Fonds contains minutes, attendance records, financial records, and annual reports of the various women's institutes in the Southwest A region of Manitoba.
Related women's institute collections in the McKee Archives include:
Manitoba Women's Institute; Minnedosa Women's Institute; Cordova Women's Institute; Clanwilliam Women's Institute; Rathwell Women's Institute; Strathclair Women's Institute; Crocus Women's Institute; Southwest A Region - Manitoba Women's Institute; Douglas Women's Institute
