George F. MacDowell was born in 1913, in Prince Edward Island. He studied at Dalhousie University from 1930 to 1933, but did not complete a degree. During WWII, MacDowell served in Canada and Europe as a member of the Royal Canadian Signals Corps. After the war, he returned to Dalhousie University, graduating with a B.A. in 1947. Subsequently, he graduated with a Masters Degree in Economics from Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. George McDowell taught at both Mount Allison University and the University of Alberta before coming to Brandon in 1957 to teach at Brandon College. He remained as a professor in the Economic Department until his retirement in 1979.
MacDowell's work was published in the Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science. In 1971, McClelland & Stewart published his account of the Brandon Packers strike of 1960 titled "The Brandon Packer's Strike: A Tragedy of Errors." In Brandon, MacDowell maintained a relationship with the local Association of Fire Fighters, aiding them with collective bargaining procedures. He also served as Chairman for the MacKenzie Seeds Board, and was a member of the Manitoba Development Corporation Board.
MacDowell never married and had no known children. He passed away on February 26th, 1986.
Custodial History
This collection was in the possesion of George MacDowell until his death. It was then held by the Brandon University Department of Economics until 1997, at which time it was transferred to the McKee Archives at Brandon University.
Scope and Content
The bulk of this fonds falls into five main categories:
1. Records dealing with the Brandon Packers Strike of 1960 and the subsequent legal actions against the owners, including all 2215 pages of the Brandon Packers Strike Commission;
2. Records dealing with the Commission of Inquiry into The Pas Forestry and Industrial Complex, including the complete transcript of the inquiry measuring approximately 5m. This Commission dealt with the conduct of Churchill Forest Industries, a company owned by a Swiss financial firm, which, in the 1960's, was given approximately 93 million dollars by the Roblin Provincial Government to develop The Pas Forestry and Industrial Complex. Churchill Forest Industries and its parent company subsequently came under suspicion of fraud and accused of fradulently transfering The Pas Forestry funds into other foreign business interests;
3. Records dealing with business loans awarded by the Manitoba Development Corporation during the 1970's and 1980's to businesses primarily within Manitoba;
4. Records dealing with McKenzie Seeds, and McKenzie Steele-Briggs Seeds during the early 1980's when George MacDowell was a board member of McKenzie Seeds;
5. Records dealing with Professor MacDowell's career as a Professor at Brandon University, including records relating to his courses and to administrative activities.
To a lesser extent, this collection includes records dealing with the University of Saskatchewan College of Commerce, the publication the "Manitoba New Democrat," issues associated with politics, labor and union in the prairie provinces from the 1960's to the 1980's, articles from various economic periodicals including "Economica" and "Public Finance," a variety of government reports from 1941 to 1981, and records dealing with George MacDowells' relationship with the Brandon Firefighters Association.
Notes
File level inventory available. Description written by Mike White (2002).
On November 11, 1971, A. E. McKenzie Co. Ltd. acquired Steele Briggs Seed Co. Ltd., Rennie Seeds, and the Canada Seed Co. from Maple Leaf Mills Limited of Toronto, Ontario. The purchase included the packet seed business and most of the brand names and trademarks of the above companies as well as the Steele Briggs properties in Winnipeg and Regina, and all of the equipment in their Toronto location. This same location was leased by A. E. McKenzie Co. for a number of years. As a result of the acquisition of Steele Briggs, the name of A. E. McKenzie Co. was modified to A.E. McKenzie Co. Ltd. - Steele Briggs Ltd; each company continued to operate under its respective trade names in the marketing of Garden Seeds, Lawn Grass and other product lines across Canada.
The Steele Briggs Seed Co. was founded in 1873 in Toronto, although at the time of its inception, the company, which was a small retail seed store, was known as Steele Brothers and Company. Two of the company's founders, Mr. R. C. Steele and Mr. S. E. Briggs, were already involved in a grocery and produce business in Oshawa, Ontario together.
From the first store at 23 East Market Street, Toronto, Steele Briggs moved into a new warehouse at the Southeast corner of Front and Jarvis Streets in 1887. However, by 1888, new premises were required due to the rapid growth of the company, and a warehouse was leased at 107 Front Street East. Five years later, a separate store was opened to manage the local retail and mail order sections of the business at 132 King Street East. The annual increase in trade, however, made the construction of a new five-story building necessary in 1911-1912.
By 1902, the volume of business the company was receiving from Western Canada led to the establishment of a branch house in Winnipeg. Further expansion occurred in 1922, when Steele Briggs purchased a large warehouse and Seed Cleaning elevator at Regina in order to more adequately deal with the demands of the Western Provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. In 1933, a branch house was opened in Edmonton, and in 1956 one was established in Vancouver.
In its formative years, prior to the 1930's, the management group was comprised of a number of well-known businessmen. These included: Mr. J.S. Steele, Mr. E. F. Crossland, second Vice-President and General Manager, Mr. W. D. Steele, first Vice-President and Manager of the List Seeds Department, Mr. C. J. Turnbull, General Manager of the Western houses and Seed Grain supplies, Mr. R. S. Ferguson, Assistant Manager of the Catalogue and Wholesale trade located in Winnipeg, and L. B. Robinson, Assistant Manager and Accountant at Regina.
Sometime between 1944-1948, Mr. W. D. Dack was appointed President of Steele Briggs, and, in 1951, he announced new executive appointments to the company. Mr. George F. Boyd was appointed Manager of Steele Briggs' Regina branch and later supervisor of all Western branches as Vice-President in charge of Western Canada Operations. Mr. C. S. Beattie was appointed Secretary Treasurer of the company. In June of 1964, D. H. MacKay, E. R. Seede of Regina and Tom Gray of Edmonton, were named to the Company's Board of Directors.
For many years Steele Briggs published and distributed a retail catalogue, the first was published in 1875.
Rennie Seeds Ltd. was founded by William Rennie in 1870 and incorporated in 1905. It was located in a small store at Adelaide and Jarvis Streets in Toronto. Following the death of Mr. Rennie, the business carried on under the leadership of his son Thomas Rennie, and subsequently under Thomas Rennie's son-in-law K. J. Harrison. Steele Briggs acquired Rennie Seeds in 1961.
The Ferry Seed Company, which operated primarily in Eastern Canada, was bought by the Steele Briggs Seed Co. in 1926, effectively ceasing all operations under the Ferry name.
Custodial History
See fonds level description of custodial history of A. E. McKenzie Seed Co. Ltd.
Scope and Content
Sub-series consists of financial records, miscellaneous documents, including some correspondence and files relating to the merger of Steele Briggs Seeds and McKenzie Seeds. Information regarding the Canada Seed Company can also be found in the sub-series.
The sub-series also contains a scrapbook (500 pages; 24 x 28 x 6 cm) dealing with Steele Briggs Seeds and the seed industry. Items in the scrapbook include newspaper/magazine clippings dealing with executives of the company (including the death of prominent members), commentaries on the seed industry and seed varieties and a number of general interest columns. A copy of the painting "A Gateway to Canada's Granary, Winnipeg 1872" by J.D. Kelly is also included. Photographs, magazine advertisements, correspondence and writings on seed varieties are also located in the sub-series. A page level inventory of the types of seeds included is available for the scrapbook.
A copy of the 1893 Steele Briggs catalogue is also contained within the sub-series. Special attention should be paid to the color covers included near the beginning of the book.
The sub-series is divided into five sub sub series, including: (1) Merger; (2) Financial; (3) Miscellaneous; (4) Canada Seeds; and (5) Scrapbook.
Storage Location
RG 3 A.E. McKenzie Company fonds
McS 3 Acquisitions
Related Material
Historical information relating to Steele Briggs Seeds is located in the A.E. McKenzie Seed Co. Ltd. fonds, Series 2 (Office of the President/GM), sub-series 2 (J. Lasby Lowes), Historical Topics, file 10 (tape 23) and file 11 (tape 24).
Sales literature and seed packets for Steele Briggs Seeds are located in the A.E. McKenzie Seed Co. Ltd. fonds Series 2 (Office of the President/GM), sub-series 4 (Marketing).
One photograph of Steele Briggs Seeds can be found in Series 5 (Photographs) in the sub-series 5.17, Steele Robertson/Steele Briggs of the A.E. McKenzie Seed Co. Ltd. fonds. There is also a Steele Briggs poster located in oversized drawer # 4.
In Series 6 (Miscellaneous) of the A.E. McKenzie Seed Co. Ltd. fonds, under the Centennial Exhibition, there is a folder for Steele Briggs containing various records/documents for the company that were used in the display.
Customers and employees of A.E. McKenzie Seed Co. Ltd. donated some of the records in this series. Others were taken for insurance purposes, while some of the records involve McKenzie subsidiaries. Some of the records may have been taken as advertisements or for promotional reasons. Most of the records were generated by the company itself and deal exclusively with McKenzie Seeds and its business operations or the seed industry.
Custodial History
Photographs in sub-series 5.14, 5.15, 5.16 were donated to McKenzie Seeds by Irene Cullen, Josiph Airey, and Alan R. Mundie respectively.
See fonds level description of custodial history of A. E. McKenzie Seed Co. Ltd.
Scope and Content
Series consists primarily of black and white photographs pertaining to A.E. McKenzie Seed Co. Ltd and the seed industry. Included are photographs of the McKenzie Building, plant and field workers and equipment, executives, particular events at McKenzie Seeds and product photographs. A complete list of categories can be found below.
The series is arranged as follows:
5.1 McKenzie Seed Co. Ltd. Executives
5.2 Construction at McKenzie Seed Co. Brandon (two files)
5.3 Exterior Photographs of the A. E. McKenzie Co. Building
5.4 McKenzie Seed Co. Plant Operations and Workers (two files)
5.5 McKenzie Seed Co. Equipment and Plant - Head Office 1983
5.6 McKenzie Seed Co. Field Operations and Workers
5.7 McKenzie Seed Co. Strike 1944
5.8 Fires at McKenzie Seed Co. 1910, 1945, 1972
5.9 McKenzie Seed Co. Centennial Exhibition 1996
5.10 Miscellaneous McKenzie Seed Co. Photographs
5.11 People Connected to McKenzie Seed Co.
5.12 Princess Anne's Visit to McKenzie Seed Co. 1982
5.13 Onion Set Production Book
5.14 Irene Cullen Photographs - McKenzie Seeds Employee Photos
5.15 Josiph Airey Photographs - McKenzie Product Photos
5.16 Alan R. Mundie Seed Production Photographs
5.17 Steele Robertson/Steele Briggs Seeds Photographs
5.18 Seed Packet Display Units Photographs
5.19 Product Photographs
5.20 Parade Photographs
*5.21 Oversized Photographs
5.21.1 Drawer #1: Executive Photographs
5.21.2 Drawer #2: Office and Equipment/Plant Photographs
5.21.3 Drawer #3: Miscellaneous Oversized Photographs
5.21.4 Drawer #4: Artifacts
Notes
* The term "drawer" in the Scope and Content Filed for sub-series 5.21, referes to the oversized map drawers in the McKee Archives reading room.
Errol Black's article on the strike at McKenzie Seeds (sub-series 5.7) titled “25c an hour; 48 hours a week; more toilets; less cats: the labour struggles of the "girls" at the A.E. McKenzie Company in Brandon,” was published in Prairie Forum, spring 1992 vol 17 no 1 pp. 33-59.
Finding Aid
An inventory is available for the artifacts, as well as each of the photograph sub-series.
Storage Location
RG 3 A.E. McKenzie Company fonds
McS 5 Photographs
Related Material
MG 1 (A.E. McKenzie Fonds), sub-series 1 (Brandon College Inc.) of the A.E. McKenzie Seed Co. Ltd. fonds contains photographs relating to the History of Brandon College Inc. booklet.
Series 1 (Board of Directors), sub-series 5 (Financial), of the A.E. McKenzie Seed Co. Ltd. fonds contains some photographs in the file entitled Steele Briggs Spring Campaign for Edmonton. The pictures are part of a sales booklet.
Steele Briggs related photographs are located in the scrapbook in Series 3 (Acquisitions), sub-series 2 (Steele Briggs) of the A.E. McKenzie Seed Co. Ltd. fonds.
This sub-series consists of publications that did not fit into any of the preceding series or sub-series.
Custodial History
See fonds level description of custodial history of A. E. McKenzie Seed Co. Ltd.
Scope and Content
This sub-series includes one copy each of Manitoba Business Top 100 (June 1985), Trade and Commerce Supplement, Brandon (c. 1963) and Manitoba Business (November 1985).
It also includes a Christmas Song book, the book "By Gossip and Myth" by Prof. George MacDowell and a document entitled "Background Information re A.E. McKenzie Seed Co. Ltd."
The following newspaper clippings have been located in the map case drawer #4 located in the archives reading room:
1. $175,000 Gift Set for College from City Man
2. McKenzie Will Leaves House to Arts Centre
3. The Old Alma Mater is Down on Her Knees
4. How to Help the Alma Mater
5. Good Things are "growing" on at McKenzie Seeds (ad)
6. Fire fails to halt work at McKenzie Seeds
7. McKenzie Seeds: new facilities are first in North America
8. A full-page advertisment for McKenzie Seeds from "The Brandon Sun" (September 24, 1971)
Storage Location
RG 3 A.E. McKenzie Company fonds
McS 6 Miscellaneous
The scrapbooks in this sub-series are fragile, particularly the product book. They must be handled with great care.
Custodial History
See fonds level description of custodial history of A. E. McKenzie Seed Co. Ltd.
Scope and Content
This sub-series consists of three scrapbooks. Two of the three contain copies of advertisements for a number of businesses, including McKenzie Seeds, Steele Briggs, Patmore's, Rennie's, and McFayden Seeds. Clippings dealing with a variety of other companies in the seed industry are also included. The third scrapbook contains pictures of various flowers, vegetable, herbs and other seed products in alphabetical order. An inventory is available for the third scrapbook.
Notes
Date(s) of creation, including distribution, publication, etc.:
a) [No title] ad book - 1906-1911
b) "Scrap Book" ad book - 1917-1926
c) [No title] product book - c.1903 - c.1940
Storage Location
RG 3 A.E. McKenzie Company fonds
McS 6 Miscellaneous
In the period leading up to World War I, Brandon, due to its excellent railway connections, was also home to branch offices of a number of large manufacturing companies during this period. Among those manufacturing outfits were William Gray & Sons Co. Ltd., and Mason Campbell Company. Based in Chatham, ON, these companies were leading manufacturers of carriages, sleighs and light wagons and fanning mills respectively. Constructed in 1907, by Giddings and Wyman for approximately $15,000, the four-storey structure was located at 801 Pacific Avenue and was shared by the two companies.
In response to the new technology of the gasoline engine, Wm. Gray & Sons entered into a partnership with the Dort Motor Company, of Flint, MI in 1915, and began designing and producing the Gray-Dort automobile; Mason Campbell’s Chatham plant became the assembly plant for the Gray-Dort. Production of the car spanned nearly ten years with over 20,000 Gray Dorts made. The company had over 300 dealers across the country, including one in Brandon.
In 1924, the Dort Motor Company decided to cease production, sending the Gray Company into significant debt. They were forced to close their doors in 1925, when Gray was unable to find a suitable partner to manufacture the car.
Following the closure of Gray-Campbell Ltd., portions of the warehouse were used by a number of businesses between 1925 - 1948, including farm and agricultural implement concerns Canadian Stover Co., Cameron & Rathwell, and Case (J.I.) Co. Ltd., the McKay Fruit Co. Ltd., Brazzell Motors, AC Bateman (electrician), Samuel Coxe (veterinarian) and Burns & Co. Ltd (packing house and egg grading station).
In 1949, the warehouse was taken over by Canada Grocers Ltd., who remained until 1973, when the building became Kullberg’s Big Warehouse. When Kullberg’s moved their warehouse to the old International Harvester building in 2004, the Wm. Gray & Sons Co. Ltd. building was torn down.
Custodial History
See fonds level description of the Alf Fowler collection for custodial history.
Scope and Content
Photo shows the front of William Gray & Sons Co. Ltd. Wording and signs on the bulding include: "High Grade Carriages, Chatham, Ont."; "Scales"; "Incubators"; "The Manson Campbell Co. Ltd."; "Kitchen Cabinets"; "Chatham Fanning Mills"; "Emerson (New Standard) Mowers"; "Tudhope Carriages"; "Agency for Sylvester Drills"; "Stover Coy Gasoline Engines"; "Gray-Campbell, High Grade Carriages"; and "Phone 771."
Storage Range
RG 5 Western Manitoba Manuscript collection - photograph storage drawer
The Rat Portage Lumber Company Ltd. was located on 10th Street at the corner of Princess Avenue.
Custodial History
See fonds level description of the Alf Fowler collection for custodial history.
Scope and Content
Photo shows premises of The Rat Portage Lumber Co. Ltd. - lumber, sashes, doors, mouldings, hardwood & interior finish, brick, glass, builders supplies. The view is south along 11th Street.
Storage Range
RG 5 Western Manitoba Manuscript collection - photograph storage drawer
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