See RG 6 Brandon University fonds, 7.4.1 Dean of Music for biographical information.
Custodial History
The records were collected during the course of Jones' career as a member of the School of Music and as Dean of the School of Music. They remained in his possession until their donation to the McKee Archives on June 29, 2011.
Scope and Content
Collection consists of records created and collected during the course of Lawrence Jones' teaching career in the School of Music and during his tenure as Dean of the School of Music at Brandon University.
Records include: dean's log books; recital programs and related materials; personal documents; academic papers; planning documents; contracts; administration documents; workshop documents; teaching documents; proposals; reviews; evaluations; violin concerto by S.C. Eckhardt-Gramatte, piano score, edited by Lawrence Jones. Topics include: planning for the School of Music; Master's degree program; award winners; the music building expansion; adjudicating; the New Brandon University Trio; and the National Music Festival.
Leonard Salisbury Evans was born on August 19, 1929 in Winnipeg, MB and was educated at the University of Winnipeg, the University of Manitoba, Simon Fraser University and the University of Ottawa. He was employed as an economist and a professor of economics before entering political life. Evans first ran for public office in the Canadian federal election of 1953 as a candidate for the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation in the constituency of St Boniface. Evans was elected to the Manitoba legislature as a New Democrat in the provincial election of 1969 in the constituency of Brandon East. He was appointed Minister of Mines and Natural Resources in the Edward Schreyer government. Later he assumed the position of Minister of Industry and Commerce. He occupied this position until the defeat of the Schreyer government in 1977. Evans was re-elected in the provincial elections of 1973 and 1977. Following the return to government of the New Democratic Party in 1981-1988, Evans held various senior cabinet posts. Evans served as opposition finance critic from 1988 to 1999. Evans retired from active politics with the 1999 provincial election.
Custodial History
These records were created during the 1990s and held in the Brandon East constuency office until they were brought to the S.J. McKee Archives by Drew Caldwell in November 2003. Drew Caldwell succeeded Len Evans as the MLA for Brandon East in the 1999 provincial election.
Scope and Content
Collection consists of correspondence between Evans and various constituents on a wide range of topics - personal and otherwise - and subject files on social, economic and political matters relevant to Brandon East.
Notes
Description by Tom Mitchell.
Access Restriction
Constituency correspondence closed for thirty years from the date of its creation.
Leonard Andrew Muirhead (1918–2008) was the only child of Andrew and Isabella Muirhead. He grew up on the farm homestead in the Summerville District near Carberry, Manitoba. He graduated from Carberry Collegiate when he was sixteen. He helped out on the farm for two yeas after graduation then attended United College, Winnipeg, and then Brandon College. Muirhead then worked in the Financial Department at Canada Packers in Saint Boniface until 1942. In 1942 he returned home and helped his father with the farm operation. Leonard married Verle Sinclair, a local schoolteacher, on October 12, 1951. They had three daughters: Iris, Gwen, and Arla. In 1965, health reasons made him give up active farming and he began an income tax preparation business as well as selling investments for Trust Companies.
Leonard Muirhead attended Brandon College for the 1937-1938 school year. This was the last year that Brandon College was associated with McMaster University as it then became affiliated with the University of Manitoba.
Custodial History
The papers remained with Leonard Muirhead’s papers until his daughter, Iris Muirhead, donated the papers to the S.J. McKee Archives in 2011.
Scope and Content
Collection consists primarily of 1938 examination papers from Brandon College, when it was affiliated with McMaster University. It also contains an exam schedule and a course outline. It contains examination papers from spring 1938 for the courses of 2nd and 3rd Years Physics 2y, 3w, Bible 2k, Psychology 2a, Mathematics 2x, Mathematics 1e, a syllabus for second term English 1g2a, and an examination timetable for spring 1938 for Brandon College.
Notes
History/Bio information taken from conversation with Leonard Muirhead's daughter, Iris Muirhead in October 2012 and from obituary http://passages.winnipegfreepress.com/passage-details/id-136216/(accessed October 24, 2012). Description by Jennifer Sylvester (October 2012).
The Leonard Muirhead collection is available at the Carberry Plains Archives. Leonard Muirhead also donated records related to Montrose School and Carberry 4-H Combines to the Carberry Plains Archives.
Gerry Beaubier was born in Wainwright, Alberta to Beatty and Babe Beaubier. He completed his high school in Saskatoon, before receiving a BSc in Geography from Brandon University.
Before attending university Gerry served in the army as a special reserve, while working as a night clerk at the Bessbourough Hotel in Saskatoon. His post-graduate career consisted primarily of work for Canada Agriculture, under the PFRA Branch (Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration). Later he would work as an Executive Manager, helping develop forage and range management programs for several post secondary schools, including, Assiniboine Community College, as well as schools in Red Deer, Lethbridge, and Saskatoon.
Gerry Beaubier married Joyce Abercrombie, of Saskatoon. Together they had two sons: Neil and Dean. Neil, an Account Advisor for the Royal Bank, was born in Regina, and currently works in Swift Current. Dean was born in Swift Current, received his PhD in Education and currently lives in Forrest working at Elton Collegiate.
The Beaubiers, who were originally from Ireland, emigrated to the Canadian West, making Gerry part of the fourth generation of his family to call the region home. His great-grandfather, along with his grandfather and great uncle were amongst the first one hundred settlers in Brandon. Together they first built the Beaubier House, a boarding house for early settlers and travellers. After it burnt down they began construction on the Beaubier Hotel, which stood at the corner of 8th Street and Princess Avenue in Brandon until August 17th, 2008. His grandfather, David Wilson Beaubier, continued to build and operate hotels throughout the prairies, including the Empire Hotels (of Brandon and Saskatoon) and The Park (Moose Jaw).
David Wilson Beaubier served as a secretary of the Orange Lodge of Manitoba. As an Orange Lodge Colonel, he worked with other Orange Lodge members, to recruit throughout the prairies for the purpose of World War One. For his efforts , David was promoted to Leftenant Colonel, and later Captain of the 99th Manitoba Rangers. David's sons (Gerry’s father, at University of Manitoba, and uncle at McGill), were both working towards undergraduate degrees when war broke out in 1914, and each would leave school to join their father at Camp Hughes.
Custodial History
Gerry Beaubier collected these photos primarily in the years 2000-2011, largely
from family and friends who knew of his interest in the topic. They were donated to the S.J. Mckee Archives in 2011.
Scope and Content
Collection consists of digital photographs of those who trained for battle in World War I at Camp Hughes and in Brandon, Manitoba. It also includes a digital copy of the cover of the Nominal Roll of Officers, Non-Commissioned Officers and Men, who departed from Brandon in 1917.
The photos, taken primarily at Camp Hughes, are of a number of battalions, including the 34th, 100th, 108th, 181st and 214th. The photo, PT in England, is a postcard sent home from Beaty Beaubier. The Massey Harris building seen on the right side of, WW1 B parade0001, was used to house troops throughout the war. The man standing alone at the front of the parade in, 181 Parade, is David Wilson Beaubier.
Notes
Information for the biographical and custodial histories was provided by Gerry Beaubier on September 25, 2013. Description by Dustin Lane (October 2013).
Generally good. Some tears. Issues located first and last in the folders Lindsay stored them in are missing sections where the page stuck to the folder.
History / Biographical
James Gordon Lindsay was born June 16, 1925 in Minneapolis, Minnesota where his father, James Lindsay, a Brandon pioneer from Northern Ireland, had been working for the Coca Cola Bottling Company. In November 1925, the Lindsay family moved back to Brandon where they lived at 547 16th Street.
Lindsay attended Park School, Earl Oxford Junior High School and Brandon Collegiate. In September 1943, he entered 2nd Year at Brandon College, joining the Class of 1946. Due to past experience in publishing the BCI yearbook, he was drafted into The Board of Publications and named Co-editor of the Quill along with third year student Genevieve Fuloski. Lindsay and Fuloski held their positions for two years. Because of the war, money and supplies were in short supply and the Quill at one point was reduced to mimeographed pages. While Editor Lindsay wrote The eggshell-Slightly Cracked column.
Lindsay was named Senior Stick in 1945 and graduated from Brandon College with a B.Sc. in 1946. He obtained both his MSc (1948) and PhD (1951) in Physical Chemistry from McMaster University.
During his time in Hamilton, Lindsay met Shirley Woolmer and the couple married on September 2, 1950. They moved to Arvida, Quebec in 1951 where Lindsay accepted an offer from Aluminium Laboratories Limited, the research arm of Alcan Aluminium Ltd. The couple remained in Arvida for twenty-two years, during which time they had four children: Sharon, Heather, Geoffrey and David.
In 1973, Lindsay was transferred to Alcan's head office in Montreal where he spent the next three years co-ordinating alumina research in Alcan plants around the world. In 1976, he accepted a transfer to Alcan Jamaica as Chief Technical Officer and Manager of Technical Development. He and Shirley spent nearly eight years in Jamaica before returning to Canada in 1984. After a yaer at Alcan's Research Centre in Kingston, ON Lindsay took early retirement.
During their years in Jamaica Lindsay had been introduced to Rotary and he continued his association with the organization in Kingston where for fifteen years he was Bulletin editor of the Kingston-Frontenac Rotary Club. In addition to Rotary, Lindsay (along with his wife) took up genealogy in his retirement and after fifteen years of extensive travel and research he became his Lindsay family's historian and author of The Lindsays of Dundonald.
For three years in the late 1980s Lindsay served as a representative on the Brandon University Alumni Executive for Eastern Canada. Along with his wife he attended two class reunions at Brandon University including his 50th Re-convocation in 1996.
At present (June 2010) Gordon Lindsay continues to live in Kingston, ON with his wife.
Custodial History
Materials remained in Gordon Lindsay's possession from time of creation until he donated them to the Archives on September 4, 2009.
Scope and Content
Collection consists of copies of the Quill, including:
1942-1943: No. 11 (January 26, 1943)
1943-1944: Nos. 2, 12, 14 (October 20, 1943, February 2, 1944, February 16, 1944)
1944-1945: Nos. 1-5 and 7-12
1945-1946: Nos. 1-10 (11 issues as there are two labelled No. 4)
Notes
History/Bio information provided by Gordon Lindsay. Description by Christy Henry.
The importance of knowledge and education to the Manitoba Wheat Pool is made clear in the The Scoop Shovel, the official organ of the Manitoba Wheat Pool and other co-operatives in Manitoba. Established in the 1920s, The Scoop Shovel owed its existence to a decision by the directors of the Pool to set aside small percentage of income per bushel for educational purposes. R.A. Hoey began to hold meetings to discuss the idea that the Pool was about more than just marketing grain, and in 1926 a Department of Education and Publicity was organized within the Pool. It was directed by J.T. Hull and advised by R.A. Hoey; they expanded and supervised The Scoop Shovel.
They also began to accumulate the educational volumes that would become the Pool library. Hull announced in November of 1926 that the library would be open by the end of the month and reported that: "We have a good representation of works on sociology... On co-operation we have about every book that we can find published in the English language. We have also a good selection of books on economics, history, science, general literature, and rural life. In a word, we have tried to make the library one of usefulness to people whose life is on the land."
He also encouraged Pool members--who were the only ones allowed to use the library at this time--to utilize the library to educate themselves, saying “Use it, for knowledge is power”.
Once the library was open to all Pool members, Hull wrote a regular column for The Scoop Shovel called “In the Library”, in which he would review books and recommend reading in response to frequent questions from members. When the library gained new books, which was almost continually, he would list them and sometimes discuss them.
The library service was a mailing one; the main collection was kept at the Manitoba Wheat Pool central office in Winnipeg and members could request a catalogue of all the library holdings. If they wanted to borrow a book or books on a specific topic, they could write to Hull and the books would be mailed out to the member and returned by mail, all postage costs covered by the Pool Library.
During the crisis of the early 1930s, the library was saved because the Manitoba Co-operative Conference believed it was vital to the success of the Pools and the co-operative movement. The Conference took over administration of the Pool library in 1931, leasing the books and equipment from the Wheat Pool. The library was formally incorporated under a charter after it changed hands, the other charters members being the Co-operative Marketing Board and the United Farmers of Manitoba.
In 1935 the service was made available free of charge to all rural Manitobans with the financial support of the Co-op Marketing Board. By 1939, Manitoba Pool Elevators had begun to prosper again, and took back responsibility for the administration and housing of the library. The traveling library was also established around this time, and hundreds of boxes were distributed to all MPE points. The boxes were rotated and refreshed twice a year.
In 1942 Hull estimated that there were approximately 4,700 books in the Pool Library with an annual circulation of 4,000 to 5,000 books. Operating the library cost around two thousand dollars per year, although the cost was split between the members of the Manitoba Co-operative Conference, at least it was in theory. The Pool library ran as a free service to all rural Manitobans, regardless of whether they were members of the Pool, and the federal government census in 1941 indicates that over half of Manitoba’s population (56%) still lived in rural areas. In 1948, the majority of the Pool Library’s services were rendered unnecessary by an act called the “Public Libraries Act” that had been passed by the Manitoba legislature on April 22, 1948, and would go into effect July 1, 1948. The act provided for the establishing of a provincial “Public Library Advisory Board” that would be appointed by the government. Once the board had been established, the act allowed for the establishment of municipal and regional libraries that would be the administrative responsibility of the municipality or region they served and would be supported by a land tax levied on the population that would have access to the library. All employees of the central provincial library would be considered civil servants.
When the Provincial Library was being established in 1949, the Minister in charge of education--Ivan Shultz--actively sought both the advice of those who operated the Pool Library and the physical resources of the Library. In a letter to W.J. Parker, the President of Manitoba Pool Elevators, Shultz wrote that: "We find that in looking at the province as a whole that the box library service of the Manitoba Pool Elevators is the best developed and the best distributed within the province... We would feel that to a considerable extent you had pioneered in this field and we would be using your accomplishments as a springboard for a wider coverage of the province and an enlargement of the service."
He also requested that Miss E.L. Shields—the Pool Librarian--be released from Pool employment so that the Provincial Library could hire her for a year to aid in setting up the new library system.
An agreement was reached between MPE and the Provincial Library, and the bulk of the Pool Library was transferred to the province. The Pool retained the volumes it wished to keep as reference for its employees, and donated the rest of the open shelf library to the province. The traveling library service was sold at a discount to the province, with the caveat that service not be interrupted during the transfer and that the quality of service to rural Manitoba not diminish once the Library had been entirely transferred to the government. In a letter to Ivan Shultz after the agreement to sell the traveling library had been reached, W.J. Parker wrote that: "...Manitoba Pool Elevators has maintained an open shelf library for a period of some twenty years. These books have been made available to anyone in Manitoba, outside the City of Winnipeg, and the postage both ways was paid by the Pool. We feel it has served a very useful purpose, but that it is not primarily our function and if the government proposes to offer a more complete and universal service we are prepared to retire from the field and avoid what might be considered unnecessary duplication."
Scope and Content
Series contains items once held as part of the Manitoba Pool Library. It has been divided into the following four sub-series: (1) MPE E 1 Manitoba Pool Library publications; (2) MPE E 2 The Scoop Shovel; (3) MPE E 3 The Manitoba Cooperator; and (4) MPE E 4 Pamphlet collection.
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).
Thomas Russell Wilkins was born in Toronto in 1891. He received his B.A. from McMaster University in 1912, and became the Science Master at Woodstock College the following year. In 1916, he and his wife Olive moved to Chicago, where Wilkins was an instructor of Physics at the University of Chicago. The next year he served as a master signal electrician in the U.S. Signal Corps. During World War I, Wilkins completed pioneer research for the United States Navy, which led to the development of pulse sonar devices in the 1920s. He had also been researching the possibilities of a wireless telephone.
Wilkins and his wife moved to Brandon in 1918, where he took up the position of Professor of Physics. During his time at Brandon College, Wilkins introduced the latest technology to classrooms, designed the original Science Building, and along with the Brandon Citizen's Committee, seucured building funds for the Citizen's Science Building.
Receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1921, Wilkins resigned from Brandon College in 1925 to pursue postgraduate study at Cambridge University. In 1926, he began research at the University of Rochester, where he also took up the position of Professor of Physics. From 1930 to 1938, he acted as the Director of the Institute of Optics.
Widely known for his work in the fields of cosmic rays and atomic disintegration, in April 1939, Wilkins announced the perfection of a camera that was able to record the "footprints" of invisible atoms after they collide. In October 1939, he received a medal from the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain recognizing his work regarding the use of photographic emulsions in the study of radium. The following year, Wilkins perfected a camera that could determine the energy levels inside the nuclei of stable chemical elements. He received a grant from Sigma Xi, the National Society for the Promotion of Scientific Research, in November of 1940.
Wilkins married twice. The first marriage, to Olive Anges Cross took place on June 17, 1913. Olive Wilkins died suddenly on May 13, 1937, at the age of 45. Wilkins married Susan Gwendolyn Whidden, the daughter of former Brandon College president Dr. H.P. Whidden, in 1938.
Thomas Russell Wilkins died suddenly of a heart attack on December 10, 1940, on his way back to his laboratory after a faculty meeting. He was 49 years old.
Custodial History
Records were accessioned by the McKee Archives in 1998. Prior custodial history is unknown.
Scope and Content
T. Russell Wilkins’ reocrds contain correspondence between himself and Mrs. Wilkins and Dr. Whidden concerning their employment with Brandon College. There are letters between the two men regarding the building of the Science Building in 1920. There is also a copy of the Canadian Baptist. Besides programmes and a picture, there is also correspondence between various people. Dr. Wilkins kept the papers he had written for various classes at McMaster University in the years 1911 and 1912. There is a "toast to the ladies" that he delivered at a banquet of some sort, that gives an interesting view on how Wilkins, and possibly other men of his time, viewed women. There are numerous newspapers clippings, and several pages taken from journals such as Popular Mechanics, Popular Electricity and others. Dr. Wilkins was at the top of his field of study. He was an extremely bright man who managed to create some very useful tools of science. His papers are interesting and informative to read.
Notes
History/Bio information taken from Campus News May 1990
Esther Moore was born in Norfolk, Nebraska and moved to Canada at age 3. There is a vague reference to her being related to the composer Dvorak in The Quill of 1913. She registered as a music student at Brandon College in 1909. In 1910, Miss Moore received a medal for sight-reading and accompanying in Edmonton. She took her examinations of the Toronto Conservatory of Music in 1910, and her Senior examinations in 1911. She completed her theory work in 1913, as well as finishing the academic requirements. In 1913, Esther Moore became the first graduate of the Music department at Brandon College. After graduation, Miss Moore taught music in Unity, as well as being the choirleader and organist. She returned to her home in Olds, Alberta for a rest from teaching. However, she was not idle for long. She took up teaching again, and she was the organist and choirleader at church. She also began a Glee Club. Between these responsibilities Miss Moore finished a course in the Household Science Department at the Olds Agricultural College. She returned to Brandon College to take postgraduate work, becoming the first Brandon College student to receive her L.T.C.M. in 1916. In 1922 Miss Moore began to teach piano at Brandon College. She received her Bachelor of Music in 1925, and her Master of Music in 1926.
Custodial History
Records were accessioned by the McKee Archives in 1998. Prior custodial history is unknown.
Scope and Content
Esther Moore’s records consist of newspaper clippings, recital programmes, concert programmes, and commencement programmes. As well, there are dance cards, invitations, tickets, and the programme for the annual Graduation Banquet for several years. There are Track and Field programmes and a ribbon. There are also Alumni Luncheon programmes for a few years. There is an issue of The Western Baptist from 1926, and the programmes for the installation of Dr. Robbins as President and the opening of the Arts and Library building and the J.R.C. Evans Lecture Theatre in 1960. There is also a letter from William L. Wright, director of the music department at Brandon College.
