A.E. McKenzie was born in Wilcox Lake, York County, Ontario in 1870 to F.B. and Maria (Carley) McKenzie. His family came to Manitoba in 1883. He was educated in Brandon, Manitoba and graduated from the Collegiate Institute at age 21. In 1897 he founded the Brandon Seed House. McKenzie was present at the cornerstone-laying ceremony of Brandon College on Juy 13, 1900. From that moment on, he was very involved in the College, first as an interested businessman, and later as a member of its Board of Directors. In 1902, McKenzie married Laura Bell in Port Arthur. They had two daughters, Marjorie Bell and Kathleen. In 1906 the Brandon Seed House was incorporated and from then on was known as the "A.E. McKenzie Co. Ltd.."
McKenzie became a member of the Brandon College Endowment Committee in 1918. The following year he was on the Finance Committee. By 1925, McKenzie was a member of the Board of Directors. In 1928, he was part of a syndicate that advised the Baptist Union that they were developing an endowment plan to provide continuing financial support to the College and talked the Union into providing $10 000 towards the accumulated deficit.
In 1931, McKenzie organized the Brandon Board of Trade to help save Brandon College when the Baptists said they could no longer afford to keep the College. After the By-law failed, he helped to organize the Brandon Citizen’s Campaign to raise enough money so that the College could open the following year.
When the Baptists withdrew support in 1938, McKenzie was one of the central figures on the Brandon Board of Trade that decided to save the College from closure. A representative delegation from Southwestern Manitoba of over 60 men descended upon Premier Bracken’s office to try and convince him to help the College. On June 12, 1938 McKenzie said he would set up a $100 000 endowment to Brandon College. He subsequently raised this amount to $300 000. On August 1, 1938 the Board of Trade launched a campaign to raise $15 000 to match what the government was prepared to offer the College. McKenzie was asked to provide Brandon College with $3000 personally. In September of 1938, McKenzie upped his endowment once more to $500 000. The fund raising worked however, and the chater establishing Brandon College Incorporated was assented to on April 17, 1939. On June 6, 1939 a by-law was again presented to the citizens of Brandon, and fortunately it passed.
In 1941, McKenzie received an honorary L.L.D. from the University of Manitoba. The A.E. McKenzie Foundation was created in 1945 by the provincial government, who had assumed 90% of the A.E. McKenzie Co. Ltd. stock.
On September 25, 1964 McKenzie died at the age of 94. He never retired, but worked full time until two weeks before his death. The funeral was held in the J.R.C. Evans Lecture Theatre. The Arts and Library Building at Brandon College was completed in 1960, and is known as the A.E. McKenzie building, in honour of the man who contributed so much time, effort and financial help to the College during a crucial period in its history.
Custodial History
Records were accessioned by the McKee Archives in 1998. Prior custodial history is unknown.
Scope and Content
A.E. McKenizie’s records in the Brandon College fonds are very useful from an administrative point of view. Because McKenzie was so involved in Brandon College from the very beginning until his death in 1964, it is easy to understand how the College Administration arrived at decisions. There is correspondence between McKenzie and various regarding College and Board of Director business. There are Brandon College financial statements and letters regarding the A.E. McKenzie Foundation. The records contain newspaper clippings, pamphlets and lists of names of members of various Brandon organizations. As well, McKenzie has letters regarding Building Expansion in the 1940’s and minutes of Board of Director meetings. There are also several photographs. One photograph is the 1919 graduation picture of Zoe Hough. Another is tentatively identified as Frances Wolverton, also of the Class of 1919. There are two more photographs of unidentified young women.
Carole Paintin-Dence was raised in Souris, Manitoba and attended Brandon College in the early 1960s. While at Brandon College she was active in the Glee Club, I.R.C. and French Clubs. She was also Quill reporter for the Music Department.
Scope and Content
Collection consists of a small collection of Brandon College memorabilia and slides. The memorabilia includes programs from various Brandon College Student Association events, Alumni News, and a copy of "The New Brandon College School of Music" by Peggy Sharpe. The slide images include: the opening of the Music Building 1963 (3) - Sir Ernest MacMillan, Lady MacMillan and Lorne Watson; raising the class flag 1964 (2); the JRC Evans Lecture Theatre 1964 (1); Brandon College Original Building 1964 (1); Freshie Parade 1962 (1) - glee club float and 1963 (3) - "wedding of Jack & Jill"; French Immersion class Summer 1964 (4) - Mme Ragot, Neil Forsyth, Henri Francq; party for John 1963 (2) - Ken May, Morlene Sparrow, John Sushelnitsky, Norma Walmsley, Poppy Cumming, Chris Cassels, Pat Brake, Eleanor Riesberry; W.U.S. parties (4) - Joan Garnett, Norma Walmsley, Claude Paintin, Brian Foster, Rae Westcott, Clark Brownlee, Nina Kosakawiecz, Berth Paintin
Collection also includes school texts and pedagogical guides - forty-seven in total - dealing with reading, spelling, social studies and particularly music.
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.
Fred McGuinness worked with The Medicine Hat News for 10 years, starting in 1955, when he was hired as an assistant to the paper’s publisher. In 1958, he was promoted to publisher of the newspaper. At the same time McGuinness was also appointed vice-president of Southam Company Limited. Based in Toronto, Southam Company Limited was the parent organization that oversaw the Southam Printing Company (Toronto and Montreal) and the publication of a number of weekly newspapers, including The Ottawa Citizen, The Hamilton Spectator, The Winnipeg Tribune, The Calgary Herald, The Edmonton Journal, The Vancouver Province and The Medicine Hat News. In addition to his administrative duties, while with The Medicine Hat News, McGuinness authored a column titled, “The Lighthouse.” In November of 1965, he resigned as publisher and moved with his family to Winnipeg where he was appointed manager of the New Personnel and Information Division with James Richardson and Sons.
In 1988, McGuinness was hired by The Medicine Hat News to write a 20 article feature about his reminisces of Medicine Hat. McGuinness referred to this collection of stories as “Hat Memoirs.”
Custodial History
Accession 1-2015 contains records created and collected over the course of McGuinness’ career as a newspaper journalist and freelance writer. The Estate of Fred McGuinness donated the materials to the SJ McKee Archives circa 2011. The Archives accessioned the records in 2015.
Scope and Content
The subseries contains records created and collected by Fred McGuinness during his time as a journalist, editor, and freelance writer for The Medicine Hat News. Records include Medicine Hat News clippings from the 1960s, a scrapbook containing clippings of McGuinness’ Lighthouse column (1961-1964) and drafts of McGuinness’ 1988 Medicine Hat memoirs.
Records in the subseries consist of rough drafts, article proofs, newspaper clippings, a scrapbook, and correspondence.
Notes
Readers’ correspondence pertaining to McGuinness’ time in Medicine Hat may be found in Fred McGuinness’ personal papers, subseries McG 1.2 Correspondence
Accruals
Closed
Finding Aid
A file level inventory is available
Storage Location
2015 accessions
Arrangement
Arrangement was artificially created by the Archives. Subseries has been re-arranged according to publication period
Fred McGuinness wrote the syndicated weekly news column “Neighborly News” for 22 years, beginning in 1979. According to McGuinness, the Neighborly News column evolved out of the interest in and the impending cancellation of the CBC Radio broadcast “Neighborly News from the Prairies.” McGuinness credits Eugene Derksen (Steinbach Carillon), Miles Phillips (Boissevain Recorder), and Ian MacKenzie (Portage Graphic) for approaching him about printing/publishing a Neighborly News column. The column initially began with a dozen subscriptions from weeklies and grew to publication in 55 weeklies.
McGuinness described his creative process as follows. McGuinness received weeklies from Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, from which he would read the first page and the editorial page. He created thematic files from clippings he accumulated over a period of time. He would then write four columns at a time based on the materials he assembled and had the columns printed at the Brandon Sun plant for camera-ready copy. Other weeklies had to re-type the columns if they did not have the facilities. The weekly columns were written for publication periods beginning every Monday.
McGuinness wrote his last Neighborly News column during the publication week of April 1, 2002. In his final column he confessed that his age-related macular degeneration (AMD), diagnosed in 2001, had become an impediment to his research, writing, and editing abilities. A month later, a Neighborly News retrospective written by McGuinness was published. In that column McGuinness reviewed the history of the Neighborly News broadcast and column and described his writing process.
The successor to McGuinness’ Neighborly News column was Margaret “Peggy” HASEIN, the editor and co-publisher of the Biggar Independent. Hasein was the successful bidder for the column after McGuinness put his column up for sale upon receiving his AMD diagnosis. The Neighborly News column is still in print today (2015).
Custodial History
Records were collected and created by McGuinness during the publication of the syndicated column Neighborly News from 1980 to 2002. The materials were donated to the SJ McKee Archives by the Estate of Fred McGuinness circa 2011. The Archives accessioned the records in 2015.
Scope and Content
The subseries consists of textual records (i.e., typed drafts, camera ready copy, and correspondence) created during the publication period (1980 to 2002) of Fred McGuinness’ syndicated Neighborly News column. The Archives does not have copies of McGuinness’ Neighborly News columns from 1999 to 2002. There is one file folder containing letters of thanks and congratulations upon McGuinness’ retirement in April 2002.
Notes
Information in the history/biography was taken from Neighborly News columns published in the Roblin Review (April 2, 2002, 4), and The Glenboro Gazette (May 7, 2002, 11). In the Glenboro Gazette column, “Looking Back,” McGuinness recalled the history of history Neighborly News radiobroadcast and column. The timeline provided in the article, appears to conflict with the actual dates the radio broadcast was cancelled by CBC and the beginning of the publication of the Neighborly News column. The Archives have used McGuinness’ date in the looking back column but researchers should be aware of the discrepancies in the timeline
The original location of the file (when the Fred McGuinness collection was unprocessed) is noted on the front of each file folder. The first sentence of each column was provided in the file level inventory because weeklies published alternative titles for the same column. The square bracket at the end of each item contains a few keywords for the respective column
Camera-ready proofs are numbered and dated for the weekly publication period beginning on Mondays. Certain columns in this series were mis-numbered and/or mis-dated by McGuinness. McGuinness’ numbers and dates have been retained and the discrepancies noted by the editorial marking [sic]
Accruals
Closed
Finding Aid
A file level inventory is available
Storage Location
2015 accessions
Related Material
Fred McGuinness would write/publish about a topic in a number of forums. For example, when researching and writing the Bootstrap profiles for the provincial government, McGuinness also mentioned these individuals in his Neighborly News or Brandon Sun Diary columns. Therefore, it is possible research materials pertaining to his Neighborly News columns may be found in the subseries: Correspondence (McG 1.2), Clippings (McG 4.2), Local history (McG 4.1), Miscellaneous freelance (McG 3.2) and Reader’s Digest (McG 3.1)
McGuinness details his vision problems and sale of the Neighborly News column in his memoir “Lost in Hotel Beesborough” (see McG 2.2 File 16, and McG 3.2, Misc. Freelance File 53)
Arrangement
Arrangement was artificially created by the Archives. Subseries has been arranged according to column number/publication period
In the spring of 1994, Fred McGuinness was contracted by Great Plains Publications to assist with the writing of the centennial publication Old Pathways, New Horizons: A History of the Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company, 1896-1996. Published in 1996, by Great Plains Publications (Winnipeg), Old Pathways, New Horizons is a 111-page illustrated soft cover book.
Custodial History
These materials were donated to the SJ McKee Archives by the Estate of Fred McGuinness circa 2011. The Archives accessioned the records in 2015.
Scope and Content
The subseries consists of two draft manuscripts and two letters of correspondence. Records were generated during the writing of the book Old Pathways, New Horizons: A History of the Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company, 1896-1996. The book was commissioned by the Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company and published in 1996 by Great Plains Publishing Limited.
Notes
Information in the history/biography was taken from a letter dated April 19, 1994, to Fred McGuinness from Gregg Shilliday (see file 11) and publication information listed in the dust jacket of the book
Accruals
Closed
Finding Aid
A file level inventory is available
Storage Location
2015 accessions
Arrangement
Arrangement was artificially created by the Archives
Robert (Bob) Troy Blair was born on March 11, 1930 in Brandon, MB. His first six years were spent in Alexander, MB, where his father and uncle operated a grocery store. In 1936, his family moved to Souris, MB, where his father ran a grocery store. Blair received his primary and high school education, with the exception of Grade 12, in Souris.
Blair remembers his school years in Souris as mainly happy years. He was involved with both piano and organ music lessons. he was never interested in physical sports with the exception of golf. World War II broke out in September of 1939. Souris became the site of #17 SFTS and home base for the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. Many of the service men came from England, Australia and New Zealand. Blair's mother always entertained at least two for dinner every Sunday. Rationing of sugar, tea and coffee, butter and meat became a way of life. Blair had the job every Saturday of pasting the ration coupons into booklets. It was also when he was in Grade 6, that Blair realized he was more attracted to boys than to girls. Perhaps it was because so many attractive airmen surrounded him!
In November of 1947, the Blair family relocated to Alexander where Bob Blair finished his Grade 11. This was not a good year due to bullying. In September of 1948, Blair moved to Winnipeg to attend United College for his Grade 12. Upon completion of Grade 12, Blair remained in Winnipeg until June 1950. he worked at a number of businesses - Gestetner, Eaton's Mail Order shoe department, Maple Leaf Milling, and the drug store in the Medical Arts Building. In September 1950, he entered Brandon College. Blair was very active in extra-curricular affairs while at Brandon College; particularly drama. Following his B.A. he enrolled in the Education Faculty, having decided to become a teacher.
Blair's teaching career spanned 34 years. All but one year was spent in the Brandon School Division. On his first day of teaching in the Division he met the man with whom he would spend the next 46 years. He was primarily a teacher of English and Music. A highlight of his career was exchange teaching in Sacramento, California in 1961. Orientation for exchange took place in August in Washington, D.C., where Blair had the opportunity to meet President J.F. Kennedy. He vividly recals the morning that JFK was assassinated on November 22, 1963. In September 1965, Blair assumed the principalship of Park School and in September of 1969, the same position at George Fitton School where re remained until his retirement in 1989. He was a member of the Brandon Picnipals' Association, the National Association of Elementary School Principals, and servedas President of the Brandon Teachers' Association. Among his major accomplishments during his time as principal were the introduction of a centralized school library in both Park and George Fitton Schools and the integration of special needs students into regular classroom situations wherever possible. He was made a Life Member of the Manitoba Teachers' Society (Brandon) in June 1990. Following his retirement Blair worked as a Library Automation Consultant (1989-1993).
Blair also had numerous community involvements during his time in Brandon. he was active in the Brandon Little Theatre (Best Actor Award, Manitoba Drama Festival for One Act Plays in 1963), the Brandon Festival of the Arts, the Eckhardt-Gramatte National Music Competition, and Arm Industries to name a few.
Following the death of his partner in 2001, Blair moved to Saskatoon to live with a younger gay couple. He has been active in volunteerism: as an Ambassador for the Saskatoon Airport Authority, assistant with the Saskatoon Health Region's Immunization Clinics, information clerk for the Festival of Trees, data entry clerk for the Saskatoon Music Festival, on the Board of the Saskatoon Jazz Society, and Hospitality Coordinator for the Saskatoon Jazz Festival.
As of October 2013, Bob Blair continues to live in Saskatoon, SK.
Custodial History
Records were in Blair's possession until he donated them to the Mckee Archives on Homecoming weekend October 2013.
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of two scrapbooks containing 145 photographs and ephemera (play and graduation programs, tickets, pins, newspaper clippings) documenting Bob Blair's days at Brandon College. Social events and extra-curricular activities are heavily featured in the two scrapbooks. Also included are graduation portraits for the Classes of 1951, 1952 and 1953. Of the 145 photographs all are black and white except for two photos of the Class of '53 reconvocation (May 1993), and one from the Class of '53 reunion (2003).
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
