For biographical information see RG 6 Brandon University fonds, Series 3 Office of the President, 3.1 President's files.
Scope and Content
Photograph of John E. Robbins' (painted) portrait.
Notes
The original painting, painted by Frank C. Bensing, is hanging above the door to Government Documents in the John E. Robbins Library. Frank C. Bensing was an American portrait artist (1893-1983). He was a resident of New York City. His most famous subject was Joseph P. Kennedy.
A plaque that accompanied the photograph and has since been discarded read: John R. Brodie, 1879-1962. Athlete, industrialist, and philanthropist. Resided in Brandon 1902-1920. Founded Great West Coal Company 1912. Contributed $250,000 to Brandon College, 1961, and left the college ¼ interest in his estate. Negative is located with the photograph.
Dr. Evans was born in Nanaimo, B.C. on March 15, 1891. In the fall of 1907, at the age of sixteen, Dr. Evans entered the Academic Department of Brandon College. He played an integral part at the College, participating in academics, sports, and various other college functions and organizations. In his final year he was Senior Stick, the highest position in the Student Government. In 1913, Dr. Evans graduated from Brandon College. Immediately after graduation he was hired to teach Science and Academic Mathematics. In 1917, he became Principal of the Academic Department, while continuing to teach Mathematics and Science. Dr. Evans took leave in 1920 to study post graduate work at the University of Chicago. During the summers, he was the Acting Dean of the Department of Geology in Chicago. He received his Ph.D. in Geology in 1923, and returned to Brandon College. His new positions at the college were of Professor of Geology and Resident Master. He also taught some Chemistry.
On August 1, 1927, Dr. Evans married Adelene M. Bailey (Class of 1921, Music 1924) at the Joseph Bond Chapel in Chicago. He took over as College Dean in 1928 after the position became vacant. In September of 1928, Dr. Evans accepted the position of President of Brandon College, thus becoming its fifth president since the college’s inception. Dr. Evans was head of the college at a very difficult time. He guided the College through the Depression and repeated threats of closure from the Baptists. Dr. Evans resurrected the Department of Theology in the mid-1930’s. He helped with the reorganization of Brandon College as a non-denominational college in 1938, and its new affiliation with the University of Manitoba. During World War II, Dr. Evans started a War Emergency Fund, aimed at keeping the College from sinking into debt during the war years as enrollment shrank. With increased financial support from the government, Dr. Evans began expansion plans for the College. In 1958, he created the Dr. J.R.C. Evans Student Loan Fund in conjunction with the Alumni Association in order to provide worthy students with interest-free loans. It was also in 1958 that Dr. Evans was awarded the Queen Elizabeth Coronation Medal for his outstanding contribution to education in the British Commonwealth.
On July 29, 1959, Dr. Evans died suddenly at his summer home in Robson, B.C.. On his desk was the programme for the sod-turning ceremony for the new Arts and Library Building and Lecture Theatre. When it was completed, the Lecture Theatre was christened the Dr. J.R.C. Evans Lecture Theatre on behalf of the man who had made sure that it would be built. The Theatre had been his dream, a place to hold Chapel and Assemblies, as the student body grew in number.
Scope and Content
Photograph is a portrait of John Robert Charles Evans, Brandon College student, faculty member and president.
Notes
Information that accompanies the photograph reads: John Robert Charles Evans. Born 1891 in Nanaimo, BC. Died 1959 in Brandon, MB. President of Brandon College 1928-1959. Professor of Geology 1923-1959. Instructor, Academic Dept 1913-1920. Note: Evans actually died in Robson, B.C. not in Brandon, MB. History/Bio information copied from the Brandon College fonds finding aid.
Photograph shows President Dennis Anderson and John Jardine, Head of Physical Plant, in either Clark Hall or the Brandon College Building during renovations.
Professor John Weldon Grant was born 12 March 1919 in Sunnybrae, Nova Scotia, son of Alec and Linda Grant. He was raised in Sunnybrae and graduated from Pictou Academy in 1937. Prof. Grant entered Pine Hill Divinity School to study Theology. During his ministerial internship, he taught and preached in Rabbit Lake and Biggar, Saskatchewan. He graduated from Pine Hill in 1943 and entered the mission field with the United Church.
Professor Grant moved to Trinidad & Tobago in the 1940s. There he taught in both San Fernando and Siparia, towns located in the southwest tip of the island. Weldon Grant was the first head master off the Iere High School School in Siparia when it opened in 1955. Professor Grant is recalled by Kenneth Ramchand in his _The West Indian Novel And Its Background_ as “his beloved English teacher” reading from an early Sam Selvon novel in a “Saskatchewan version of Trinidad dialect.” That he was teaching Selvon – a West Indian writer - testifies to Grant’s cultural pluralism. See Kenneth Ramchaud, _The West Indian Novel and its bachground_ (London: Faber and Faber, 2001 edition).
Professor Grant and Bernice Emma Moats were married in Gray, Saskatchewan 30 June 1954. They adopted three children in Nova Scotia and returned to Trinidad.
In 1961, the Grants returned to Canada. Weldon taught for one year at Vincent Massey High School and then joined the English Department at Brandon University where he taught in the English department until his retirement on August 31, 1984.
During a sabbatical he spent six months exploring Ireland and the poets that had been inspired by its countryside. He also loved stories of the sea and read many varied authors, both factual and fiction.
Custodial History
Records were collected by Weldon Grant during his teaching career in Trinidad and Canada.
Scope and Content
In the course of his teaching career in Trinidad & Tobego and at Brandon University Professor Grant acquired and retained a number of items with cultural, scholarly and sentimental value. These incude The First Folio of Shakespeare, prepared by Charlton Himan, [Academic ed.]. Imprint New York : W.W. Norton, 1968. xxvii, 928 p. : port. ; 37 cm. Mr. William Shakespeares comedies, histories, & tragedies. Published according to the true original copies. London, Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed. Blount, 1623.
The facsimile is described as "an ideal copy in which each page represents the best page selected from one of the 29 most satisfactory copies of the 80 copies in the Folger Shakespeare Library."
1 Self prononcing Holy Bible, Oxford 1910.
1 print 22.4" x 17," "Baking in a Clay Oven," by Trinidad artist David Moore, June 1977 printed in Trinidad by the College Press.
2 water colour paintings 17.5" x 12" by artist "AM." One titled San Fernando (1961) one titled Royal Palm, Trinidad (1960).
1 black and white portrait 10" x 13" of Governor general Roland Michener and his wife (No: A-2) copyright Karsh dated 1970.
1 Asian art work, 12.5" x 18" embroidery on silk.
Notes
Weldon Grant history/bio from Weldon Grant obituary Brandon Daily Sun c. April 14, 1999.
The John R. Brodie Science Centre was completed in 1971, with the official opening on May 7, 1972. It is located in the southeast corner of the campus and houses the Faculty of Science. The Brodie Building was named for John R. Brodie, a Brandon man who donated $250,000 to Brandon College in 1963 with the stipulation that the money be used for a Science Centre.
Scope and Content
Sub-series consists of photographs of the John R. Brodie Science Centre.
Notes
Additional biographical information on John R. Brodie is available in his bio file in the Reading Room.
Firby, who graduated from Brandon University in 1991, worked as the Acting Director for Alumni Relations from August 1993 - August 1995. She married John Brewster in Calgary, AB on August 15, 1998.
Custodial History
Photograph was tranfered to the McKee Archives from the Public Communications Office in the winter of 2007.
Scope and Content
Photograph Marla Firby and John Brewster on their wedding day.
Notes
Information about the wedding appeared in the Fall 1998 issue of Alumni News.
Donkersloot began working at Brandon University in 1971 as the Clerk of Works. From 1973 until his retirement, he was the Director of Physical Plant.
Custodial History
Photographs were taken by Tom Donkersloot during construction and stored in albums in the Physical Plant H-Hut until they were transfered to the McKee Archives by Doug Duncalf in May 2008.
Scope and Content
Thirty four photographs of the construction of the John R. Brodie Science Centre.
Notes
Donkersloot recorded the date and time each photograph was taken on the back of the photos.
Fleming served as mayor in 1905, 1906-1911, 1912 and 1913
Custodial History
For custodial history see the collection level description of the Lawrence Stuckey collection.
Scope and Content
Item is a portrait of Brandon mayor John Fleming.
Notes
[Mr. Stuckey incorrectly noted the dates of Mayor Fleming's terms. John W. Fleming served as mayor of Brandon 1905-1906 and 1911-1913 (Barker, G.F. Brandon: a City 1881-1961. Altona: D.W. Friesen & Sons Ltd., 1977.).]
For custodial history see the collection level description of the Lawrence Stuckey collection.
Scope and Content
John E. Smith Block Fire
Notes
The John E. Smith Block was built in 1907.
Because of the fire, the building was badly gutted and the front wall bulged outward. As a result, the structure was condemned.
The Canadian Bank of Commerce had moved to the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce building at the corner of 8th Street & Rosser Avenue in mid-1960's, and their old building adjacent to Smith Block had since sat vacant. As a result, the stage was now set to clear the area where both buildings had stood for the construction of Scotia Tower. LAS.
[Mr. Stuckey put two negatives in same envelope, numbering them FA7 and FA7a. We have separated them.]
For custodial history see the collection level description of the Lawrence Stuckey collection.
Scope and Content
John E. Smith Block Fire - The Morning After
Notes
The John E. Smith Block was built in 1907.
Because of the fire, the building was badly gutted and the front wall bulged outward. As a result, the structure was condemned.
The Canadian Bank of Commerce had moved to the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce building at the corner of 8th Street & Rosser Avenue in mid-1960's, and their old building adjacent to Smith Block had since sat vacant. As a result, the stage was now set to clear the area where both buildings had stood for the construction of Scotia Tower. LAS.
[Mr. Stuckey put two negatives in same envelope, numbering them FA7 and FA7a. We have separated them.]
This wedge-shaped tract of woodland was located west of 34th Street on the south side of the Canadian Pacific Railway. It was formerly owned by the Great Northern Railway, and was acquired by the CPR when the GN line was abandoned in 1936. In 1978 Marathon Realty (CPR) sold this 7 acre property to a developer who planned to build condominiums. However this residential development was objected to for two reasons: [The proposed location] was home to many species of flora & fauna, and it was too close to the CPR mainline. Local residents took out a petition against the development. [Mr. Stuckey] wrote a letter to the editor of the Brandon Sun, [expressing the] attitudes of CPR officials, and read a statement to the Provincial Planning Board suggesting development be refused and the area become an undeveloped park. These efforts would prove successful - see file on same.
Custodial History
For custodial history see the collection level description of the Lawrence Stuckey collection.
Scope and Content
John Indian's Bush (also known as Bang's Bush)
Notes
Additional historical information provided by the Fred McGuinness collection (20-2009). Stuckey's letter to the editor appears in the July 22, 1978 issue of The Brandon Sun.
This wedge-shaped tract of woodland was located west of 34th Street on the south side of the Canadian Pacific Railway. It was formerly owned by the Great Northern Railway, and was acquired by the CPR when the GN line was abandoned in 1936. In 1978 Marathon Realty (CPR) sold this 7 acre property to a developer who planned to build condominiums. However this residential development was objected to for two reasons: [The proposed location] was home to many species of flora & fauna, and it was too close to the CPR mainline. Local residents took out a petition against the development. [Mr. Stuckey] wrote a letter to the editor of the Brandon Sun, [expressed the] attitudes of CPR officials, and read a statement to the provincial planning board suggesting development be refused and the area become an undeveloped park. These efforts would prove successful - see file on same.
Custodial History
For custodial history see the collection level description of the Lawrence Stuckey collection.
Scope and Content
John Indian's Bush (also known as Bang's Bush).
Notes
Additional historical information provided by the Fred McGuinness collection (20-2009). Stuckey's letter to the editor appears in the July 22, 1978 issue of The Brandon Sun.
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