Over the last two years (2018 & 2019) we have added a bunch of great archival fonds to our collection. We used to do a yearly round up, which you can find at our old blog. But we havn't done one in a while, so today's list will include some examples from both years. It is not a comprehensive list of everything added to our archives in the last two years, but it does provide an idea of what kinds of materials we are collecting.
Unfortunately due to current Covid-19 closures you can't visit these collections in person yet, but we can provide you with finding aids to these collections and provide you with digital copies of material you may be interested in. Read more about our current reference services here.
If you are interested in any of these collections please email us at ua.sc@usask.ca or fill out our contact form.
MG 614 - Don Charabin fonds. – 1983-2003. – 20 cm.
Don Charabin worked for the Sheaf and photographed many of the most important Huskie Athletics games from 1983 to 2000. This fonds contains 613 photographs and 691 negatives of basketball and hockey, football games.
MG 638 - Cedric Gillot fonds. – 1964-2018. - 5 m of textual material.
Cedric Gillott is a Emeritus Professor of Biology at the University of Saskatchewan. He has published over 100 scientific papers and reviews, along with magazine articles on insects and gardening. His undergraduate text book, Entomology, was first published in 1980, with new editions published subsequentially. Gillott’s primary academic focus has been the study of insects, in particular their physiology and management using biologically sustainable methods. A student athlete in England, Gillott coached the University of Saskatchewan soccer team for eight seasons between 1968 and 1978 and was responsible for Canada West soccer going from a weekend tournament to regular league play. In 2011, he was inducted into Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame in the builder category. This fonds documents the career and interests of Cedric Gillott focusing on his teaching, research and writing activities. The material relates to both his academic career and his non-academic outreach activities with the wider community.
Dennis Walter Harley – MG 639. – nd, 1950-2017. – 1.3 m of textual and audio visual material.
Dennis Harley was very involved in the Saskatoon Industrial Arts Education program as a teacher, committee member, and producer of Industrial Arts education audio visual material. The idea of craftsmanship, particularly in construction trades but also in related skills such as furniture making and drafting, is well-represented in this fonds. In particular, it documents the development, growth, and ebbing of industrial arts training in the K-12 school system in Saskatchewan. This accrual complements the initial accrual, particularly in completing the process used by Harley so effectively for teaching which were his films on the use of hand tools. Additionally, it provides further documentation on Harley’s education, writing, and teaching career, as well as his avocation (photography) and his early work for Cairns Construction. The book and essay on the Wheelwright’s Craft are particularly insightful as evidence of change and the impact of technology on knowledge loss.
Steven Ross Smith fonds. – MG 253. – nd, 1988-2016 (inclusive); 0.75 m of textual material and photographs. (new accessions added to previously held material)
Steven Ross Smith is a writer of innovative fiction and poetry, a sound poet and performance artist, an editor and media writer and educator. In addition to his literary works published in books, anthologies and periodicals, Smith has several improvisatory sound music ensemble recordings to his credit. He has been published and has given performances and readings in England, Holland, the United States, and Canada. Smith was a founding member of the sound/performance ensembles Owen Sound and DUCT. In 1987-1988 he was Writer-In-Residence in Weyburn, Saskatchewan and in 1996-1997 he was Writer-In-Residence with the Saskatoon Public Library. Smith was also the founding editor of Underwhich Editions and has been the Executive Director of the Sage Hill Writing Experience from 1990 until 2008. He was Director of Literary Arts at the Banff Centre from 2008 to 2014. The material in this fonds documents the literary and performance career of Steven Ross Smith.
Jean Williamson – MG 589. - (2016 accession). - 1959-2012.
M. Jean Williamson (nee Mary Jean Abrams) was born and educatied in Saskatchewan. She graduated from Normal School and then earned a B.Ed. from the University of Saskatchewan in 1955. Jean Williamson came to Rankin Inlet in 1960 when her husband accepted a job with the federal Department of Northern Affairs. She worked part-time as a substitute teacher at schools in Itivia, a place to which Inuit were resettled during famine years and is now part of Rankin Inlet. She became a full-time teacher in 1973, and then moved to Arviat in 1989 to serve as principal of the school. She returned to Rankin in 1996, where she still filled in as a substitute teacher. This fonds contains personal records relating to Williamson’s life and career in northern Canada. The bulk of the material comprises published articles, magazines and gallery programs.
JR Miller. – MG 206. – (2019 accession) – 3.65 m of textual records, 1 DVD, 1 photograph; 52.64 cm of published material. – 1969-2019 (inclusive); 2002-2017 (predominant).
James Rodger Miller earned his BA (1966), MA (1967) and PhD (1972) from the University of Toronto. He joined the University of Saskatchewan in 1970 as assistant professor history, and by 1979 had been promoted to full professor. Dr. Miller is a nationally recognized historian and the author or editor of ten books and numerous articles in leading academic journals. This accrual adds to the already comprehensive Miller fonds, documenting his publications, presentations; his work with various associations and bodies, including the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council; his departmental and university commitments; etc. This accrual is particularly notable given his academic reputation at this time for work relating to Canada and the First Nations. His stature and knowledge in this area made him sought after for peer reviews of related topics, and as a supervisor / external reviewer for MA and PhD theses being written on Indigenous-related subjects. As such, this accrual adds significant documentation not only relating to Miller’s research in this area, but the interests and work of other academics across Canada. Of particular note are the interviews Miller did for his most recent publication, Residential Schools and Reconciliation: Canada Confronts its History, 2017; and the section of material relating to his time on the Board of Historic Sites and Monuments. Files within that series similarly identify some of the issues being debated over reconciliation and relationship between First Nations and settler Canadians.
Leonard Findlay. – MG 219. – 1952, 1967-2018. – 12.36 m.
Leonard Murray Findlay earned a M.A. in 1967 from the University of Aberdeen and a D. Phil in 1972 from the University of Oxford. Dr. joined the University of Saskatchewan English Department in 1974 and became a full Professor in 1983. Dr. Findlay’s research interests include critical theory, disciplinary history, cultural studies and 19th Century European literature and culture. He has also studied, written and lectured on the university in the modern world. He has a particular interest in academic freedom and the corporatization of universities. This fonds contains correspondence, diaries, minutes, research material, published and unpublished articles and presentations that document the interests and career of Lenard Findlay. There is also material pertaining to a number of university and external organizations, societies, committees and organizations.
RHD Phillips – MG 223. (2018 accrual) – nd, 1938-1992, 2006, 2018. – .12 meters of textual records, nine audiocassette tapes, 44 photographs.
Robert Howard Daniel (“Bob”) Phillips was born in Regina on 3 December 1921. He completed his BA (Hons) degree, with a double major in economics and political science, from the University of Saskatchewan. In 1948 he began a career as a journalist, working variously for the Canadian Press, the Regina Leader Post, and the United Press; in Canada and Europe. In 1960 he joined the staff of the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, becoming its first research analyst and subsequently, director of their Research Division. In 1973 he was named editor and publisher of the Western Producer, as well as general manager of Western Producer Publications. Phillips was active in the Presbyterian Church as well as with both the University of Saskatchewan and the University of Regina. Notable this fonds includes photographs taken during Phillips time with the Regina Leader Post (1944-53 and early years with the Sask. Wheat Pool (1960s). Subjects include: Leader Post editorial staff, 1950; Queen’s Royal Visit to Regina in 1951; the last mass slaughter of cattle for hoof and mouth in 1952, near Regina; Uranium City, 1952; Rawluck Investigation, 1953; Royal Commission on Agriculture and Rural Life, 1953; Tom McLeod 1953; and an array of Saskatchewan and Alberta scenes 1940s and early 1950s. – nd., 1946-1953. Also includes a bundle of early correspondence and contracts between the church and Casavant Freres for the organ, some building materials and an annual report from 1922. Also contains textual material regarding the history of the Church (1908-1975).
DW (Zach) Hauser – MG 580 – (2018 accrual). - 20.32 cm: 1,924 slides + 39 duplicate slides, 1 b&w photograph, 6 b&w 4x5 negatives, 27 4x5 colour positives, textual records.
Zach Hauser has taught photography for Camosun College, Victoria, and for the University of Saskatchewan, both through Art and Art History and the Extension Division. A photographer since his first photograph was published in 1962, Hauser also began furniture making; and in 1998 became a blacksmith. Hauser is a member of the Saskatchewan Craft Council and has served on the Board of Directors of the Mendel Art Gallery, and on the board of CARFAC. This accession contains original images taken by Hauser over the course of two field seasons with James Basinger, a professor of geology with an interest in fossil plants, the evolution of land plants, and tertiary plants and climate change. Basinger’s research camps were on Axel Heiberg and Ellesmere Islands, and to a lesser extent, from Cornwallis Island (specifically, Resolute Bay). The images taken by Hauser document northern fauna (specifically, wolves, lemmings, hares, muskox, and various bird and insect species); people, the community of Resolute Bay, the northern landscape, and the fossilized forest which was the focus of Basinger’s research. This accrual complements an earlier donation from Hauser of original images of arctic flora. Taken together, these images provide excellent documentation of one aspect of the northern Canadian environment at a specific point in time, and may well provide evidence of change over time as the climate (and human impact) may alter the northern landscape.
Westlund family farm. – MG 648. - 6 m of textual records, 2 photographs, 5 posters, artifacts, and oversize.
This fonds consists of materials used, created, and accumulated by the Westlund and McAusland families. The majority of the material consists of financial records related to the farming operations of Arthur Westlund and Clarance McAusland near Brownlee and Melfort, Saskatchewan respectively. Although broadly speaking, the story of agriculture in Saskatchewan is well known – cyclical environmental factors, changes in product prices and markets – this fonds provides evidence of the impact of those changes on the lives of a single family, over decades. How that family interacted within the local community is also revealed in terms of how and where they spent their income. The source material, in farm account books, vendor receipts, property tax assessments, banking and investment records, income tax returns, crop insurance documentation, and other materials generated from the farming operations, provides direct evidence of farm and community in the lives of one farm family over generations. In addition to the farming records, there is a small amount of correspondence, family memorabilia, ephemera, and artifacts. The fonds includes some material related to the Saskatchewan Liberal Party as the McAuslands were members of the party for a number of years. The fonds also includes records related to the operation of the Royal Winter Snow Plow Club, of which Clarance McAusland was a member. There is also a small collection of publications which are largely related to agriculture.
Lesley Biggs. – MG 660. - 1985-2012. – 1.95 m of textual records. – 216.84 MB of digital records.
Lesley Biggs earned three degrees from the University of Toronto - B.Sc., 1980, Department of Psychology; M.Sc., Department of Behavioral Science and Ph.D. 1989, Department of Behavioral Science. Dr. Biggs’ research interests include the sociology of health care professions, history of health care, alternative medicine, sociology and history of the body, black history and midwifery. She has received several awards for her teaching excellence. She retired in 2019 as an Associate Professor in the Department of History. This fonds documents Dr. Biggs’ research interests, public service, and administrative service.