This fonds contains records created ca. 1979-1981 in an attempt to identify and catalogue historical records found in both urban and rural parts of Essex and Kent counties which could be of use to those interested in local and family history. At the time, most of these records were not held in formal archives or other repositories, but rather were inactive files held on-site in the institutions that created them. The fonds has been divided into two series. Series I contains the original index cards used in the field to gather data for the Ontario’s Heritage project (ca. 1980-1981?) from both Essex and Kent County locations. These remain as much as possible in their original order, arranged by geographic location and institution. Series II contains a bound copy of the Windsor Archival Project report (1979) focusing on city records, and an incomplete typescript draft of Ontario’s Heritage: A Guide to Archival Resources, Vol. 10 Essex and Kent Counties which includes only Essex County records (ca. 1981?).

Although some of the record collections detailed have subsequently been donated to archives (including Leddy Library Archives & Special Collections), the index cards and reports still remain a valuable starting point for those seeking leads on archival sources.

This fonds contains 25 personal diaries of Kent County merchant F. J. Mayhew, beginning with an 1863 trip to his birthplace in England, then following his daily activities back in Thamesville, Ontario and surrounding area, 1879-1905. The diaries are small, and the entries brief; some entries are “cross-written” (in which the diarist fills the available space, then turns the page at a 90-degree angle and writes another passage over the first). Mayhew comments on the weather, meals eaten, people he visited or received visits from, business activities, farming activities, and social or other events.

This fonds consists of a graduate student essay entitled “Discovering, Recovering, Uncovering: Commemorating the Buxton Settlement,” written by Sean Kheraj for the Master’s-level History course HIST 5145 “The Use of the Past - Public Memory and Popular History in Canada,” taught by Dr. H.V. Nelles at York University. The essay examines the history and historical commemoration of Black settlement in and around Buxton, Ontario, with particular attention to community involvement in commemorative activities and the role of commemoration in the formation of identity. Included are anecdotes of visiting the sites in 2003 and transcriptions of the text found on relevant historical plaques. This is a relatively polished draft of work that was later re-envisioned and reworked for publication in the York University graduate student journal Problématique 9 (2003) as “Plaque Build-Up: Commemorating the Buxton Settlement, 1950-2003.” Substantial differences exist between the two versions.

This fonds contains administrative records of the Sydenham Glass Company, of Wallaceburg, Ontario, 1894-1913. Included are Directors’ meeting minutes, by-laws, a few share certificates, and a small amount of correspondence.

This fonds contains documents and images related to nineteenth- and early twentieth-century European settlement in Essex and Kent counties. These include an Irish immigrant’s personal journal of settling in Essex County with his two sisters (1850). The journal primarily details Jasper Golden’s travels (Atlantic crossing, St. Lawrence River, Quebec, Kingston, Niagara, Buffalo, Detroit, Windsor) but also includes later details about time spent in Malden, Anderdon, and the now-lost port of Albertville (near Kingsville). There are also official records of infrastructure and property in Howard Township (1909), and organizational and research material related to an effort to preserve the Walker family’s rare fieldstone-clad Kent County farmhouse as a historic site. (David and Ann Walker were Scottish immigrants who settled in Harwich Township, Kent County in 1845, with their original grant of farmland remaining in the family until 1972.) The fonds also includes approximately 448 slides depicting pre-1900 homes, buildings, furnishings, objects, weapons, and equipment in Kent and Essex counties, from a Canada Council-funded project to document these artifacts. There is also a short history of Buxton, Ontario, and slides of a memorial to Shawnee chief Tecumseh.

This collection contains a selection of correspondence, ephemera and photographs primarily with a connection to Windsor/Essex, Chatham-Kent, or Sarnia/Lambton, acquired by Wayne Ray for digitization and addition to his Windfield Photo Archives online project. They are divided into series according to subject: Series I contains images of Chatham’s Dominion Sugar Company sugar beet processing facilities, ca. 1920s (?); Series II contains images of ships and homes on the Sarnia waterfront ca. 1990s; Series III contains late 1990s/early 2000s images of tourist facilities in other southern Ontario places, including inns in Port Severn and Ingersoll, and cruises on the Grand River and Lake Muskoka. Series IV contains correspondence from mid-20th c. Wheatley, including a discussion of 1950s United Church growth, and Series V contains ephemera connected to business, leisure, and religious activities in Windsor and Essex County, ca. 1897-1960s(?).