This fonds contains records related to the life and work of 19th century Upper Canadian shipwright Shadrach Jenking. The records are primarily original legal documents related to the sale, acquisition, and boundaries of land in the Township of Sandwich, but also included are original papers relating to Jenking’s training as a shipwright and copies of his descendants’ genealogical research. The fonds is arranged into three series. Series I: Labour Agreements contains documents relating to Jenking’s apprenticeship. Series II: Land Agreements includes deeds and assignments of mortgage, as well as one property sketch and one blueprint. Many are tied to families of Jenking or his wife Margaret Maisonville. Series III: Genealogical Research and Fragments contains bits of unidentified original documents and a variety of correspondence, notes, and photocopied resources relating to the family history of Shadrach Jenking and his descendants.

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 principally contains records connected with the Congregation of St. Basil (Basilian Fathers) whose members administered Assumption College and Assumption University from 1870 onward. Secondarily, it contains varied records that document the history of Assumption and its evolution over time. Included are legal documents, memos, correspondence, ephemera, constitutions and rules, historical narratives and memoirs, reports, and a variety of Basilian publications and formal histories of Assumption. Some items pertain to Catholic education broadly, or to the history of the Catholic Church in Southwestern Ontario. Of special note are Assumption fight songs and a victory song, and the Second World War war diary of Rev. Mike Dalton, a military chaplain.