This fonds contains publications, along with a small amount of correspondence and ephemera, relating to graduates (alumni) of Assumption College and University dating back to 1870. All items were produced in the 20th c. but may include information related to 19th c. alumni as well. Publications present in the fonds include the Catalogue of Assumption College, Kaleidoscope, Alumni Times, and Alumni Chatter. Also present are several 1990s issues of the University of Windsor’s Emeritus Society News. Of note: words and music for Assumption fight songs.

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.

This fonds contains records from the mid-1960s depicting the involvement of cosmetic company Beauty Counselors of Canada and its Sales Promotion Manager Doug Johnstone in branding Windsor, Ontario as the “City of Roses” (or “Rose City”). Most of the records were originally kept in scrapbook form by the company, and include news clippings, photographs of people and products, newsletters, and promotional ephemera. The rose campaign took shape under the direction of the Greater Windsor Foundation, a cross-sector initiative that sought to change what was then perceived as Windsor’s negative reputation. A 2011 email from Johnstone and 1960s newspaper articles explain this wider context. Although the records are focused on the rose campaign, some of the photographs and ephemera provide insights into both women’s work (as salespeople for the company) and women’s beauty culture in the 1960s.

This collection provides glimpses into community and associational life for people of African descent in Windsor, Ontario between the late 19th and early 21st centuries, with an emphasis on the mid-20th century. It is divided into nine thematic series.

Series I contains records of the British Methodist Episcopal (BME) Church, 1873-1999, both Windsor-specific and national. Included are doctrinal books, church registers and membership rolls, land indentures, annual reports, church histories, orders of service, ephemera, press clippings, correspondence, conference programmes, and photographs of historic BME chapels in Windsor, Woodstock, and Chatham, some of which have since been demolished.

Series II consists of administrative and financial records and ephemera from the annual Emancipation Celebration held in Windsor, 1837-1983, including papers of the British-American Association of Coloured Brothers of Ontario, souvenir programmes, and photographs of Emancipation parades ca. late 1950s/early 1960s.

Series III contains minutes, financial records, correspondence and two newspaper clippings from a committee to organize a concert in Jackson Park in affiliation with a conference of the National Association of Negro Musicians, 1955-1956.

Series IV contains minutes, correspondence, and a guest book from the International Women’s Committee (of Black women in Windsor in Detroit) relating to speakers and events in conjunction with Emancipation events, 1954-1956.

Series V holds the constitution, minutes, financial records, history, correspondence, and event-related ephemera (1940-1960) of the Armstead Club, a sporting and social club that also provided youth scholarships. Of special interest is a letter from the first scholarship recipient reflecting on being one of only a few Black students at Queen’s University in the late 1940s.

Series VI consists of minutes, ephemera, and correspondence of the War Mothers Protective League, 1943-1945, which provided morale-boosting cards and gifts to local armed forces personnel serving abroad during the Second World War. One file contains letters of thanks from the servicemen themselves.

Series VII contains minutes, history, and correspondence of the Central Citizens’ Association, 1929-1958, an organization that advocated for the rights and opportunities of Black citizens in Windsor and organized collective action including social clubs, mentoring, boycotts, and political activism.

Series VIII consists of a small number of administrative records – constitution, financial records, names of members (1867-1881) – from the Lydian Association of Windsor, a working women’s mutual aid group that provided financial and nursing support to sick or injured members.

Series IX contains personal records from the Christian/Shreve/Moore family, consisting of A.S. Shreve’s course notes from his flight engineer training in 1944. (Note: further accruals to Series IX are expected.)

This fonds contains administrative records of the Association Saint-Jean-Baptiste branches in Stoney Point and Windsor, Ontario, ca. 1914-1967. It also contains several commemorative booklets and a scrapbook of news clippings relating to the French language. It is arranged in six series: Series I (Administrative Records, 1915-1967) contains letters patent and membership lists; Series II (Minutes, 1914-1967) contains meeting minutes from Stoney Point and Windsor; Series III (Correspondence, 1948-1967) contains correspondence files from the Windsor branch that touch on matters including financial arrangements, events, and activities; Series IV (Newsletters, 1957-1961) contains copies of the Bulletin that was a precursor to the Le Rempart newspaper; Series V (Commemorative Booklets, 1958; 1962) contains two publications celebrating significant community events; Series VI (Scrapbook, 1918-1919) contains a scrapbook of French-language children’s columns from local newspaper La Défense.

This fonds primarily contains curated scrapbooks that document the people and events of Assumption College and University through the late-19th and 20th c. Additional oversize posters, photographs, and guestbooks (not housed in scrapbooks) are also present. The scrapbooks contain a mixture of news clippings, photographs, and ephemera (especially posters and programs from special events, but also athletic ‘school letters’, typescript sermons, and more), generally arranged by year(s). Photographs range from candid shots of students and professors around campus, to formal portraits of classes and sports teams; clippings cover news of the college/university, current students and alumni, Basilian fathers, and developments in higher education and Catholic education. Of special note are items relating to the 1951 royal visit of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip, tributes to campus veterans and/or the war dead from the two world wars, promotional material relating to the Christian Culture Series and Father J.S. Murphy, and campus ministry in the later 20th c.

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 records charting the institutional life and physical premises of St. Mary’s Anglican Church in the Town of Walkerville / Walkerville neighbourhood of Windsor. Series I – Paper Files is not formally arranged into sub-series, but significant record-creating groups or genres of material are grouped together in the file order. These include: church wardens, board of management/vestry, financial records, various church committees, women’s groups, men’s groups, youth groups, orders of service (bulletins), special events, church visitors and staff, as well as the building, its contents, its churchyard and cemetery (including sketches and architectural plans). Of note are a small number of records relating to the church’s relationship to the family of Walkerville founder Hiram Walker, and rich records of social and service groups for men, women, children, and youth. Series II – Photographs was originally arranged separately from the paper files. Its previous arrangement and description has been retained here; the images capture elements of the congregational activities and physical premises documented in the paper files.

The fonds does not contain parish records of births, deaths, marriages, or baptisms.

This fonds contains records of students and student activities at Assumption College and Assumption University, ca. 1870s-1980s. It also includes some records from Assumption High School in that period, and for the University of Western Ontario during the years of Assumption’s affiliation with Western. Included are roll books and testimonials; minutes of the Literary Society; newsletters, yearbooks, and student publications; handbooks for students, residents, and faculty; promotional and recruitment brochures for Assumption; ephemera relating to special events, convocation, dramatics, and athletics; program and course listings; and news clippings. There is a small amount of material relating to student grades or schoolwork, alumni, Second World War servicemen, and deceased Basilian Fathers. Of special note: correspondence relating to the Assumption victory song, a history of Holy Names College, and brochures for 1940s summer school offerings listing Wyndham Lewis and Marshall McLuhan as faculty.

This fonds consists of a single file containing five short histories (written 1969-2019) about aspects of the Maltese-Canadian community. As one of several significant settlement areas for Maltese immigrants in Canada, Windsor is featured prominently. Three of the items (including one early draft with handwritten corrections) are by Maltese-Canadian Windsorite Angelo Dougall; two are by Maltese-Canadian Dan Brock and originally appeared in a Maltese-Canadian newsletter.