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This fonds consists of 31 student projects depicting historical and contemporary features of Southwestern Ontario (primarily Windsor/Essex County but also Sarnia/Lambton County), created by Bachelor of Education students in History or Social Studies courses in the 1980s. They take a variety of forms, including illustrated storybooks, scrapbooks, captioned photo albums, reports, lesson plans, activities, or fact sheets. The projects themselves are of variable quality, but the photographs and ephemera included in many projects provide valuable insight into local landmarks or industries in the 1980s. The collection has been arranged into six thematic series: Series I (Overviews by Geographic Area), Series II (Cultural Attractions), Series III (Sociocultural Groups and Histories), Series IV (Local Government), Series V (Business and Industry), Series VI (Transportation).

Warning: The N-word appears in a historical quotation in one project; stereotyped depictions of Indigenous peoples appear in another. See finding aid for details.

This fonds primarily contains records related to urban planning and produced by or for the City of Windsor. These include meeting minutes, reports, plans, studies, maps, and notes, predominantly from 1944-1965. Of special note are several proposals relating to the Windsor riverfront. There is also a draft copy of a 2006 economic development strategy created by the city for the Windsor-Essex County region. The records are arranged into three series: Series I, City of Windsor, Planning Commission; Series II, E.G. Faludi, Windsor’s Master Plan; Series III, Economic Development Plan.

These records reflect the work of various municipal offices, 1855-1947. They are divided into eight series: I. Malden Township school records (1855-1944); II. Essex County court records (1902-1919); III. Essex County Registers Office records (1861-1870s?); IV. Essex County Clerk’s Office records (1924-1935); V. Essex County Main Lists (1926-1932); VI. Essex County Treasurer’s Office records (1858-1947); VII. Kingsville and Point Pelee Navigation Company records (1892-1894); and VIII. Additional Accessions.

The Treasurer’s Office records document financial transactions as recorded in cash books, fee books, receipt books, cheque books, and ledgers. These include general records as well as records relating specifically to the Highways Committee (1916-1928; 1934-1941), criminal convictions (1861), and property transfers (1908-1910; 1917-1925).

This fonds presents highlights from the working life of Delos Rogest Davis, one of Canada’s first Black lawyers. Series I contains a variety of certificates that recognize his professional qualifications (1871-1912), as well as a program from his funeral in 1915 and accounts of his life and accomplishments in newspaper clippings and the Delos Rogest Davis, K.C. Memorial Fund pamphlet. Series II contains correspondence with legal colleagues regarding his recent appointment as King’s Counsel, from November 1910.

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.

The J. Clark Keith papers contain a record of activities pursued by one of Windsor’s most eminent engineers during his career with the Essex Border Utilities Commission (1920-1935) and the subsequent Windsor Utilities Commission (1935-1957), largely in the form of personal correspondence and scrapbooks. Also included are numerous reports, subject files, a small number of engineering specifications, blueprints, contracts, and excerpts from Keith’s book The Windsor Utilities Commission and Its Antecedent Commissions, covering nearly seventy years of urban history in the Border Cities. The fonds provides detailed insight into projects such as the Wyandotte Street extension and construction of a filtration plant at Ford City, as well as broader issues of city planning and legislation. Hospitals and parks are also dealt with, thanks to the EBUC’s broad mandate. Collectively, the records provide an excellent survey of the diverse responsibilities shouldered by the utilities commission in Windsor’s development, and the central role J. Clark Keith played at its helm.

The fonds is arranged into seven sub-series: Sub-series A contains subject files; Sub-series B contains annual reports; Sub-series C contains other reports; Sub-series D contains financial reports; Sub-series E contains contracts; Sub-series F contains a diary; and Sub-series G contains scrapbooks.

The fonds consists of original Windsor Star editorial cartoons drawn by Mike Graston that reflect local, provincial, national, and international public affairs of the period 1981-2016. The images have been arranged by date of creation. Politics and politicians figure prominently, at all four levels.

Municipal topics include mayors and city councillors, elections, public utilities and infrastructure, local Canada-US border crossings, automakers and other major local employers, unions and strikes, strip clubs, casinos, the downtown core, and riverfront development plans.

Provincial topics include premiers and Windsor/Essex members of provincial parliament, party leaders, economic policies, education, health care, and elections.

National topics include prime ministers and Windsor/Essex members of parliament, party leaders, economic policies, taxation, national defence, elections, same-sex marriage, Quebec separatism, Western alienation, and many political scandals.

International issues include wars in Iraq, war in Afghanistan, school shootings, the British Royal Family, American presidential politics, and Canadian-American relations.

Social issues are a secondary focus, with recurring themes of technological change, demographic change in Canada, Western popular culture (including television, sports, music, and celebrities), Remembrance Day, public health, and the environment.

A small amount of biographical information about Mike Graston and past exhibits of his work is also included in a textual file.

This fonds consists primarily of historic postcards depicting landscapes, buildings, attractions, infrastructure, and vehicles in the region of Southwestern Ontario, with a particular focus on Windsor and Essex County. Many of the postcards are undated, but formats include hand-tinted Early Twentieth Century (ca. 1900-1914) and White Border (ca.1914-1932) styles, as well as Linen (ca.1933-early 1950s), Standard/Chrome (ca. mid-1950s-1970s), and Continental/Modern (ca. 1970s - present) styles. Also included are a small number of photographs and ephemera items including arrest warrants, tokens, medallions, patches, maps, brochures, tickets, and advertisements, all relating to local people, businesses, events, or locations.

The years 1900 to 1914 were a so-called Golden Age for postcards in North America, thanks to the popularity of photography and mass production techniques that made them an affordable collectible item. Views of all kinds were produced, including residential neighbourhoods, churches and civic buildings, commercial districts, industrial plants, bridges, and landscapes. From 1900 into the 1930s, many postcards were black-and-white photographs with colour added. In subsequent decades glossy colour photographs became the norm, and a narrower range of views were produced (often depicting popular tourist sites, where they were sold as souvenirs). By the 1970s most North American postcards shifted from the traditional small size (8.5 x 14cm) to the larger European (“Continental”) size (10 x 15.5cm) and continued to feature a small range of local tourist attractions. All of these trends are reflected in the postcards contained in this fonds.

This fonds contains the newsletter of the Windsor Chapter of the Ontario Archaeological Society, 1977-2001. Editor Peter Reid, professor of physical anthropology at the University of Windsor, normally produced six issues per year of what he soon entitled The Squirrel County Gazette. The newsletter contains administrative matters pertaining to the Chapter, summaries of Chapter events and meetings, news about local excavations and findings, updates on the state of archaeology in Ontario, and news of interesting archaeological discoveries around the world.

The fonds contains original typescripts of 1 letter and 5 poems (2 of which are poem cycles) authored by Raymond Knister. The 2 poem cycles, “Seven Poems,” and “A Row of Stalls” were published during his lifetime, in 1922 and 1925 respectively. The rest were published posthumously with “March Wind” in 1983, and “To One Lost” and “Still Young,” under the title “Until, Still Young,” in 2003. The poems are largely about relationships and emotions, with “A Row of Stalls” covering rural life which Knister is known for. The letter was written in 1931 to a regular correspondent known only as E.F. and covers topics including writing, specifically commenting on the Canadian writing scene, his father’s death, and his family life.