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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 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 constitutes a rich record of Windsor Chamber of Commerce activities over more than a century, shedding light on the history and development of the business community in the Border Cities region, particularly Windsor. The bulk of the records relate to the Windsor Chamber of Commerce era (1935-1991). A small number of records document the original Windsor Board of Trade era (1876-1917, but with records only covering 1903-1912) and a somewhat larger body of records document the Border Cities Chamber of Commerce era (1917-1935).

The records consist primarily of correspondence, reports, and meeting minutes (1903-1991), with the addition of scrapbooks (1930s-1960s), photographs (1960s-1980s), and a copy of the 1876 charter which established the original Windsor Board of Trade. Due to the nature of the Chamber’s activities and advocacy, the fonds contains information about, or correspondence from, notable figures including O.E. Fleming, Art Reaume, George M. Duck, George Drew, Leslie Frost, Hiram Walker, Henry Ford, Jack Miner, Paul Martin Sr., Lester Pearson, John Diefenbaker, Pierre Trudeau, Mark MacGuigan, and Herb Gray. Major local issues touched on in the records include the development of the Windsor Airport, the local war effort during the Second World War, the purchase of Roseland Golf Club, the E.C. Row Expressway, Daylight Savings Time, downtown development, community planning, local government election procedures, regional government proposals, and transportation. Affiliated organizations including the Windsor Retail Merchants Association, the Manufacturers Association, and the Essex County Tourist Association are represented here as well.