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(?).

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 fonds contains records connected with 22 Superiors or Presidents of Assumption College and University, ca. 1861-2009. For the most part it is organized chronologically by individual, although later accruals to the fonds have led to some quirks in file numbering or arrangement. Much of the fonds consists of administrative correspondence connected with institutional matters. There are also photographs, reports, publications, statistics, and notes on various subjects.

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 primarily contains personal papers, publications, and oral histories (ca. 1870-1984) relating to the Basilian Fathers who served as teaching staff for Assumption College and Assumption University. Included are diaries, notebooks, correspondence, memoirs, recorded interviews, memorials, manuscripts and published works. Of special note are the extensive papers of Bishop Leo C. Nelligan, records of O’Connor House, and a few records from Rev. Pierre Tourvieille. Secondarily, this fonds contains extensive administrative records documenting the history of Essex College, found in the papers of professor W.H. Arison.

This fonds contains photocopies and translations of primary and secondary sources, as well as a small body of original notes and research correspondence, accumulated or created by Michael Power in the later 20th century, in the course of preparing three books and an article on aspects of Assumption College history. Series I contains materials documenting the early history of Assumption College and the role of the Basilian Fathers therein, particularly correspondence but also financial records, legal documents and legislation, histories and biographies. Series II contains biographical information and a few photographs related to the winners of the annual Christian Culture Gold Medal awarded by Assumption College as part of its long-running Christian Culture speaker series. Series III contains research material gathered in preparation for a short article about Rev. E.C. LeBel, a former president of Assumption University and first president of the University of Windsor. Some material duplicates original documents found in other AC fonds; some material comes from other archives or published works. It has been retained for its research value as a curated collection.

This fonds consists of 19 large, mounted black and white prints (some with original captions) depicting heritage buildings in Windsor, Ontario. The former towns (now historic neighbourhoods) of Sandwich and Walkerville are heavily featured. These include Dillon Hall at the University of Windsor; Old Sandwich’s McGregor-Cowan House, Sandwich Baptist Church, St. John’s Anglican Church, the Registry Office, and the Gaol; and Walkerville’s Hiram Walker & Sons distillery, St. Mary’s Anglican Church, and Willistead Manor. There are also half a dozen images of architectural details appearing in a variety of otherwise unidentified homes or storefronts around the city.

This fonds contains records created or collected by the Windsor, Ontario club of the Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW) between 1945 and 1997. Collectively, the records provide insight into club members’ social and political activities, as well as their engagement with provincial and national CFUW bodies, and select member organizations of the International Federation of University Women (IFUW). The records have been arranged into four series: Series I: CFUW – Windsor Club (1945-1997); Series II: CFUW – Ontario (1950-1994); Series III: CFUW – National (1943-1995); Series IV: International Federation of University Women (1918-1994).

Series I is the most extensive, containing 13 subseries for administrative and financial records, meeting minutes and annual reports, conferences, social gatherings, fundraising initiatives, correspondence, publications, news clippings, scrapbooks and photographs, and advocacy work (mainly around the status of women, education, and/or local heritage). Of particular interest are the club’s 1968 submission to the Royal Commission on the Status of Women, and records of its role in challenging gender-based discrimination within the Windsor Board of Education during the 1970s-1980s.

Series II – IV contain some general information about the provincial, national, and international levels of the CFUW/IFUW, but primarily reflect the specific participation of Windsor members in those organizations, often in the form of social gatherings, conferences, or issues related to the status of women. The CFUW’s practice of passing resolutions related to issues of contemporary concern provides useful insights into members’ collective social and political views.

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 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.