This fonds contains preservation copies of academic calendars created by Assumption College or Assumption University of Windsor, between 1901 and 1963. From 1951-1956, they also included courses from Holy Names College, an affiliated women’s college. Although the series is incomplete, this is the most comprehensive set currently available.

The calendars go by several names and take corresponding forms, including: Catalogue, Course of Study, Bulletin of Information, Announcement, and Calendar. Included are general calendars as well as calendars for graduate programs, summer session, and the Division of Extension. The contents of the calendars vary by year. In addition to information about programs of study and course offerings, some calendars include additional information about faculty, students, alumni, athletics, clubs and activities, scholarships and prizes, and the costs of tuition and board. Brief histories of Assumption College also appear, as do photographs of student life and campus settings.

This fonds contains five personal volumes of mid- to late-19th century sheet music belonging to female members of the Adams and Bowlby families of Canada West/Ontario. It has been organized into two series, reflecting the two family lines from which the women came: Series I (Adams family) and Series II (Bowlby family). Each volume bears the name of its owner and contains an assortment of vocal or instrumental music designed for domestic use. For the middle-classes of 19th century North America it was common practice to conclude a young woman’s years of musical training by compiling her sheet music into a personalized bound volume. Each volume therefore reflects the owner/performer’s tastes, training, and proficiency, which songs, composers, and social dance styles were popular during the years of her training, and what music was available to her either through purchase or as a gift. The resulting volumes were used in subsequent years for home or community performance among family, friends, and neighbours, as well as for personal entertainment. As such, the Adams/Bowlby volumes offer snapshots of Victorian musical culture in their owners’ small communities during southern Ontario’s late-colonial/early-Confederation period. They also provide a glimpse into one means (musical accomplishment) by which young middle-class women could improve their chances of economic security: either by demonstrating a degree of gentility that resulted in a desirable marriage or by acquiring skills that would allow them to find employment as music teachers. The finding aid contains detailed lists of the content of each volume.

This fonds contains records related to Alan Sears’ personal thought and activism in socialist and 2SLGBTQIA+ circles during his early career, publications on those topics, and historical materials related to socialist politics in Windsor/Essex County.

Series I (Personal Files, 1982-1996) contains Sears’ personal notes, formal presentations, and article drafts, as well as agendas, membership lists, signed petitions, posters and flyers, a small amount of correspondence, and some research material in activist areas including socialism, labour, anti-racism and anti-apartheid, anti-war, Gay and Lesbian rights, AIDS, and funding for education. Most of the records relate to Windsor, with some Ottawa and Toronto items.

Series II (Publications, 1971-2002) contains periodicals and individual articles connected with Sears’ activist interests, and a history of Gay and Lesbian liberation written by Sears.

Series III (Scrapbooks & Ephemera, 1945; 1980s) includes two scrapbooks of press clippings from the 1945 Ontario provincial election, focused on the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) party and Essex County, and stickers from a 1980s job action by postal workers.

Series IV (Photographs) contains images of t-shirts owned by Sears, highlighting slogans and images used in various activist causes.

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 documents aspects of the personal and professional life – and particularly the First World War experiences – of Captain Arthur Flowers, a British military careerist and mid-20th c. immigrant to Essex County. Series I contains records and images relating to his personal life and political views; Series II contains records relating to his military career, including correspondence and health records from the First World War; Series III contains official First World War correspondence and publications circulated by the British military to boost morale. Series IV contains records relating to Flowers’ wife Annie, including correspondence, a 1914 travel diary, and souvenirs of the British Royal Family.

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 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 materials created or collected by CARAL Windsor and affiliated organizations between 1968 and 1994. It has been divided into six series reflecting the group’s pro-choice activism during a tumultuous period of uncertainty around abortion legality and access in Canada. Series I to V contain records of day-to-day operations, advocacy, and resource sharing by CARAL itself, as follows: Series I - Administrative Materials; Series II – Correspondence; Series III - Publicity and Awareness; Series IV - National Office Materials; Series V -Resources. Series VI - Windsor Women’s Incentive Centre (WIC) contains a small number of records related to the WIC’s broader support for women’s issues in Windsor-Essex in the same time period.

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.