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 financial records of Assumption College and University, ca. 1856-1999. These include general cash books, financial statements, correspondence, and records of accounts, as well as real estate acquired, constructed, maintained, or sold by Assumption and/or the Basilian Fathers in the vicinity of the present-day campus, from Tecumseh Road north to the Detroit River. Included are land deeds, contracts, and other legal documents, as well as architectural or schematic drawings and specifications for campus buildings. Notably, this includes records of property acquired in the early days of the college, and campus properties sold by Assumption in the 1960s to the University of Windsor. Of special note: a small number of 1950s-1960s records relating to Essex College, the non-denominational affiliated college that helped secure provincial government funding for the campus.

This fonds primarily contains records related to a parcel of land along the Detroit River in what is now Riverside, designated as Lot 116. This property was once a farmstead, later subdivided for residential use and the site of Edith Cavell elementary school. One file contains a small number of documents (1849-1938) from the Parent family, largely relating to the home, goods, and property of their farm. There are also 8 photographs of the property (ca. 1920s and 1950s) including the farmhouse, the school, a streetcar shelter, and a young Haines Cox. Several blueprints and plans depict Lot 116, its planned subdivision (“Lundy Heights”), and drains, ca. 1900-1918. Copies of two newspaper stories provide context for the Parent house and the Edith Cavell school.

One file contains material (1824-1833) related to a Parent cousin named Paul LeDuc, in connection with LeDuc’s lease of unceded lands in Bkejwanong Territory (along the St. Clair River delta) from the Anishinaabe community there that would later be known as Walpole Island First Nation. These handwritten records include receipts, notes, and a lease. Of special note is a land use agreement between LeDuc and four chiefs identified as Chippewa (also given as Ojibwe) from the Chenail Ecarte community, signed by the chiefs with animal doodems (totems).

This fonds consists of a single land grant document on parchment with a very large wax seal attached. The document, signed on 10 March 1804, grants 314 acres of land from the Province of Upper Canada to “Jean Baptiste Tourneaux.” The land was designated as lot 78 in the first, second, and third concessions of the Parish of L’Assomption (Assumption) in the Township of Sandwich. This lot extended from present-day Salter Avenue in the west to Bruce Avenue in the east, from the Detroit River in the north down to the Roseland Golf Course in the south. Janette Avenue, which runs through the lot, was named for Jean Baptiste Le Tourneaux dit Jeannet, the grantee.

This fonds contains personal, professional, and domestic records from the life of Joan Somers Sullivan in the later-20th and early-21st centuries. Series I (Personal Records) includes reminiscences about Joan, medical information, clippings related to community activitism (including traffic problems in Old Sandwich), and personal journals. Series II (Professional Records) features her resumé and qualifications, as well as administrative records, correspondence, public talks, research material, clippings, and publications connected with her pioneering effort to unionize legal secretaries in Windsor, Ontario during the 1970s. This includes talks for events held by the Faculties of Law at the University of Windsor and the University of Western Ontario, and articles published in the Windsor Woman women’s liberation newspaper and The Oyez Windsor law students’ newspaper. Series III (Domestic Records) contains recipes and household hints used in her later-life personal housekeeping, as well as lists of her annual Christmas baking.

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 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 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 consists of a single printed booklet of stock shares (roughly the size and shape of a brick) that could be filled in by hand and torn off, with a stub (receipt) remaining. Of the 330 total pages, 31 have been used, many for more than one share. Either the share or stub indicate the name and date of the shareholder, indicating sales between 1870 and 1889. Many shares were held by prominent locals from the Baby, Askin, and Rankin families, as well as founding co-directors Arthur Rankin and Josiah Strong.