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.

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 contains records of students and student activities at Assumption College and Assumption University, ca. 1870s-1980s. It also includes some records from Assumption High School in that period, and for the University of Western Ontario during the years of Assumption’s affiliation with Western. Included are roll books and testimonials; minutes of the Literary Society; newsletters, yearbooks, and student publications; handbooks for students, residents, and faculty; promotional and recruitment brochures for Assumption; ephemera relating to special events, convocation, dramatics, and athletics; program and course listings; and news clippings. There is a small amount of material relating to student grades or schoolwork, alumni, Second World War servicemen, and deceased Basilian Fathers. Of special note: correspondence relating to the Assumption victory song, a history of Holy Names College, and brochures for 1940s summer school offerings listing Wyndham Lewis and Marshall McLuhan as faculty.

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 collection provides glimpses into community and associational life for people of African descent in Windsor, Ontario between the late 19th and early 21st centuries, with an emphasis on the mid-20th century. It is divided into nine thematic series.

Series I contains records of the British Methodist Episcopal (BME) Church, 1873-1999, both Windsor-specific and national. Included are doctrinal books, church registers and membership rolls, land indentures, annual reports, church histories, orders of service, ephemera, press clippings, correspondence, conference programmes, and photographs of historic BME chapels in Windsor, Woodstock, and Chatham, some of which have since been demolished.

Series II consists of administrative and financial records and ephemera from the annual Emancipation Celebration held in Windsor, 1837-1983, including papers of the British-American Association of Coloured Brothers of Ontario, souvenir programmes, and photographs of Emancipation parades ca. late 1950s/early 1960s.

Series III contains minutes, financial records, correspondence and two newspaper clippings from a committee to organize a concert in Jackson Park in affiliation with a conference of the National Association of Negro Musicians, 1955-1956.

Series IV contains minutes, correspondence, and a guest book from the International Women’s Committee (of Black women in Windsor in Detroit) relating to speakers and events in conjunction with Emancipation events, 1954-1956.

Series V holds the constitution, minutes, financial records, history, correspondence, and event-related ephemera (1940-1960) of the Armstead Club, a sporting and social club that also provided youth scholarships. Of special interest is a letter from the first scholarship recipient reflecting on being one of only a few Black students at Queen’s University in the late 1940s.

Series VI consists of minutes, ephemera, and correspondence of the War Mothers Protective League, 1943-1945, which provided morale-boosting cards and gifts to local armed forces personnel serving abroad during the Second World War. One file contains letters of thanks from the servicemen themselves.

Series VII contains minutes, history, and correspondence of the Central Citizens’ Association, 1929-1958, an organization that advocated for the rights and opportunities of Black citizens in Windsor and organized collective action including social clubs, mentoring, boycotts, and political activism.

Series VIII consists of a small number of administrative records – constitution, financial records, names of members (1867-1881) – from the Lydian Association of Windsor, a working women’s mutual aid group that provided financial and nursing support to sick or injured members.

Series IX contains personal records from the Christian/Shreve/Moore family, consisting of A.S. Shreve’s course notes from his flight engineer training in 1944. (Note: further accruals to Series IX are expected.)

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 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 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.