Archives arranged and described in the first half of 2019 are now open for research. We are most grateful to all our generous donors!
The collections include:
Dare Foods Limited is a family-owned business based in Kitchener, Ontario. It manufactures cookies, crackers, candies and fine breads at its seven plants in Ontario, Quebec and South Carolina. Dare candies are made in Toronto and Milton, Ontario. The accrual consists of records related to the organization and operation of the company as well as historical records, photographs, and ephemera. Includes 25 photographs, 14 videocassettes, 16 digital files (mp4, avi), 2 DVD+R, cookie packaging, and various artifacts (e.g., buttons, keychains, a clock, a travel mug, and an apron).
Cameron Clare Hill was born in 1920 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He moved with his family to Kitchener in 1930, and in 1940, he enlisted to serve with the Royal Canadian Air Force Special Reserve during World War II. After a plane crash in Libya, he was taken prisoner of war by Axis forces. The fonds includes records related to his military training, uniform and personal gear, and service overseas. Also contains records related to his time held in custody as a prisoner of war as well as his liberation and repatriation home to Canada and his life in later years. Includes 153 photographs and various military artefacts.
Mary Johnston (1930-2017) pursued a career as an elementary public school teacher and thereafter as public school principal in Waterloo, Ont. She was widely known for the contributions she made to education-related local and provincial committees as well as to the Presbyterian church and to historical groups in the Region. The accrual consists of material pertaining to her career and education as a teacher, her community work, and the history of education in the Waterloo Region. It includes 215 photographs, 2 videocassettes, and various school supplies.
Born in Berlin (now Kitchener) in 1874, William Lyon Mackenzie King went on to become the longest-serving Prime Minister in Canadian history, holding that office 1921 to 1926, 1926 to 1930, and 1935 to 1948. The collection consists of material relating to King from the estates of his brother Dougall Macdougall “Max” King and of his nephew (Dougall’s son) Arthur Macdougall King. Includes correspondence from Mackenzie King to Arthur King and to Arthur’s wife Kathleen, documents and ephemera relating to King’s death, funeral and will, 22 photographs, and a book collection containing works written and presented by John King and Dougall Macdougall King and works owned by Mackenzie King as a boy.
The Sims Family Collection encompasses records of the Sims, Cook, Davidson and Garden families retained by members of the two family branches that came together when Harvey James Sims and Florence Katherine Roos married in 1902. Their Sims and Davidson forbears were equally significant in the history of the Waterloo-Wellington area and in the growth and development of business, government and politics. Harvey was a childhood and lifelong friend of William Lyon Mackenzie King; they wrote and visited each other regularly. King’s sister Bella was also a close friend of Florence from school days on.
