John Stoughton Dennis was a surveyor, soldier, and public servant. Born in Kingston, Dennis had a long surveying career in Ontario and Manitoba, as well as serving as a militia officer, and public servant. He was appointed Canada’s first surveyor general in 1871. In addition, he was an active entrepreneur. The documents in this collection are related to a timber felling venture on the Magnetawan River near Parry Sound, Ontario.
Peter Calamai spent almost five decades as a newspaper reporter and editor working for major Canadian newspapers. He obtained a B.Sc. in physics from McMaster University in 1965, and while a student, he was editor-in-chief of the undergraduate student newspaper The Silhouette during which it was named the best student newspaper in Canada. Calamai remains involved in McMaster’s alumni community.
Best known for his award-winning 1987 adult literacy series, Calamai has worked on a number of high-profile stories in Washington, Europe, Africa, and Ottawa; he has worked as national and foreign correspondents for Southam News (1969-1990), editorial pages editor at The Ottawa Citizen (1990-1996), and national science reporter at the Toronto Star (1998-2008). Calamai has also worked as a freelance reporter, photographer, consultant, speech writer, and instructor.
An advocate for science, literacy, and journalistic professionalism, Calamai has been nationally recognized for his involvement in public issues and exceptional news reporting and writing through his Order of Canada (2014) and Diamond Jubilee Medal, among numerous other awards. Remaining dedicated to the promotion of accurate science reporting, he is a founding member of the Canadian Science Writers’ Association and the Science Media Centre of Canada.
Calamai passed away at the age of 75, in January 2019.
Mattha (“Madzy”) Cornelia Brender à Brandis (née van Vollenhoven) (1910-1984), known as “Madzy”, was a writer who was born in Scheveningen, Holland in 1910. She was the third of four children. She studied law in Leiden, but before completing her degree, she married Wim (“Bill”) Brender à Brandis. They had three children: Marianne Brandis, Gerard Brender à Brandis, and Joost (“Jock”) Brender à Brandis. They lived briefly in New York City, but they moved back to Holland just as World War II began. Wim was ultimately sent to a prisoner-of-war camp in 1942, and during this time, Madzy cared for their children in Nazi occupied Netherlands. The family immigrated to northern B.C. in 1947 and lived on a farm for nine years. In 1958, Madzy and Bill moved to Antigonish, Nova Scotia and worked at St. Francis Xavier University, and in 1959 they moved to Burlington, Ontario.
Madzy wrote in both Dutch and English, and much of her writing was autobiographical and details her experience as an immigrant. She wrote columns for four different newspapers in Holland and Canada; sixty-eight columns and other short works remain, though she wrote more that have not survived. She wrote a memoir about life on their farm in B.C. titled Land for our Son, published under the name Maxine Brandis, and which she translated into Dutch. She also wrote short stories and a great deal of unpublished material for family members, such as diaries, memoirs, letters, etc. Madzy contracted rheumatoid arthritis while still living in WWII Holland, and by 1972, unable to use her hands to write, she was using a tape recorder for correspondence, research, and for recording family memories.
Born in the Netherlands in 1938, Marianne Brandis (full last name: “Brender à Brandis”) immigrated with her family in 1947 to Terrace, BC and currently lives in Stratford, Ontario. She was educated at UBC, St. Francis Xavier University, and McMaster University from which she graduated with a BA in 1960 and MA in 1964.
Brandis worked for a time as a copywriter for CKOC in Hamilton and CBC in Toronto in the 1960s. She also taught creative writing and English literature at Ryerson Polytechnical Institute (Ryerson University) from 1967 until she resigned in 1989 at the age of 50 after which she pursued writing full-time. She continues to teach creative writing and memoir writing workshops.
Brandis’ writings contain diverse topics and include historical fiction, creative non-fiction, memoir, and biography genres. In her historical works, she deals with significant events and the private and daily lives of individuals. Perhaps best known are Brandis’ historical books for younger readers which were published in the 1980s and 1990s, and out of these, The Tinderbox (1982), The Quarter-Pie Window (1985), The Sign of the Scales (1990), Fire Ship (1992), and Rebellion (1996) received various awards and commendations. Brandis’ most recent projects have been creative non-fiction and other life-writing works. Brandis has collaborated extensively with her brother Gerard Brender à Brandis, the wood engraver and bookwright, and whose fonds is also at McMaster.
Henry Eugene (Hank) Novak was a native of Hamilton, a McMaster student, and an RCAF officer during the Second World War. He was killed in action on January 17, 1945.
A more detailed biographical note by Dr. C.M. Johnston can be found at <a href="http://alumni.os.mcmaster.ca/s/1439/index.aspx?pgid=682">‘Discover McMaster’s World War II Honour Roll’</a>.
Jessie Sarah Graham was born in 1906. She married Elmore Joselin, and they lived in Scarborough, Toronto, where their daughter, Beverley was born. Jessie Joselin died in 1998.
During the Second World War, Mrs. Joselin volunteered with the Salvation Army’s Red Shield Women’s Auxiliary affiliated with Birch Cliff School in Scarborough. She led a group that made children’s clothing (especially layettes) for British families whose homes had been destroyed by German bombs. The effort continued after the war and was extended to French families.
Mrs. Joselin’s father was an art teacher in Toronto. One of his students, Bettina (‘Bun’) Somers, from England, befriended Jessie. In addition to art, Somers also studied nursing. When it was time for Jessie to give birth to Beverley, Somers delivered her. Upon her return to England, Somers worked as a ‘tracer’ during the Second World War. The job of a tracer was to trace drawings prepared by draughtsmen to facilitate the production of blueprint copies.
Daniel David Moses is an award-winning poet, playwright, and essayist who is of Delaware descent. He grew up on a farm on Six Nations lands near Brantford, Ontario, and he has a B.A. from York University and a M.F.A. from UBC.
Daniel David Moses is known for his original voice and his ability to portray a thriving, “organic” native culture in his plays, eschewing the tragic motif often apparent in depictions of native people. His plays include Coyote City (1988), Big Buck City (1991), Almighty Voice and His Wife (1991), and The Witch of Niagara (1998), and Moses’ works of poetry include Delicate Bodies (1980) and The White Line (1990). He has been a writer-in-residence at various institutions including Theatre Passe Muraille, the Banff Centre for the Arts, the University of British Columbia, the University of Western Ontario, the University of Windsor, the University of Toronto (Scarborough), the Sage Hill Writing Experience, McMaster University, and Concordia University. He has also served on various boards relating to native culture and the arts, including being a founding member of the Committee to Re-establish the Trickster. Moses passed away on 13 July 2020, at the age of 68.
Arthur Medland served as a Leading Aircraftman (1714975) with the RAF stationed at Maintenance Unit 351 serving the British North African Force. Medland had family in Verdun, Quebec, including his Uncle William White, whose son Douglas, he also corresponded with. Douglas White served on the HMCS Owen Sound.
Robert (Bob) Edmund Dorsey was born in Hamilton, Ontario on December 4, 1919 to Annie and Josiah (Joe) Joshua Dorsey. Dorsey attended McMaster University and graduated with a BA in 1941. He excelled in tennis and badminton, winning the singles tennis championship in a district meet in 1939, and competing in badminton tournaments at the Thistle Club to become Hamilton’s singles champion for two consecutive years.
During his time at McMaster, Dorsey trained as a cadet in the McMaster Contingent of the Canadian Officers' Training Corps (COTC). He completed his military training in 2 years and was named a 2nd lieutenant in 1942, enlisting in active service in May of the same year. While stationed at Camp Gordon, Dorsey completed the requirements to become a lieutenant. He then acted as a training centre instructor in Simcoe and Brantford. In 1943, he married Florence Kathleen Riley. Florence and Dorsey had one son, John Josiah, born February 1, 1944, whom Dorsey never had the opportunity to meet.
After being transferred to the Canadian Army (Active Force) Overseas, Dorsey boarded a ship for England, where he joined to the 5th Canadian Reinforcement Unit. He was assigned to the 7th Brigade Group, 3rd Canadian Division a month later. In the spring of 1944, Dorsey became a reinforcement officer for the Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa, a machine gun and mortar regiment designated for active service. Dorsey was involved in their pre-invasion training prior to the D-Day operation. He co-founded a frontline regimental newspaper called “The Rocket.” Dorsey was killed at Normandy on June 7, 1944. He was given full military honours in a burial ceremony at Beny-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery, Reviers in Calvados, France.
The United Church of Canada was founded in 1925 as a merger of the Methodist Church of Canada, the Congregational Union of Ontario and Quebec, part of the Presbyterian Church in Canada, and the Association of Local Union Churches.
John G. Wigmore was the son of Thomas B. Wigmore of Thorold, Ontario and served as a Leading Aircraftman with the RCAF during the Second World War. His older brother William (Bill) C. Wigmore was a Squadron Leader and flew in England, Gibraltar and Malta and was mentioned in dispatches.
Roy J. Adams (b. 1940) is an academic with interests in the area of labour issues. He has lectured and held positions around the world. In 2003 he convened the Hamilton Civic Coalition, an organization of top civic leaders dedicated to improving the quality of life in Hamilton
Morley Calvert was a conductor, bandmaster and composer. He was born in Brantford, Ontario. His music education included an LSRM certification in 1946, and A Mus. degree from McGill in 1950 and a B. Mus. degree from McGill in 1956. He founded and was the director of the McGill University Concert Band from 1960-1970 and the director of the Lakeshore Concert Band from 1967-1972. In 1958 at Ayers, QC, he founded the Monteregian Music Camp, which offered summer training for high school students which ended in 1970
Calvert’s professional activities included the position of accompaniment for Maureen Forrester. He was invited to join the American Bandmasters Association (ABA), and was the conductor of the Barrie Central Collegiate Band from 1972-1985. He was President of the Ontario Chapter of the Canadian Bandmasters Association from 1981-1983 and national executive vice-president from 1981-3. He was the artistic director of the Civic Concert Choir of Hamilton in 1987 and of the Weston Silver Band in 1988. At the time of his death, he was teaching music at Mohawk College in Hamilton, Ontario. Calvert’s compositions, recordings and performances include Suite from the Monteregian Hills published in 1961; Romantic Variations (1976, 1979) was commissioned and privately recorded by the Youth Band of Ontario and the Arizona State University Band; Introduction, Elegy and Caprice (1978) was commissioned as the test piece for the first European Brass Band Championships at Royal Albert Hall in London in 1978 and recorded by the Black Dyke Mills Band.
Hugo Sonnenschein was born in Kyjov in what is now the Czech Republic in 1889. He wrote under the name of Sonka and his first book of poems was published in 1907 while he was a student in Vienna. During the First World War he served on the Balkan front, but was taken into custody for pacifist activities on several occasions. Following the war he turned to politics and founded the Red Guard as well as being active in the communist community, though he was later kicked out of the Communist Party. Die Legende vom weltverkommenen Sonka, was published in 1920, and is considered his major work. In 1943, he and his wife, Rosa, were sent to Auschwitz. He survived, but after the war he was accused of collaborating with the State Police and in 1947 sentenced to a twenty-year sentence. He died in 1953 in Mirov prison.
Ray Gardner had a long career as an editor and journalist. Born in Victoria, Gardner grew up in Vancouver and worked for the city's three dailies, including The Province, The Sun and the News Herald. In 1947 he won the prestigious Kemsley scholarship, then awarded annually to the "outstanding young newspaperman in Canada," and spent 14 months in the United Kingdom and Europe. While in the UK, he married Kay Gardner, whom he had met in Vancouver in 1945.
On his return to Canada, Mr. Gardner served as managing editor of the Edmonton Bulletin, and worked as a freelance writer for numerous Canadian periodicals, including Maclean's, Liberty and Reader's Digest. After serving as West Coast editor of Maclean's, he joined The Star in 1961, where he became editor of Star Weekly, a weekly magazine supplement distributed with The Star. When it folded in 1968, he moved over to the daily as an assistant managing editor, serving in a variety of roles. He was appointed ombudsman, the reader's representative at the newspaper, in 1982, and remained in that post until his retirement in 1986.
George Baldwin Read served with the British Expeditionary Force during the First World War, and with the Canadian Artillery as a Captain in the Second World War. Born in 1886 in Ireland, he was a 2nd Lieutenant in the Cork Artillery Militia in 1903. Family legend says that he left home and travelled the world, working in Hawaii, Australia, and ending up in Canada in 1909. While there, he met and married Gwendolen Pym and they had two children, Montague (1914) and Michael Richard (1915).
Read returned to England and became a Captain with NO. 10 Coy. RGA, where he served at Queenstown Harbour. He was later promoted to Admiral and served in France and Belgium.
During the Second World War he served as a Major, possibly as a spotter on Partridge Island. He retired in April 1951.
Stuart Ivison was an active member of the Canadian Baptist community and served as a chaplain during the Second World War in England, Italy, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Ernest Hauber Stuart Ivison was born 26 March 1906 in Wheatley, Ontario. Joining the Talbot Street Baptist Church during the end of high school and through his work with the church made the decision to enter the ministry. Starting at McMaster University in 1925, Ivison joined the debating team, worked on the McMaster Monthly and was the first editor of The Silhouette.
After graduating in 1930, Ivison was ordained and began his first ministry at a church in Brockville. Two years later he moved to Ottawa to fill a vacancy at First Baptist Church. On 5 August 1931, he married his wife Marjorie, and they had three children: Donald, Duncan and David. As a consequence of his role at Ottawa First Baptist he was often a liaison between the government and the Baptist Convention after the start of the Second World War. He was asked to join the National Defence Headquarters by Bishop Wells of the Anglican Church of Canada. He enlisted in July 1941 and served at Headquarters for two years. In 1943 he requested to go through basic training and serve overseas. Ivison served most of his time with the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, until just before the end of the war when he became Staff Chaplain at Army Headquarters. Following his service he returned First Baptist in Ottawa and was an active member of the Baptist community in Canada.
For a detailed account of his life, including a wealth of contextual details for this archive, researchers should consult the oral history recorded in 1986 that is housed in Box 2, File 25.
R.H. De Pencier served in the Canadian Contingent of the South African Constabulary in the South African War. From Montreal, De Pencier was part of the Volunteer Rifles and received the Queen’s Medal. His regimental number was 1662.
Anton Koberger was a German goldsmith, printer and publisher, best known for publishing the Nuremberg Chronicle.
Starting as a goldsmith, Koberger moved into printing in 1471. He was very successful, establishing twenty-four presses. His success came from not just from printing, but also owning two papermills and forming business partnerships with booksellers all over Europe.
The Book Society of Canada Ltd. was incorporated on 29 May 1945. Its founding president was John C.W. Irwin (1900-71) who worked from 1927 to 1929 as Assistant Manager of the Educational Department of the Macmillan Company of Canada Limited. In 1930 he and his brother-in-law, W.H. Clarke, began Clarke, Irwin & Company Limited. Together they developed and managed the publishing company of Clarke Irwin along with the Canadian branch of the Oxford University Press (from 1936 onwards). Irwin left Clarke Irwin in 1944 to form The Book Society. The latter was a school textbook publishing company. In the 1960s The Book Society published approximately a dozen books per year, many of which were approved by various departments of education across Canada. The founder's son, John W. Irwin, left teaching in 1960, joined the firm, and worked in various capacities of the company. He became President of the firm in 1971. In 1973 The Book Society acquired an educational publishing firm, Bellhaven House Limited (see boxes 56, file 14, and 59, file 1 for authors' contracts and questionnaires), and in 1982, a trade firm, Peter Martin Associates Limited. When Clarke Irwin went into receivership, The Book Society acquired its assets in June 1983. Clarke Irwin was maintained by The Book Society for a short period as a separate entity and reconstituted under the name, Clarke Irwin (1983) Inc. In 1984 The Book Society was renamed as Irwin Publishing Inc. At that time two-thirds of the company's business was in the area of educational publishing and the remainder in trade. The total business sales were {dollar}3 million, 5% of which came from foreign rights revenue.
