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James Brasch was born on 11 October 1929. He was educated at the State University of New York, Colgate University and the University of Wisconsin. He has published a guide to Henry James's novel, The Portrait of a Lady in 1966 and edited a volume of Ernest Hemingway's works in 1981. He began teaching in McMaster University's English department in 1966 and became an associate professor before his retirement in 1995.

Alexander Brady and others were charged with treason on 1 June 1838 in the township of Pelham where they were accused of gathering together in an unlawful manner with rifles, pistols, and swords. Only John W. Brown was found guilty.

The Bradley-Garretson Company Limited originated in Philadephia, and was involved in subscription book publishing. The Canadian branch was established in Brantford in 1876 by D.R. Wilson. Some time before 1879, Thomas Samuel Linscott, who was born in Devonshire, England in 1846 and had emigrated to America for health reasons, became the company's manager. Ordained in 1875 as a minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church, Linscott retired from the ministry in 1879 and bought the Canadian interests of the company.

Based in Toronto and Brantford, Ontario, Bradley-Garretson ("The Book and Bible House") published books between 1879 and 1920. According to Warner and Beer's History of Brant County (1883), it employed at Brantford "from fifteen to twenty" clerks and assistants, using "all the modern appliances" and appointed "over one thousand agents" in 1882. The company was not officially incorporated until 1895, by which time Linscott's son, Thomas Henry Linscott, had become the main owner. In 1896 the company opened the Toronto office at 155 Bay Street. (A related operation, Linscott Publishing Co., was established in 1897). Many of Bradley-Garretson's publications were religious in nature, although the company also issued books related to politics and the domestic sciences. Several imprints of the company are life and work anthologies written about individuals such as Sir John Thompson, Dwight L. Moody and Rev. Charles Spurgeon.

George Anne Bellamy, actress, was born in Fingal, Ireland, on 23 April 1731, possibly 1733, although 1727 is a likely possibility as well. She appeared on the stage in both London and Dublin in the era of Sheridan and Garrick. Her life, however, was marked by gambling and extravagance and her later years by suffering and debt. Her memoirs were published in 1785 in six volumes, An Apology for the Life of George Anne Bellamy. She died on 16 February 1788.

Born on 18 March 1905, Alfred Goldsworthy Bailey was an historian, poet, and university administrator. In 1934 he graduated with a doctorate from the University of Toronto with a specialization in ethno-history and aboriginal culture. He taught history at the University of New Brunswick from 1938 to 1970. At UNB he was Dean of Arts from 1946 to 1964, Honorary Librarian and Chief Executive Officer of the Library from 1946 to 1959, and Vice-President Academic from 1965 to 1970. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1951 and an officer of the Order of Canada in 1978. In addition to his scholarly work, he was a founder of the Fiddlehead and published six books of verse between 1927 and 1996. He died on 21 April 1997.

The Organization of Solidarity with the People of Asia, Africa and Latin America (Organización de Solidaridad con los Pueblos de Asia, Africa y América Latina, abbreviated OSPAAAL) was founded in Havana, Cuba in January 1966 after a meeting of the Tricontinental Conference. The leftist OSPAAAL opposes imperialism and sees itself as a defender of human rights. Its message is carried through the publication of colourful posters containing text in English, Spanish, French, and Arabic.

Liam O'Flaherty, novelist, was born on 28 August 1896 on Inishmore in the Aran Islands, Ireland. He was educated at University College, Dublin. After World War I, he travelled through the United States and Canada, paying his way by working as a labourer and clerk. He returned to Ireland in 1920 and helped to found the Irish Communist Party in 1922. Later that year he was forced to flee to England. His novel, The Informer (1925), about a man who betrays his friends, won the James Tait Black Prize in 1926. He also wrote Famine (1937) about the potato famine of the 1840s. He died in Dublin on 7 September 1984.

Milos Novotny, mathematician, was born in Czechoslovakia and educated at Charles University in Prague from 1949 to 1953. He taught at the Czech Technical University in Prague from 1953 to 1963. He arrived in Canada in 1968 for graduate study at McMaster University where he received his doctorate in 1972. His thesis was titled, "Integration and Laplace Transformation of Orthogonal Series." After graduating from McMaster University, he taught at the University of Guelph, Université de Montréal, and finally Champlain Regional College in St. Lambert.

Frederick Niven, author, was born on 31 March 1878, in Santiago, Chile, where his father was in the British consular service. At the age of five he moved to Scotland and was educated in Glasgow. He visited Canada several times from the mid-1890s onwards. In 1920 he settled permanently in British Columbia, mainly for health reasons. Niven published over twenty novels, as well as short fiction, poetry, non-fiction and an autobiography titled Coloured Spectacles (1938). He wrote novels set in urban Scotland as well as the Canadian west, including a trilogy, Mine Inheritance, The Flying Years, and The Transplanted (1935-1944). He died on 30 January 1944 in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Chester New was born in Montreal on 9 October 1882 and educated at the University of Toronto, McMaster University, and the University of Chicago. From 1913 he taught at Brandon College. In 1920 he came to McMaster and taught there as a Professor of History until 1950. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1937 and of the Royal Society in 1948. His books include Lord Durham (1929) and The Life of Henry Brougham to 1830 (1961). He died in Hamilton, Ont. on 31 August 1960.

Muskoka Cottage Sanatorium was located on Lake Muskoka, north of Gravenhurst, Ont. It was established in 1897 as a 35-bed tuberculosis hospital and was the first of its kind in Canada. It was not closed until 1994, although it had long ceased to be a sanatorium. The Ontario Department of Health used it for other purposes.

Born on 2 February 1745 at Stapleton, Gloucestershire, Hannah More was a moral and religious writer. She was educated at home and then at a school her sisters had established in Bristol. In 1788 she published anonymously the first of her more serious reflections, Thoughts and Importance of the Manners of the Great to General Society. A series of writings followed which were among the most widely read books of the day. Her most popular work, Cœlebs in Search of a Wife was published in December 1809. Her works have been published in collected editions several times. She died on 7 September 1833 in Clifton.

The Hamilton Pressman's and Assistants Union Local 176 was organized on November 5, 1904. Its history can be traced back to the parent company of the International Typographical Union which came to Canada in 1865, and its affiliate, the Toronto union which became Local 91 on May 23, 1866. In 1895 the local turned down a Montreal proposal for a district union. It told the Trades and Labour Council that if the Pressman were allowed to join, Local 91 would leave the parent union (which it did in July, although it came back in October after the ITU had arrived at an agreement with the Pressman). The International Printing Pressman's Union of North America began as an affiliate of the International Typographical Union and changed its name to International Printing Pressman's and Assistants Union in 1896.

Charles Kingsley was born on 12 June 1819 at Holne Vicarage, Devonshire. He was educated at King's College, London and Magdalene College, Cambridge. He became curate and then in 1844 rector of Eversley in Hampshire. His first novel, Yeast, was serialized in 1848 and published in book form in 1850. He later wrote Westward Ho! (1855). A popular children's book was The Water-Babies (1863). Kingsley became professor of modern history at Cambridge from 1860 to 1869 and canon of Chester and Westminster. He died at Eversley on 23 January 1875.

Samuel Johnson, the English author and lexicographer, was one of the leading scholars and critics of his day.

Thomas Alfred Hollick was an important collector of eighteenth century books, and particularly of the works of Jonathan Swift (1667-1745). At the sale of his books in May 1980, McMaster University Library acquired seventeen items for its Swift collection.

Richard C. Hilborn was born on 10 May 1918 in Kitchener, Ontario to Percy Richard Hilborn and Gertrude Roos Wells. He was educated at Upper Canada College, in Toronto and the Royal Military College in Kingston. He graduated from the Royal Military College in 1939, immediately joined the Toronto Scottish Regiment and then went overseas to England for the Second World War. Hilborn met John Jacob Astor (later Baron) during the Second World War and a friendship ensued between him and the Astor family. Richard married Laurette Parsons (6 June 1945) after the end of the War. Richard returned to Preston (now Cambridge), Ontario to work in his father's furniture factory, The Preston Furniture Company and Canadian Office and School Furniture Co. Laurette arrived in Canada in January 1946 and they settled in Preston. (Taken from It's Been Fun by Richard C. Hilborn.)

A waterworks for Hamilton was first proposed in 1836. A competition was held in 1854 for waterworks designs. The first pump went into operation in 1859. By 1916 the original engines were being used only as standby units. The engines last ran in 1939. The original waterworks has now been restored and is operated as a museum.