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Title: William Neville fonds.
Dates: 1957-2009.
Extent: 18.6 m of textual records and other material.
Biographical sketch: Born in Winnipeg in 1940, William Neville was President of the University of Manitoba Students Union and the 1963 Rhodes Scholar for Manitoba. He attended Oxford University in England studying politics, philosophy, and economics. After Oxford he became a professor of politics at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario. He served for several short periods between 1963 and 1965 as a research and administrative assistant to the Manitoba Deputy Minister of Labour and in 1969 and 1970 worked with former Prime Minister John Diefenbaker on the Diefenbaker papers in the National Archives. In 1974, Neville returned to Manitoba to act as Chief of Staff to Sidney Spivak, QC, Leader of the Opposition in the Manitoba Legislature. From 1976 to 1981, he served as Executive Assistant to the Vice President (Academic) at the University of Manitoba and then, from 1981 to 1997, as Executive Assistant to the President of the University. He was Head of the Department of Political Studies at the University from 1997 to 2005. Neville won a Tuxedo Heights ward by-election and sat on Winnipeg city council for ten years. Neville also served as Chair of the City's Historic Buildings Committee (1980-1989), Chair of the Manitoba Heritage Council (1989-2001), and Manitoba Member of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (1996-2004). In 2001, he received the Dr. & Mrs. Ralph Campbell Award for University Outreach for "Enlarging and enriching relations between the University and the community." In 2002, he was awarded the Lieutenant-Governor's Medal for Excellence in Public Administration "in recognition of over 40 years of distinctive leadership in public administration"(selected by the Manitoba Branch of the Institute of Public Administration in Canada). He twice received Heritage Winnipeg's distinguished Service Award and, in 2006, he received the Gabrielle Leger Award, presented by the Heritage Canada Foundation "for services to the nation in the field of heritage conservation". He is a regular columnist for the Winnipeg Free Press and writes for other periodicals and publications. He retired from the University of Manitoba at the end of 2005 but remains a Senior Scholar in the Department of Political Studies.
Custodial history: The fonds was originally donated to University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections through several accessions between 1986 and 1994. The fonds was arranged and described in 1994. Subsequent accessions were received and integrated into the collection in 1995 (A.95-13), 2005 (A.05-55, A.05-67), 2006 (A.06-27), and 2009 (A.09-59).
Scope and content: The fonds consists of Neville's papers as city councillor including correspondence and reports of the various committees on which he served. Committee reports include the Historical Buildings Committee and the Winnipeg Library Committee reports. Neville chaired the Committee on Environment and also sat on the Committee on Recreation and Social Services, the Committee on Protection, Parks and Culture and various ad hoc committees dealing with Access to Information, Public Libraries and the General Government By-law. Also included are papers relating to the Manitoba Heritage Council, the Historic Sites and Monuments Board, and miscellaneous writings, speeches, and manuscripts/drafts of columns. The collection also includes Neville's university papers as assistant to the President of the University of Manitoba.
The 2005 accessions are divided into six series: biographical material, correspondence, articles and writings, organizations and conferences, other interests and issues, and photographs. The 2006 accession contains Neville’s extensive correspondence, samples of his writings in completed published and handwritten draft form, and a large amount of information related to causes he was involved in and people he was friends or with whom he wasacquainted. This accession strongly emphasizes his work as a city councilor, executive assistant and political science instructor, as well as samples of the many newspaper columns and speeches he has written or presented between 1970 and 2006.
The 2009 accession is divided into twelve series: biographical material and awards, speeches, citations and commentaries, articles and book chapters, Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, Manitoba Heritage Council, Heritage Winnipeg, City of Winnipeg, Winnipeg Public Library, correspondence, academic material, Meech Lake Accord research, and research material.
The photograph collection consists of 31 photographs, 10 slides, and 1 videocassette. The tape collection consists of 5 audio reels.
Restrictions: Some restrictions apply.
Accruals: Additional accruals are expected.
Finding aid: Printed finding aids are available in the Archives reading room and on-line finding aids are available at the links below:
MSS 104, PC 111, TC 72 (A.86-30, A.88-27, A.88-35, A.90-58, A.91-38, A.93-64, A.94-32, A.95-13)