The University of Manitoba campuses are located on original lands of Anishinaabeg, Cree, Ojibwe-Cree, Dakota, and Dene peoples, and on the National Homeland of the Red River Métis. More
An Inventory of their Papers at the University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections
Inventory prepared by Don Kroeker
University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections
Winnipeg, Manitoba
(1996)
Finding aid encoded by Julianna Trivers (January 2003)
Finding aid written in English.
Revision History
Table of Contents
Biography of the Spencer Family
Scope and Contents of the Papers
Detailed Description of the Collection
Photograph Collection (PC 124)
Repository:
University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections
Elizabeth Dafoe Library, Winnipeg MB R3T 2N2
Creator:
Spencer Family
Title:
Spencer Family fonds
Dates:
1884-1973
Quantity:
0.64 m of textual records. -- 505 photographs.
Identification:
MSS 121, PC 124
Language
English.
Biography of the Spencer Family
Percy Spencer was born in England and came to Canada in the 1880s. He homesteaded in the Russell area, and eventually had seven children. One of his daughters, Lucy, became a R.N. in 1931. Her diaries are particularly interesting for what they reveal about women's education and careers in the first part of the 20th century. Scholars in the fields of Women's Studies and History will find much useful information in these diaries. Historians will also find the diaries of kept by Percy Spencer himself very useful. He wrote consistently and over a long period of time on the problems of homesteading.
Scope and Contents of the Papers
The Spencer collection consists of diaries, account books, photographs and ephemera depicting rural life near Russell, Manitoba. Percy Spencer wrote journal entries for thirty-five years, and his daughter Lucy kept a diary from 1920 - 1926, 1944, and from 1946 - 1959 and 1961 - 1973. The collection contains sixty bound volumes (diaries) and five farm account books. The photographs are interesting in that they depict rural life, but the accompanying documentation is fragmentary thus reducing the overall usefulness of the photos.
This collection is organized into 2 series:
Textual Records
Photograph Collection (PC 124)
There are no restrictions on this collection.
Donated to the University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections in 1996.
Detailed Description of the Collection
Textual Records
Percy H. Spencer Diaries/Account Books:
| Box | Folder | |
| 1 | 1 | 1884 |
| 2 | 1885-1886 | |
| 3 | 1887-1888 | |
| 4 | 1889-1890 | |
| 5 | 1891-1892 |
| Box | Folder | |
| 2 | 1 | 1895-1896 |
| 2 | 1897-1901 | |
| 3 | 1902-1908 | |
| 4 |
1909-1920 Diaries: |
| Box | Folder | |
| 2 | 5 | 1911-1915 |
| 6 | 1916-1920 |
| Box | Folder | |
| 3 | 1 | 1921-1926 |
| 2 | 1927-1932 | |
| 3 | 1933-1935 | |
| 4 | 1946-1939 Account Books: |
| Box | Folder | |
| 3 | 5 | 1888-1891 |
| 6 | 1892, 1911, 1935-1939 Lucy C. Spencer Diaries: |
| Box | Folder | |
| 3 | 7 | 1920-1936 |
| 8 | 1943-1947 |
| Box | Folder | |
| 4 | 1 | 1949-1953 |
| 2 | 1954-1955 | |
| 3 | 1956-1959 | |
| 4 | 1961-1966 | |
| 5 | 1966-1973 | |
| 6 | One School Notebook (Lucy Spencer) | |
| 7 | Grad & Registration Certificates and grad photo |
| Box | Folder | |
| 5 | 1 | Betty Spencer 5-Year Diary, 1935-1940 |
| 2 | Craigie School Division #908 minutes, 1904-1934 | |
| 3 | "Waghorn's Guide" (RR time tables) March 1949 | |
| 4 | Massey Ferguson 125th Anniversary Booklet, 1972 | |
| 5 | Letter from England 1941 | |
| 6 | Order of the Crocus Awards - Josephine and Lucy Spencer | |
| 7 | Will of Richard White, 1867; Portion of unidentified Will, 1878 | |
| 8 | Miscellaneous bills and papers | |
| 9 | Assorted clippings | |
| 10 | Pocket diary (nearly empty) | |
| 11 | Scrapbook (n.d.) |
Photograph Collection (PC 124)
Envelopes of photos, many with labels, grouped by subject:
| Box | Folder | |
| 1 | 1 | Threshing, Discing |
| 2 | Haying, Richard's Homestead, Sawmill, Sawing Wood Miscellaneous | |
| 3 | Two Farming photos - haying, plowing, n.d. | |
| 4 | Family photo album (with identification notes) | |
| 5 | Portrait of P.H. Spencer, 1934 | |
| 6 | Postcard album with photos (includes i.d. notes) | |
| 7 | Photo album (with labels) |