Susan Jane Neale is the daughter of Colin Neale and Patricia Anne Turvey. She has two siblings, Andrew and Christina, and lives in Peterborough, Ontario. She was married to Paul Joseph Hulsmans, who passed away in 2020. Between 1982 and 1994, Neale worked as an archaeologist in England, Ontario, and Nunavut and from 1995 to 2001 at Fleming College as a member of faculty. Since the year 2000, she has served as Museum Director at Peterborough Museum and Archives and from 2001 to the present, also as Research Associate in Trent University’s Anthropology Graduate Program. Neale earned a Master’s degree in the Department of Anthropology at Trent University in 1985. She has served on several committees and boards at local and provincial levels and has published and presented a number of papers pertaining to archaeology, to museum management and renewal, and to emergency preparedness and recovery from a museum perspective.
Emily Pauline Johnson (Tekahionwake--double wampum) was born in 1861 on the Six Nations Indian Reservation near Brantford, Canada West, to a Mohawk Chief, G.H.M. Johnson (Chief Owanonsyshon--the Man with the Big House) and Emily S. Howells. She had one sister, Evelyn Helen C. and two brothers; Henry B. and Allan W. The family belonged to the Church of England. Pauline contributed constantly to a number of periodicals such as Toronto's Saturday Night, Harper's Weekly, the New York Independent and other magazines. She was a poet who wrote about Indigenous ways of life as she knew it from her own background. (Taken from: 89-013, Box 1) She wrote about a number of Canadian themes and between 1892 and 1910 she gave a number of speaking tours across the country. She spoke at small communities where she read her poetry. Her first collection of poems was called White Wampum and it was published in 1895. She then published Canadian Born in 1903, Flint and Feather in 1912, a volume of tales called Legends of Vancouver in 1911 and a novel titled The Shagganappi in 1913. Emily Pauline Johnson died March 7, 1913 in Vancouver. (Taken from: The Canadian Encyclopedia. Edmonton: Hurtig Publishers, 1985.)
Stephen Bocking joined Trent University in 1994 as a professor of environmental policy and history. Before this, he briefly taught at the University of British Columbia and York University. He studied at the University of Toronto and received a PhD in the History of Science. Bocking’s research focuses on the roles and meanings of science in environmental politics, examining them both historically and through case studies. Up until 2016, Bocking was the director of the Trent School of Environment where he led the undergraduate environmental unit. Bocking served as chair of the President’s Environmental Advisory Committee during the 2000s and was very involved in the proposed Trent hydropower project of Locks 22 and 23.
In 2002, The President’s Environmental Advisory Committee (PEAC) was re-classified as the Environmental Advisory Board (EAB) under the facilities and grounds umbrella. The Environmental Advisory Board was comprised of faculty, staff, and students, a college head, a vice-president, and the director of physical resources. In 2002, the members were Stephen Bocking (Chair), Jeremy Brennan, Trudy Kirschner, Rob Loney, Ava Richardson, Naomi Tschirhart, Laura Anderson, Peter Dillon, Elizabeth Eberhardt, Charmaine Eddy, Sarah Harvie, Michelle Lee, and Natalie Stephenson.
The Kanawa Canoe museum was located in Haliburton, Ontario. The director and founder was Professor Kirk Wipper of the University of Toronto. The Canadian Canoe Museum was taken over by a Board of Directors centered at Trent University beginning in 1990. This steering committee was set up in 1980 to investigate "the feasibility of establishing the Kanawa International Museum at Trent". A management consultant was subsequently hired to advise on the location and future development of Kanawa. Kanawa is now known as the Canadian Canoe Museum.
"The link between the two [Wallis family and Forbes family] is Louisa Forbes who became Mrs. James Wallis. Louisa was the mother of well-known Peterborough-born artist and sculptor Katherine Wallis and Louisa’s father was Capt. Robert Miller/Millar Forbes.
Capt. Robert Miller Forbes had a distinguished career in the British Navy. It was, however, marred by an incident in 1798. Robert caused his ship commander, Capt. Lord Henry Paulet, later Earl St. Vincent, to be court martialled. Paulet apparently struck the then Lieutenant Forbes while Forbes was on duty on their ship – the Thalia. Paulet lost the case - but soon after he was given clemency, re-instated, and in 1819 became a Vice-Admiral. Robert Miller did not fare as well. In a transcribed letter he says that “he became the object of the most cruel and vindictive persecution… that has proved a barrier to his professional progress thro’ the mis-representations of that distinguished officer.”
After the Napoleonic Wars Robert Forbes, along with a number of ex-British military personnel, took their families and settled in France. Robert’s first child, Louisa, was born in Avranches, France. There is a watercolour in our new donation of the Church where Louisa was christened. It is likely by Katherine Wallis. The Forbes family moved around in Europe and sons were born in St. Servan Sur Merin Brittany, France. Finally the family moved to Peterborough.
Robert Forbes had an even more well-known brother – Charles John Forbes. Charles was in both the British Navy and the British Army. While in the Navy, Charles was present at the Battle of the Nile (also called the Battle of Aboukir) where Nelson defeated the French Navy. Another person at Aboukir was Charles Rubidge. Perhaps Charles Forbes and Charles Rubidge reminisced together about old battles.
While in the British Army, Charles Forbes was present for the Battle of New Orleans in 1815. Our donation contains a letter written 29 Jan. 1815 on board H.M.S. Alceste, off Cat Island (near New Orleans), and sent to James Cobb, Secretary, East India Company (a cousin). In the letter Charles says that the information given to the Admiral was “fallacious” and that unlike what they had been led to believe, no “settlers of Louisiana and the Floridas” flocked to join the British cause and hence they had insufficient troops for the encounter with the Americans. It’s interesting to note that even by the end of January, Charles did not know that a treaty to end the War had been signed.
Charles had two separate enlistment periods with the British Army. Like his brother, he retired when the Napoleonic Wars were over and lived in Europe, but a few years later he re-enlisted in the Army. In 1824 he worked for the Commissariat in Nova Scotia and in 1825 he went to Montreal and stayed for 8 years. He was then posted to Jamaica and, like many Europeans who lived in the tropics, became ill. He briefly to went to England and then finally retired at half pay back in Quebec.
While posted in Quebec he acted as Commissary General for the Army and ensured there were supplies for the engineers and workers who were building canals in the Montreal region. While he was there he purchased land in the village of Carillon, on the Ottawa River just south of Lachute, Quebec, in what is now the Argenteuil Region of Quebec.
There he built a wonderful house called “Bellevue”. In our newly acquired scrapbook of Louisa Forbes there is a sketch of that house. Charles was known far and wide for his hospitality and many important people would visit him – including the Governors General.
Another well-known owner of land in the area was Sidney Robert Bellingham - nephew of Thomas A. Stewart. Sidney was very interested in politics and played a role in the 1837 rebellion – as did the British veteran Charles John Forbes."
The Canadian Association in Support of Native Peoples was an association of Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples, working in support of Indigenous peoples. It was originally established in 1957 under the name of the National Commission on the Indian Canadian, as a non-native organization created to study the "Indian problem." The first chairman of the Commission was Mrs. W.H. Clark. By February 1958, Indigenous people were invited to join in the work of the Commission. In 1960, the Indian-Eskimo Association (IEA) was incorporated, with Mrs. Clark as the first president. The IEA had several functions, including encouraging Indigenous leaders to form organizations, fund-raising, organizing workshops to discuss native housing, community and economic development, and providing advice and support in legal matters. Provincial and regional divisions were also created to help deal with specific issues. By 1968, several national and provincial Indigenous organizations had been organized and in September 1968, leaders of these organizations met with representatives of the IEA to discuss the future role of the Association. It was agreed that these Indigenous organizations still needed the IEA's support, but they should begin to deal directly with governments, without the IEA acting as the middleman. It was clear that the future of the IEA was to provide only support and advice to the developing Indigenous-led organizations. In 1972, many of the recommendations made in 1968 had come into effect. The name was changed to the Canadian Association in Support of Native Peoples to more accurately reflect the new functions of the Association. At this time, regional offices of the Association were closed, and the head office moved from Toronto to Ottawa. The Association dissolved in 2015.
David Stirling Macmillan was born 9 October 1925 in Scotland. He received his Masters degree from Glasgow, Scotland in 1949, and in 1965 his Ph.D. from Sydney, Australia. He was an archivist who worked as a temporary Assistant Keeper for the Scottish Record Office (now National Records of Scotland) in Edinburgh, Scotland, 1949-50, and then the University of Sydney from 1954 to 1968, where he was the first university archivist. He was named a Fellow of the Royal Australian History Society. He left Australia in 1968 to come to Trent University, where he was a professor for 20 years and taught History from 1968 to 1987. He taught courses such as the Expansion of Europe, 1400-1825 and Russian History, as well as his specialty, Business and Economic History. He also taught some evening courses at Durham College in Oshawa for Trent. He received the Eminent Service Award in 1987. After a lengthy illness David Stirling Macmillan died 4 September 1987.
The Honourable Leslie Miscampbell Frost, lawyer and Premier of Ontario, was born in Orillia, Ontario on September 20, 1895, the son of William Sword Frost and Margaret Jane Barker. He was educated at the Orillia Public School and the Orillia High School. He later attended the University of Toronto and Osgoode Hall. He served in the World War I in France and Belgium, with the 20th Battalion, Queen's York Rangers, and was discharged with the rank of Captain in 1918, after being severely wounded. Frost was called to the Bar in 1921. He was a member of the legal firm Frost, Inrig and Gorwill, among others, and was an honorary bencher of the Law Society of Upper Canada. He married Gertrude Jane Carew in 1926. They never had children. Leslie M. Frost had a long and successful political career. He was first elected to the legislature of Ontario in 1937, and he was consistently re-elected at each election until his retirement in 1959. He was Treasurer of Ontario and Minister of Mines in both the George Drew and T.L. Kennedy Administrations. In 1949, Frost was chosen leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, and was sworn in as Premier and Provincial Treasurer on May 4, 1949. He remained Provincial Treasurer until 1955 and Premier until 1961. Besides his legal and political career, Frost took on many other obligations. He was a member of the of the Board of Governors of the University of Toronto and the first Chancellor of Trent University. He also held several directorships, including: the Bank of Montreal, Air Canada, Corporate Investors Ltd., Lever Brothers Ltd., KVP Company Ltd., John Deyell Ltd., Canada Life Assurance Company, Victoria and Grey Trust Co., Massey-Ferguson Ltd., and radio station CKLY. Frost was also keenly interested in history, primarily military history and the histories of Victoria, Peterborough and Haliburton Counties. He was the author of several books: "Fighting Men", "Forgotten Pathways of the Trent", "Pleasant Point Story: a History of Pleasant Point" and "The Records on Sam Hughes Set Straight." Leslie M. Frost died at Lindsay, Ontario 4 May 1973.
The Canadian Federation of University Women Peterborough Club (formerly the University Women's Club of Peterborough) adopted a new name and new constitution on 26 February 1991. The University Women's Club of Peterborough was founded in March 1937 as a member club of the Canadian Federation of University Women.
The CFUW Peterborough Club organizes social events, lectures, discussion groups, and other activities related to their primary goals to promote life-long learning, advocate for education for women and girls, promote human rights, encourage interest in public affairs, serve the community, and provide social and networking opportunities for women.
Graduate Women International (formerly the International Federation of University Women) was founded in Europe in the Spring of 1919. Delegates from University Women's Clubs in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Winnipeg and other Canadian cities met again in August 1919 to create the Canadian Federation of University Women. Mrs. Margaret Stovel McWilliams of the Winnipeg Club was the first President. The Canadian organization's aims are to promote the highest standards of education at all levels, to encourage participation in public affairs in the political, economic, and cultural fields, and to safeguard and improve the economic, legal, and professional status of women in Canada and the world. Graduate Women International aims to promote understanding among women of different cultures. There are Member Federations of GWI throughout the world and member clubs of CFUW in all parts of Canada.
Joan Murray (nee Charlat) was born in New York City in 1943. She is an art historian, writer, and curator, known for her work on Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven. Murray earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto in 1965 and a Master of Arts from Columbia in 1966.
Murray held positions at the Art Gallery of Ontario (1968-1973), the Robert McLaughlin Gallery (1974-1999), and the McMichael Canadian Art Collection (2005-2006). She was the first curator of Canadian art at the Art Galley of Ontario. Murray served as art editor for The Canadian Forum, a literary and art magazine, from 1970-1974. Murry continued her curatorial work following her retirement.
Murray is a member of the Royal Society of Canada (1992) and received the Order of Ontario in 2003.
For Our Grandchildren is a group of grandparents who organize "To Inform, Motivate, and Mobilize" about climate change. The group was founded in Toronto in 2006, by Anthony Ketchum, Mary Ketchum, Peter Jones, Marg Anne Jones, and Walter Pitman and incorporated as a non profit Canadian Corporation in 2010. The group organized public meetings in Toronto, Guelph, and Peterborough. The Peterborough Chapter was formed in 2013, sSoon after the first public meeting was held in Peterborough. The 4RG head office moved to Peterborough in 2018. 4RG runs a website and newsletter, holds public events, writes letters to the editor, and lobbies public officials.
Catherine Ross was the owner and Director of Camp MI-A-KON-DA between 1979 and 1998.
Dale Standen has played various key roles at both Trent University and the Canadian Canoe Museum. Standen is Professor Emeritus of History at Trent University and has served terms as chair of the Department of History, liaison with Trent’s Frost Centre, and the Principal of Lady Eaton College. Standen’s research pertains to early colonial history of Canada with a focus on French-Indigenous relations and how museums interpret history. Standen has also held various positions at the Canadian Canoe Museum, including Director on the Board of the Canadian Canoe Museum (ended spring 2004), as a Councilor of the Champlain Society, as President of the French Colonial Historical Society, and as Director of the Board of the Peterborough Historical Society (2018-2019). Standen also assisted in the re-structuring of the Canadian Canoe Museum when they temporarily closed for financial reasons in 2003-2004.
Anne Burke (nee Ricard) was a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of English at the University of University between 1975 and 1978. She had previous degrees from Queen's University (B.Ed., 1974), York University (M.A., 1973), and Concordia University, Loyola College (B.A. magna cum laude, 1972).
Burke's doctoral research was on A.J.M. Smith. Her proposed dissertation was "A Literary Biography of Canadian Poet Arthur James Marshall Smith," for which she corresponded extensively with his professional and personal networks.
Camp MI-A-KON-DA is an overnight summer camp for girls, located on Birch Island in Lake Wah Wash Kesh, near Parry Sound and Muskoka, Ontario. The program offers land and water sports in addition to arts, drama, and canoe tripping. MI-A-KON-DA is an accredited member of the Ontario Camps Association.
The camp was founded in 1955 by Mary and Jock Liddell. In 1973, William Auld became the owner of the camp, and the Directorship was transferred to Nancy Lou Farrell and Patricia Dobec. Between 1979 and 1998, the camp was owned and operated by Catherine and George Ross. Camp MI-A-KON-DA has been under the ownership of Pam Lamont and David Smith since 1998.
Margaret Doxey (nee Roberts) was a professor in the Department of Political Studies at Trent University from 1967-1991 (Chair 1974-1982). Dr. Doxey earned a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the University of London and a Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Laws at University College London. Dr. Doxey’s main research area was economic sanctions, and she published prolifically in the fields of economics and law.
Dr. Doxey lectured at the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa prior to her PhD and went on to teach at Wellesley College in the United States and the London School of Economics in the United Kingdom, in addition to Trent.
Dr. Doxey also wrote poetry and fiction in both her professional and private lives. Animals were a recurring theme.
Ella E. Stinson (nee Robson) was the daughter of Lindsay lawyer William Robson. She married T.H. Stinson on July 14, 1910.
Camp Tanamakoon was established by Mary G. Hamilton, principal of Margaret Eaton School in Toronto, in 1925 and is located on Tanamakoon Lake in Algonquin Park. A summer camp for girls, Camp Tanamakoon offers an environmental education; activities include tripping, mountain biking, swimming, kayaking, canoeing, wood crafting, and various other activities. Owners of the Camp since its inception include: founder Mary G. Hamilton, 1925-1953; Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Raymer, 1953-1974; Hugh and Carolea Butters, 1974-1984; and Kim and Marilyn Smith, 1984 to the present.
A video on the history of Camp Tanamakoon, titled " A Century of Magic -Tanamakoon Celebrates 100 years" is available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRkC7hCdJpI&ab_channel=CampTanamakoon
The Trent University Native Association was established in 1969 and Doug Williams was the first President.
Trent University was the first post-secondary Canadian institution, and second in North America, to establish a department for the study of Indigenous peoples and knowledges. The Department was established in 1972, although an earlier effort, the “Indian and Eskimo Studies Program,” had been underway since 1969. Trent created the first BA degree in Native Studies in 1972 and added a BA honours program in 1978. A diploma program in Native Management and Economic Development was created in 1980. Graduate studies began in 1985, with a masters program in Canadian Studies and Indigenous Studies through the Frost Centre in Canadian Studies and Indigenous Studies. In 1999, the first Indigenous Studies PhD program began. The Chanie Wenjack School for Indigenous Studies was launched 2017.