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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.

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.

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 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.

"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 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.

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.

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.

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.)

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.

The Secretarial and Office Staff Advisory Committee (SOSAC), the Trent Staff Council (TSC), and the Trent Staff Association (TSA) were the forerunners of the Trent Local of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU). SOSAC was formed as a standing committee to advise the Vice-President on general policy concerning the terms and conditions of employment, classifications and salary scales for members of the University’s secretarial and office staff. In 1978, an organization representing university staff was established under the name of Trent Staff Council. The TSC was organized to represent the needs of staff in matters of common concern. The council was made up of scientific support staff, library support staff, services and buildings, housekeeping, secretarial and office staff, and administrative staff. In the spring of 1980, in response to a mandate from staff to Trent Staff Council to form an association to seek formal recognition by the University of the Association as the bargaining agent for all positions which are occupied by any member of the Association, in all matters related to terms and conditions of employment, the Trent Staff Association was created. In 1993, staff members voted to become unionized under the Trent Local of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU)

Certified on June 20, 1985, the Canadian Union of Educational Workers (CUEW) Local 8 represented the part-time teaching staff of Trent University. CEUW merged with Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) in January 1995 and the local became CUPE Local 3908. In 1999/2000, the local split into 2 units. Unit One represents contract teaching staff. Unit Two represents students employed at Trent University as teaching assistants, markers, proctors and demonstrators.

The Association of Teaching Staff (ATS) was proposed by Professor T.H.B. Symons in 1964 and an Organizing Committee was struck. R.L. Edwards served as Chairman of the committee from 1964 to 1966. ATS was created in 1967 and existed until the union was formed in 1981. The purpose of the Association was to promote scholarship, the welfare of the University and of its academic staff, and in affiliation with the Canadian Association of University Teachers and with the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations, to contribute to the advancement of the standards of the Canadian University community. (taken from the Constitution, RG 15 Box 1 Folder 1). In 1981, certification was granted, and in 1983 the ATS became the Trent University Faculty Association (TUFA). TUFA represents Trent University academic staff and professional librarians.

Although the Bookstore Committee reported to the Office of the President (1963-1971), it also reported prior to 1965 with both the Academic Planning Committee and the Campus Planning Committee. It subsequently was a sub-committee of the Board of Governors (1966-1968), then the Senate (1972-2001). The next recorded iteration of the committee was as a Senate sub-committee (2013-2016). In 1985, there was a Task Force on Bookstore Services and Management, reporting to the Office of the Dean.

Bruce Hodgins was born in 1931. He received his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Western Ontario; his Master's degree from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario and his Doctoral degree from Duke University in North Carolina. Before he became a professor at Trent University he was a history professor for 3 years at the University of Western Ontario. He taught at Prince of Wales College at Charlottetown on Prince Edward Island. While he was in Charlottetown he met Carol, his future wife. By 1963 they had two sons. In 1965 he joined the faculty of Trent University and he taught Canadian Politics. From January to June of 1979 he was an Acting College Head. From 1980 to 1984 he was the Department and Program Head of History and from 1986 to 1992, and 1995, he was Director of the Leslie M. Frost Centre. Bruce's parents established the Wanapitei Wilderness Camp on Temagami. He became the camp's director in 1971 and played a major role in running and developing it. Bruce is an active member in a canoeing organization in Peterborough that also includes other members of the Trent and Wanapitei communities.

Mark Robinson was Superintendent and Ranger in Algonquin Park between 1908 and 1941. He served as an Army officer with the Canadian Militia during the First World War. He resided in Barrie and Elmvale, Ontario with his wife and Children but spent many months each year in Algonquin Park.

Robert Romaine, along with two brother-in-laws, established the Peterborough Review in 1853 in Peterborough, Ontario. Romaine was editor and publisher at the "Review" until 1864. In 1853 he also wrote a paper on the subject of ploughing and pulverizing by steam power, and in 1868 became the first librarian of the Peterborough Mechanics Institute, the forerunner to the Peterborough Public Library. In 1870, he headed, along with others, a gas company which introduced the first gas street lights to the city. In 1877 he was a member of a committee which was appointed to look at possibilities for a waterworks system for the city of Peterborough.

Julie Johnston, née Dulmage, is an internationally known author of children’s novels, plays, and short stories. Born in 1941, Johnston was raised in Smith Falls, Ontario. She then moved to Toronto to attend the University of Toronto where she received her degree in Occupational Therapy in 1963. She married her high school sweetheart, Dr. Basil Johnston, in the same year. After a few years of working in hospitals in Perth and Kingston, followed by adventures in Europe, they eventually settled in Peterborough, Ontario in 1970. At this time, Johnston stepped away from her career as an occupational therapist to raise their four daughters, Leslie, Lauren, Melissa, and Andrea.

Her love of writing began at a young age, writing school plays and short stories that lead to neighbourhood productions for her daughters and their friends. Johnston eventually began taking classes at Trent University in 1975 and graduated with a degree in English in 1984.

Encouraged to pursue a writing career, Johnston began submitting short stories to writing competitions in Canada. In 1979 her first submission was a play titled “Frost” that won first prize in the Ottawa Little Theatre’s annual Canadian Playwriting Competition, sparking her pursuit of a career in writing. The next two decades were full of positive experiences and many challenges. Johnston was signed to Stoddart Publishing and published her first novel “Hero of Lesser Causes," which won a Governor General’s award for Children’s Literature in 1992. Her next novel, "Adam, Eve and Pinch-Me," was published in 1994 and also won the Governor General’s Children’s Literature award. Stoddart Publishing eventually dissolved, and Johnston published five more books with Key Porter Publishing. These books were titled, "The Only Outcast," "Love You Like a Sister," "In Spite of Killer Bees," "Susanna’s Quill," and "Accidental Lives."

In addition to two Governor General’s awards, Johnston has many other accolades that she earned during her career. She was awarded an Honourary Degree of Letters from Trent University in 1996. She also won Mr. Christie’s Book Award and the Violet Downey Book Award for "Hero of Lesser Causes" in 1993. Johnston also served on review committees and gave numerous workshops and speeches, including the Margaret Laurence Lecture at Trent University in 1997.

Tony Storey began his undergraduate studies at Trent University in 1971 at Champlain College and graduated with a B.A. in Philosophy. In November 1978, he was hired by Trent University as Assistant to the Master at Otonabee College, working alongside Elwood Jones at the time. In February 1984, he became the coordinator of Alumni Affairs and was later promoted to Director of Alumni Affairs. Tony is a long time Trent University member and had a significant role in developing the culture of Trent Alumni philanthropy and received several awards for his services and accomplishments. After his retirement in 2011, Tony served as editor for the Trent University Association of Retired Persons newsletter.

Bruce Whiteman is a modernist poet, librarian, and scholar, of Peterborough, Ontario. A founder of the Hamilton Poetry Centre, he is known especially for his poem The Invisible World is in Decline which comprises nine books, the latest of which was published in 2022.

From 1966 to 1973, John Leishman was Controller and, from 1971, also Vice-President (Finance). The office was split in 1973 and there was a Vice-President (Finance) and a Controller (Peter Lewis). John Earnshaw became Vice-President (Administration and Finance) in 1981 as John Leishman moved to the position of Executive Vice-President (External Relations and Financial Affairs). John Earnshaw held the office until August 1991. Nancy Sullivan became Vice-President (Finance and Administration), 1991-1994. For further information about the office and its leadership over the years, see A.O.C. Cole, Trent: The Making of a University, pp. 126-129; D'Arcy Jenish, Trent University: Celebrating 50 Years of Excellence, 2014; and the annual course calendars (available in the Archives Reading Room).