Fonds consists of research materials and notes, modern correspondence, photocopies of historical documentation, and genealogical resources for the Need family as well as other people living in both England and Newcastle District. The historical documentation includes wills, gravesite information, lot and concession records, military records, correspondence. As well as the Need family, there is also biographical information on other families, including the Dunsfords, Langtons, Campbells, and Sawers.

These research materials were accumulated by Dawn Bell Logan and used to write books, articles, and biographical entries about Thomas Need, including Thomas Need : settler in the backwoods of Upper Canada (self published, 2022), and the Dictionary of Canadian Biography entry for Thomas Need (V. 12). Photographs are of some sites in Lincolnshire, U.K, Peterborough, Canada, the Trent Severn Waterway, Thomas Need’s descendants, and gravestones of Need family members.

Fonds is organized into four series: Thomas Need journals and correspondence; Research materials and manuscripts; Dawn Logan correspondence; and Files on Dawn Logan’s publications.

Thomas Need Biography

Thomas Need (1808-1895) emigrated from Nottingham, England to Upper Canada in May 1832 and settled in Verulam Township in Victoria County in 1833 around Sturgeon Lake. He had graduated from University College, London, in 1830 and rejected the idea of becoming a member of the clergy. This contributed to his decision to leave England.

While in Upper Canada, Need was a member of the government commission that oversaw the construction of what became the first lock of the Trent-Severn Waterway, founded the Village of Bobcaygeon in 1834, and served as a magistrate for the Court of Requests from 1835 to 1837.

Need anonymously published his book Six years in the bush or extracts from the journal of a settler in Upper Canada (London, 1838) on his experiences in Upper Canada. The book was based on his journal entries he made in his personal journal which he called the “Woodhouse Journal.” Need returned to Nottingham, England permanently in 1847 and died in 1895. His authorship was confirmed with the publication of John Langton’s letters in 1926 and he was subsequently recognized as a contributor to early Canadian literature.

Source: Biography – NEED, THOMAS – Volume XII (1891-1900) – Dictionary of Canadian Biography. http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/need_thomas_12E.html. Accessed 11 Jan. 2024.

This collection consists of 32 letters. Most were written by Alan Stewart to his sister Joan Stewart. Stewart served as an engineer with the Cable Section, Canadian Corps, British Expeditionary Force during World War 1 in France and Belgium. There are 3 photographs of Alan Stewart in the collection.

Collection consists of numerous land documents including mortgages and deeds, and wills and probates of wills, mostly relating to property and people of Murray Township, County of Northumberland. Some of the names indicated on the documents include George Ahearn, David Ahern, Stephen J. Brown, Henry William Fox, John Wesley Haight, Christopher McKanna, Elizabeth Mills, Matthew Mills, Jane Ripson, John Simmons, Solomon Waldron, Margaret Walsh, and Florence Mildred Way, Gideon Shepard Way, Jacob Way, Manley Way, and Percy Way.

Collection consists of three pamphlets, "Our Own Cookbook" / by the East Victoria Women's Institute, 1905, "Pioneer Gleanings from Verulam, 1867-1967" / by T.H. Martin, and "Bury's Green Branch of the Women's Institute, 1953-1993". Also included are items which were removed from a scrapbook: seven photographs, brochures, and several newspaper clippings relating to Fenelon Falls, Bobcaygeon, Lindsay, and Bury's Green, Ontario, 1961, 1984-1994. The photographs include Women's Institute members such as Nan McGhee, Phyllis Fell, Esther Humphries, Laura Flett, Mrs. Tiers, Clara Flett, and Grace Barker; also included are photos of Sherry L. Telford and Kim Chambers during the Olympic Torch Run, 1988. This collection also consists of a scrapbook entitled "Tweedsmuir History: Bury's Green Branch Women's Institute". Enclosed in it are approximately 70 photographs, a history of Bury's Green branch of the Women's Institute, maps, brochures, correspondence, historical accounts, and memorabilia, n.d. This collection also consists of research material for the Tweedsmuir History; Hand Books for the Federated Women's Institutes of Ontario, 1949, 1971, 1983, and 1987; notebooks containing reports on the Tweedsmuir History, on Historical Research and Cultural Events, and on Education and Cultural Activities, 1953-1987; programs dated 1953-54 through 1993-94; 100th anniversary materials; and correspondence and brochures relating to an award given to a student at Fenelon Falls Secondary School, 1996.

Collection consists of 103 slides of various nature areas on the Symons Campus, Trent University, taken October 1996 as a record of the vegetation in 1996 for future comparison of vegetation change. The slides are accompanied by an index.

This collection consists of 14 photograph negatives of Peterborough Normal School, undated, and portraying people and the grounds of the school. The negatives are enclosed in a J.J. Gilfillan, Orono, Ontario, photographer's envelope, with the name Calvin Hamm, Orono, Ontario written on it. Calvin Hamm was born on March 28, 1909 at Orono, son of Ernest Hamm and Florence Hughson. He was appointed Principal of the Morley Consolidated School at Stratton in September 1935 and received his B.A. at Western University in June 1943. He later taught high school in Fort Frances (taken from a typed information enclosure which accompanies the collection). Also included is a Peterborough Normal School Christmas Card, undated; a Peterborough Normal School Literary Society invitation, 1930; and a photograph of the "Floating Bridge, Bridgenorth, Chemong Lake, 1933."

CD consists of the scanned 400-page letterbook of Walter J. Francis. The letters are dated 1898-1906 and relate to the engineering practice of the writer. Of particular relevance to the Peterborough area are letters concerning the building of the Peterborough Lift Lock.

This item consists of a set of 40 posters and an accompanying booklet. The posters are reproductions of posters related to the Russian Revolution and created in Russia between 1917 and 1929. They are loosely enclosed in a cover with the title, Posters of the Russian Revolution, 1917-1929, from the Lenin Library, Moscow. Also included is an accompanying booklet with the title, Russian Revolutionary Posters, 1917-1929, published in 1966 and written in English, which gives the translated titles of the posters, along with explanations and a history.

Collection includes the agendas, minutes, and correspondence of the Meta Incognita Project Steering Committee and the Archival Research Task Force (ARTAF). Also included are ARTAF research materials, reports, transcripts, notes, etc. relating to an American Historical Association meeting and a Trent University conference which focused on the subject of Frobisher and his Northwest initiatives.

Collection consists of 20 cassette tapes of interviews with Fisher Gauge Ltd. founder, Bill Fisher, and early executives, Tod Wilcox and Eric Graham. Also included are annotated notes on the interviews.

Fonds consists of photocopies of the hydro pole register of the Peterborough Light and Power Company. The register includes maps and statistical information and the originals are dated 1892-1921.

Collection consists of legal documents related to Thomas A.S. Hay, Anna Maria (Stewart) Hay, Thomas Hay, M.D., A. Charles Dunlop, Eleanor Susanna (Stewart) Dunlop, and Mary Dunlop. The collection includes wills, and property and estate documents.

Collection consists of two music books, the first being The Easy Instructor; or, A New Method of Teaching Sacred Harmony by William Little and William Smith, Albany, revised and enlarged edition, [1798], and the second being Songs of Victory, for Evangelistic Meetings Conferences The Home Circle and Christian Worship, 543 Hymns and 144 Choruses, large type edition, compiled by Andrew W. Bell, Glasgow, n.d.

Collection consists of Haldimand Township property documents dated 1863-1891. Subjects include Jay Ketchum, William Matthews, James Thomas Johnson, Archibald Campbell, Donald C. Matthews, William H. Johnson, Joseph Keeler, William Maxwell, David [P--], and Thomas Kelso. Also included are estate documents relating to Mary Jane Cowie, 1932, and miscellaneous receipts.

This collection is comprised of disparate documents collected by Professor David Macmillan. The scope of the papers is primarily North America, 1680 to 1920.

Collection consists of a photograph album containing 188 photographs and newspaper clippings of soldiers from Bobcaygeon, Ontario who served in WWII. Also included is a booklet entitled "The Royal Canadian Legion, Bobcaygeon Branch 239, 1932-1992.

Collection consists of reports and documents relating to Canadian General Electric Nuclear Division, Peterborough, Ontario, collected by Gerald Cantello in the course of research for his M.A. thesis at Trent University entitled "The Roles Played by Canadian General Electric Company's Atomic Power Department in Canada's Nuclear Power Program...", 2003.

Collection consists of an audio cassette tape and transcript of an interview with William G. Towns of Douro, Ontario, conducted by Professor Alan Brunger on 27 October 1981. Also included is an audio cassette tape of an interview with William Telford of Smith Township, Ontario, on local recreation history, conducted by Elaine Boothman for Professor John Marsh's geography 334 course in October 1984.

Collection consists of correspondence, surveys, notes, plans, and maps of Peterborough area surveyors John Huston, John Reid, Alfred J. Cameron, and John W. Pierce. Also included are speeches, newspaper clippings, biographical accounts of various local surveyors, miscellaneous published items re Peterborough, and documents and photographs relating to Pierce's survey of the Ontario-Manitoba border in 1921.

Collection consists of materials pertaining to Lakefield, Ontario, including Lakefield's Local Architectural Conservation Advisory Committee (L.A.C.A.C.) meeting minutes, correspondence and research materials; issues of The Parish Magazine; medical receipts of Dr. John Rodger Fraser, Assessment Rolls; Fire Insurance Plans; business daybooks, one of which at least may have been related to the Hendren Funeral Home of Lakefield; and various other records.

Collection consists of disparate materials collected by Professor Macmillan who was a philatelist. The correspondence and documents pertain to writers in Great Britain and the British Empire. The subject matter ranges from military campaigns between the British and the French, mutiny in the West Indies and India and the sugar and slave trade in the West Indies. Subjects of letters include: battles in India, trade routes in West Indies and Asia; wars with France, Spain, and Austria.

Collection consists of six registers maintained by the Mather Funeral Home, Keene, Ontario. Volume 1 (1880-1903) was strictly a funeral register. Volume 2 (1910-1928) consists of a day book for a cabinet maker and carriage maker who also handled funerals by providing caskets, embalming services, wreaths, shrouds and so forth. Remaining registers recorded funerals only. The registers record names of deceased, age, cause of death and where buried.

Collection consists of 9 audio cassette records of individuals reminiscing about Leslie Frost and his brothers Cecil and Grenville. Tapes were made in 1984 and individuals interviewed include: William Davis, Richard Gorwill, Hugh Latimer, Clare Westcott, Alf Cole, Roland Michener, and Marjorie Porter. there are transcripts available. Also included in the collection is an illustrated paper presented by Brian McFadzen, 2006, entitled "The Frost Brothers in Lindsay." Also included is a CD of photographs reproduced from a Frost scrapbook and showing their homes and offices in Lindsay Ontario and also showing portraits of the Frost brothers.

Collection consists of genealogical material collected by Pat Bolger for her research on Percival J. Cooney (1871-1932) who wrote Kinsmen, published originally in 1916 and then reprinted in 1992. Cooney was born in Peterborough, Ontario. One of his brothers, Franklin Cooney, became Governor of Montana.

Folder 1 contains textual records, photocopied newspaper articles and genealogical charts. Folder 2 contains photographs of the Cooney family.

This collection consists of 278 slides taken by Rosemary McConkey during her work as a nutritionist in Malaya (1962) and in Nigeria (1965). McConkey was part of a team of medical personnel and scientists from the University of Ohio who undertook surveys of nutritional needs in these two areas. McConkey has supplied a detailed listing of the slides (below) and has also included a 45 r.p.m. recording of the national anthem of Malaya "Negara Ku,", six books relating to the two areas and a map of Malaya. A complete listing of all slides prepared by Rosemary McConkey is available in the Reading Room