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.

Collection consists primarily of photocopies and emails with information pertaining to various aspects of Peterborough's history, from both the city and the county. Brief history of the town of Lakefield is also included.

Fonds is primarily comprised of copies of research material. Included are reproductions of genealogical materials related to the Brownscombe family of Peterborough, Ontario, beginning with William Brownscombe (1830-1893), a descendent of Kenneth Brown's wife, Kathleen Brownscombe. Also included is material related to the Haliburton Scout Reserve, the Canadian Canoe Company and the Wm. English Canoe Company.

Fonds consists of research materials relating to early nineteenth-century Irish immigrants, Thomas Alexander Stewart and Frances Browne Stewart, of Douro Township, County of Peterborough in Ontario. Included in the research materials are photographs (including 3 daguerreotypes), genealogical family charts, and articles and papers relating to Stewart family descendents and other Peterborough settler families. Also included is the personal correspondence of Jean Shearman.

Collection includes correspondence, email printouts, notes, photographs, research materials, and newspaper clippings. Much of this material pertains to research on the Traill family of Lakefield, Ontario.

Fonds consists of photographs, memorabilia, scrapbooks, and newspaper clippings related to Aureen Richardson and her family, and to her genealogical research and historical research on events and people in the United Counties of Northumberland and Durham and Hastings County.

Fonds consists of documents and photographs relating to Harley Cummings' education and military career; his research notes, correspondence, and manuscripts relating to family history and Ottawa schools history; and miscellaneous scrapbooks.

Fonds consists of maps and plans of the Ottawa and Haliburton areas, time-books of Bronsons and Weston logging firm, and photographs of the building of a railway, and of the Haliburton area. Included also are research material and manuscripts relating to books which Harley R. Cummings wrote about schools in the Ottawa area, and on the history of Haliburton. Included are notes on John Strachan and a transcript of his diary. The fonds also includes several genealogical charts of the MacCallum family.

This fonds consists of primary research material and the manuscript and photographs for Harley R. Cummings' book, "Early Days in Haliburton". The fonds also consists of correspondence, including letters from the Honorable Leslie Frost, photographs, maps, and an original 1863 surveyor's diary for Eyre Township. Also included are the C.R. Stewart diaries, dated 1902-1904. C.R. Stewart (1826-1905) was resident agent for the Canadian Land and Immigration Company and was the first settler in the Village of Haliburton. In his diaries he refers to Colonel Samuel Hughes and Mossom Boyd. Stewart's son, C.E. Stewart (1851-1921) was editor of the "Bobcaygeon Independent". The fonds also includes several historical papers and publications written by Cummings and others.

This accession consists of copy photographs, several of which are of originals in the Reid family photograph album and date from the 1840's to 1900's. One is of the Robert Henry "Harry" Devinish Reid family accompanied by an identification sheet with vital statistics for each member. Included also is a set of ten copy photographs of three generations of the Reid family. This set is accompanied by a family chart providing statistics for those listed.

Fonds consists of journals and photographs dated 1860-1908 pertaining to Hugh Caldwell Sr. of Chandos Township, Peterborough County, and his son Hugh Caldwell Jr. The journals were received in original format and as digital scans. Also included are a small number of family records dating to 1987.

Fonds consists of the wills of W.T.C. Boyd and Ida Lillian Boyd, with attached deed of Laurence Chadwick Boyd. Also included are several Boyd family photographs and one portrait. One of the albums has a photograph of Anne Langton, pioneer artist and teacher who settled in the Sturgeon Lake area, and whose journals have been published.

This fonds consists of two copy photographs of Captain Rubidge, one in old age and one in youth wearing Royal Navy uniform; two photographs of a portrait of Captain Rubidge; and four typescript sheets of biographical information.

This fonds consists of 11 black and white photographs collected for publication in "Kawartha Heritage".

Fonds consists of records relating to the Millbrook, Ontario and Cavan, Ontario area. Included are photographs, photocopies of newspaper clippings and articles, and scrapbooks. Several items pertain to St. Andrews United Church, Millbrook.

This fonds consists primarily of the correspondence of Scott Ackerman Medd to his parents Sidney Taylor Medd and Estelle Lumsden Ackerman and his sister Mary E. Medd. The correspondence covers such topics as Scott's education at Trinity College School in Port Hope and at the Royal Academy in London, England, his development as and artist, life in England, and World War II. The fonds also contains the family records of Thomas and Mary Medd consisting of emigration and settlement letters, 1819-1919; correspondence to Robert Medd, 1820-1852; and correspondence to and from Sidney Taylor Medd during World War I. Also included are photographs of various members of the Medd family and sketches and sketchbooks of Scott Ackerman Medd.

This fonds includes the letters of Anna Leveridge, written to her mother and family friends in England, describing their boat trip to Canada and pioneer life in the backwoods of Hastings County, Ontario, near Coe Hill, Marmora, and Millbridge. The fonds also includes family genealogy and photographs.

This fonds consists of the original and collected papers of E.C. Guillet, relating to his works and research on the Trent Valley/Peterborough/Kawartha area. Included is correspondence, primarily with George M. Douglas and Helen Marryat; maps (photocopies); newspaper articles regarding above area; collected manuscripts of historical authors; photographs; and Guillet's own unpublished manuscript of Canadian Literary Pioneers.

This fonds consists of photographs, two charcoal portraits, land documents, family bible and biographical sketches of Lakefield, Ontario. It also includes information on the Joseph Walton family of Smith Township. The bible contains genealogical information and is a "Cottage" Bible stamped with name of Joseph and S.J. Walton.

Fonds consists of photographs, correspondence, and miscellaneous documents pertaining to the Atwood family of Lakefield, Ontario. Also included are materials pertaining to Anne Atwood's family, the Traills; a sketch identified through an accompanying note as Ernest Shackleton; and correspondence between Edwin Guillet and explorer George M. Douglas.

This fonds consists of research material, manuscripts, published articles and correspondence of Blodwen Davies with the Saskatchewan Arts Board and the National Museum.

This fonds has extensive personal genealogical research material collected by John A. Bradshaw, Crown Attorney and Clerk of the Peace for the City of Peterborough from 1948 to 1974. The fonds includes correspondence with genealogists, notes, photocopies of related passages, poems, and chapters of books and other published material, photographs and a 1757 edition of The London Chronicle.

This collection consists of records collected by G. Wilson Craw such as school histories, Peterborough County; Barnardo's Canadian Homes Almanac 1901; a list of Peterborough Utilities Commissioners 1902-1965; biographies of Peterborough residents; deeds and mortgages; North Monaghan voters list 1883-4; 76 photographs of industries, schools and churches and sporting groups, as well as a history of Springfield, North Monaghan.

The fonds consists mostly of Helen Marryat's (nee Helen Fowlds) personal experiences as a nurse in World War I, and her activities as a local historian. There are clippings of her articles in local newspapers, historical maps (drawn by Gerald Marryat) and other materials relating to settlement of Hastings and district such as education and nursing. Also included are the correspondence and photograph collections of her brothers, Donald and Eric (mostly from World War I), and material on Frederick Marryat (1792-1848), navy captain and novelist. In December 2001, Trent University Archives launched an online exhibit which depicts Helen Fowld's experiences in World War I. All her letters and diaries are transcribed and are found at the following site: http://digitalcollections.trentu.ca/exhibits/fowlds/ffowldswelcome.htm

Fonds is comprised of approximately 105 historical photographs, family genealogy documents, various company shares, wills, and land documents pertaining to the family of Andrew Finnie II (1820-1908), resident of South Monaghan Township and farmer from the 1850s onwards. The photographs pertain largely to descendants, some of whom moved to Manitoba and sent photographs of themselves to the home farm in South Monaghan; many fine examples of photographs taken by Peterborough photographers in the 19th century are included. This fonds also includes detailed genealogical information compiled by the donor about the people represented in the photographs; also included are the donor’s detailed descriptions of the textual documents.

Fonds includes 16 envelopes containing approximately 105 photographs, especially of people, with attached genealogical information. Family names include the following: Finnie, Porter, Wood, Chambers, Cochrane, McAllister, Hall, Fisher, Dawson, Stewart, Truscott, Pacey, Scott, Moncrief, Vincent, Renton, Nairn, Richmond. Also included are photographs pertaining to the Centreville Presbyterian Church (South Monaghan), and the Finnie family homestead in South Monaghan Township. An envelope titled “Sophia Finnie” includes a typed document written by the donor titled “Our Canadian Roots”; it explains the family lineage stemming from the eighteenth-century fur trader William Renton of the Hudson Bay Company.

Fonds also includes 11 envelopes of various company shares, wills, and land documents pertaining to Andrew Finnie II and family descendants; attached to each envelope are typed notes describing the contents.