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newspaper articles regarding above area; collected manuscripts of historical authors; photographs; and Guillet's own unpublished manuscript of Canadian Literary Pioneers.

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 addition to the fonds consists of photographs (approximately 141) taken by George Douglas on his many canoe trips [ca. 1920] in the Chandos, Burleigh, and Anstruther townships area and encompassing such towns and waterways as Lakefield, Stoney Lake, Loon Lake, Eel's Creek and Apsley. There is also a photocopy of an article entitled "George Douglas - Trip to Loon Lake 1925".

Folders are arranged as such:

1. Photographs (approximately 100 5"x7"s) taken by George Douglas on canoe trips in the Chandos, Burleigh, and Anstruther townships area [c:1920]
2. Photographs (approximately 35 8"x10"s) taken by George Douglas on canoe trips in the Chandos, Burleigh, and Anstruther townships area [c:1920]
3. Photocopy of an article entitled "George Douglas - Trip to Loon Lake 1925"
4. loose in box: small envelope containing 6 negatives and 4 photographs re: George Douglas canoe trips in the Chandos, Burleigh, and Anstruther townships area [c:1920]

This fonds consists of correspondence, photographs, family biographical information, notes and research for speeches, alderman election materials, accounts, land ownership documents, business records and newspaper clippings pertaining to the personal and political career of John Beverley Robinson. Also included in the fonds is research material of Mrs. Forsyth Grant, daughter of J.B. Robinson and President of the Women's Canadian Historical Society of Toronto.

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

This fonds consists of records relating to the professional and personal lives of Dr. Henry Turner (Sr.) and Dr. Henry A. Turner (Jr.), both medical doctors of the Millbrook area. The medical publications, prescription day books, office records, customer account books, transaction day books, stock books, business and domestic records and invoices, glass x-rays, and correspondence depict the lives of each man respectively, spanning the years 1872 to 1936. Also included are personal and business-related records of Alice Turner, nurse, daughter of H.A. Turner (Sr.). A Farmers and Business Directory for Peterborough and the United Counties has been catalogued and removed to the Trent Collection.

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 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 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.

Collection consists of correspondence, 1882-1899, and several envelopes dating 1870s to 1890s, most of which are addressed to Thomas Choate of Warsaw, and Mrs. John Moore [Cettie Choate, daughter of Thomas]; souvenir brochure of pictures of Peterborough, Ontario; Maccabees brochures; approximately 125 stereographs depicting scenery, architecture, and people in the U.S.A., Europe, and Canada; two photographs of the employees of Western Clock Company Limited of Peterborough, Ontario, 1938 and 1944; a temperance meeting poster for Warsaw, Ontario, 1858; and an electoral district of East Durham proclamation broadside, 1924. Also included is the Choate Family Bible donated and added to the collection in 2002. The bible contains genealogical information on the Choate family.

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 an undated photograph of Susan Burnham Greeley, and a newspaper article from the [Colborne Express, 22 September 1904] regarding the death of Greeley. Also included is an envelope addressed to E.C. Caddy of Cobourg, Ontario and mailed in 1895, with handwritten notation "from Cousin Susan".

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.

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.

This fonds consists of six photographs of "Blyth", the home of John Langton and his family. The photos were taken in 1911 and 1912. The home, which has since been demolished, was close to Fenelon Falls on Sturgeon Lake. The people in the photographs are not identified. Written on an envelope, included with the photographs, is "1911 & 1912. Old photos of "Blyth" Given to M. McCulloch by Mrs. [Frances] George Douglas."

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.

Fonds pertains to the life of Theodore Thorne Hamilton (1890-1959) and his extended family. The documents, comprised of original letters, vital statistic certificates, photographs, and postcards, are interleaved with detailed biographical information compiled by the donor, Mr. Jim Hamilton, a second cousin (twice removed) of Theodore Thorne Hamilton. Included are approximately 100 photographs pertaining to the Skeena River flood of 1936, approximately 30 early 20th-century Bobcaygeon area postcards, and two Bibles.

The fonds consists of the diaries of Harriet Pengelley (1835-1836), Robert Pengelley (1835), and A.E. Marguerite (Rita) Pengelley (1940-1941); correspondence; sketchbooks (1829-1830); drawings; and photographs. In 1994, an addition was made to the fonds which included a photocopy of a diary of Robert Pengelley (1837-1840) and textual records regarding the Pengelley family. In 2018, an addition of Pengelley family genealogical information was received.

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, 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.

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.

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 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.