This fonds consists of research material, mostly in copy form, created during the writing of This Green and Pleasant Land.

This fonds consists of photocopied correspondence of the Stewart and Dunlop families. Most of the letters are to Ellen Dunlop (daughter of Frances Browne Stewart) from Frances Stewart, Catharine Parr Traill and Harriet Beaufort as well as James Wallis. Also included is a Stewart family tree.

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 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.

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.

Collection consists of a guide to nearly all of the Frances Stewart letters located at Trent University Archives and elsewhere. The guide is a biographical reference tool which indexes all the names which appear in the letters. The indexing locates each name in the approximately 450 letters and gives the corresponding page number in the transcripts (94-006); it provides the source of biographic information, and explains the relationship of each person to Thomas Alexander Stewart and Frances Browne Stewart. The guide is arranged alphabetically by last name and includes hundreds of names, i.e., Sydney Bellingham, Rev. George Brabazon, Rev. Francis Browne, John Burnham, Rev. Mark Burnham, Zaccheus Burnham, Frances Anne Edgeworth, Agnes Fitzgibbon (nee Moodie), Catherine Elizabeth Kirkpatrick (nee Browne), Susanna Moodie (nee Strickland), Robert Reid, Peter Robinson, Captain Charles Rubidge, Frances Stewart (nee Browne), Thomas Alexander Stewart, Samuel Strickland, Catharine Parr Traill (nee Strickland), and Robert Waller (complete list of names attached below). The guide, which was researched and compiled by Jean Shearman and Elizabeth Shearman Hall, is a tremendous piece of work and is an invaluable resource for researchers.

Fonds is a photocopy of a communication written to James F. Dennistoun, President of the Auburn Woollen Mills, dated September 6, 1882. It was written by the employees of the company who welcome Dennistoun back after a period away due to illness. They also express sincere thanks for the kindness and courtesy which he has always shown them. Among those who signed the letter is James Kendry, manager of the company.

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 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 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.

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 sheet music, some of which is hand-copied. The items originated with Captain Charles Rubidge and penciled annotations suggest that he collected or hand-copied a number of them in the early 1800s for his wife-to-be, Margaret Clarke, before coming to Canada. "Mrs. Rubidge" is written in hand on some pieces. Provenance is indicated on some documents in layered notes made by family descendants across generations. Also included is information compiled by Laurie Lambe Wallace about the sheet music and its history within the Rubidge family.

In 2017, 29 additional pieces of sheet music dating to the early 1800s were added. This music belonged to Mary Catharine Dunsford, wife of Reverend Hartley. Some of the music includes handwritten notations with family names and dates. While the publications of some pieces may date to the early 1800s, the handwritten penciled dates cover a period generally between the 1830s and 1860s. The notations point to connections between the Rubidge, Dunsford, McEwen, and Boyd families of the Peterborough area. Included in this addition is genealogical information compiled by the donor.

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.

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.

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".