This item is a notebook containing orders and correspondence of Lieutenant Colonel J. Deacon, commanding officer of the Midland Regiment, during the Riel Rebellion of 1885. Also included in the notebook are telegrams and copies of Deacon's own correspondence to General Middleton.

The Northwest Rebellion was provoked by the militant push across western Canada by agents of the Canadian Pacific Railway supported by the Government of Canada and white settlers disturbing Metis homesteads and their way of life in Manitoba and the Northwest territories on the Saskatchewan River . Louis Riel was persuaded to return to Canada, though he had been in virtual exile in Montana since the Red River Uprising of 1869-1870, to assist the Metis and their native allies in the struggle against encroachment on lands and bureaucratic interference with Metis organization and self-determination. On 19 March 1885 ,Riel declared the establishment of the provisional government of Saskatchewan .

Command of the Canadian government troops was given to Frederick D. Middleton (1825-1898 ) The first skirmish is at Duck Lake, 26 March 1885 . The combatants were mostly North West Mounted Police and volunteers from Prince Albert . Soon after the battle, a Canadian Militia Force is raised as a Northwest Field Force. The Cree were at this time in a state of famine and Poundmaker decided to take advantage of the situation to try (unsuccessfully)to negotiate supplies and moved on to the deserted post of Battleford and thence to Cutknife Creek. Riel moved his Metis forces to Batoche and set up a defended position there.

By April 1, the Midland Battalion has been raised in Kingston, Ontario .Soldiers from Lindsay, Bowmanville, Peterborough, Millbrook, Port Hope, Hastings and Cobourg are among the volunteers under the command of Lt. Col. Arthur T.H. Williams(18---1885). The situation with the Metis is clear, but the native bands were now in some disarray and Indian Agent Thomas Quinn was killed by a member of Big Bear's band setting off the Frog Lake massacre. The Midland soldiers arrived in the west on April 10 and set up tents at Swift Current. Meanwhile, Middleton was heading for Batoche and Big bear had surrounded Fort Pitt which was immediately abandoned by Francis Dickens and the N.W.M.P. Two columns from the Midland ( E Coy. and F Coy)headed north from Swift Current towards Battleford under the command of William Otter.

On April 23, as Deacon's correspondence notes, the steamer “Northcote” left Saskatchewan Ferry north of Swift Current. She was carrying good, oats, hay part of a field hospital, Gatling gun etc. They were headed for Clarke's Crossing. Middle to and Dumont clashed the next day at Fish Creek. The force ledby Otter met Poundmaker on May 2 and was beaten badly at Cutknife Hill and had to retreat to Battleford. Poundmaker's band then moved forward to join Riel at Batoche in spite of Poundmaker's decision to set up camp elsewhere. On May 5,part of the Midland met Boulton's Horse at Clarke's Crossing and moved up to Fish Creek Camp. Middleton was now ready to move on Batoche.

This item is a copy and translation of a letter from Louis Riel in the prison at Regina to Dr. Romuald Fiset, thanking Fiset and the committee for Riel's defence, for what they were doing for him and outlining his activities since his return from the United States so that his attorneys (Lemieux and Fitzpatrick) might have his side of the story. In the letter, Riel also voices his desire that his trial be held in Lower Canada.

The fonds consists of the following three items: 1. an undated broadside with lines on Scott and Hackett who were murdered and the Right to Walk, an anonymous poem on the 1870 Riel Rebellion; 2. a broadside dated July 12, 1877, with poems on the Montreal Riots (of the same date) with the Murder and Funeral of the late Thos. Lett Hackett, by Ulster True Blue and; 3. a certificate of degree, dated March 26, 1923, of Norman Killenbeck, L.O.L. Peterborough #3.

Item is a death notice card for Luella Massie who died 2 November 1894 at the age of "1y., 2m., 18d.

This item is a 26-page photocopy of typescript of a letter of reminiscence written in 1910 by Margaret Bird, of Peterborough, Ontario, when she was an elderly woman. It tells of her abuse at the hands of her husband including one attempt to poison her. It describes her difficult life in late nineteenth-century Peterborough.

Item is a photocopy of a letter written 10 December 1953 by Mark Robinson, Superintendent and Ranger of Algonquin Park, to Mr. & Mrs. Taylor Statten, parents of Taylor Statten of Camp Ahmek.

This item is a mathematics work book which belonged to Mary Jane Moncrief in 1861. In it there are samples of decimal currency, reductions of weights and measures, compound addition and subtraction, percentages and many other mathematical exercises.

This item is a diary of a European tour from 2 July to 4 September 1914, and of boat trip aboard the SS Megantic (Montreal, Quebec, to Liverpool, England). There are also passenger lists, menus, and postcards included in the diary. The diary has some references to the outbreak of World War I, and the removal of British subjects from the continent. There is also one piece of correspondence included dated 6 September 1914. The diary chronicles a tour through England, France, Holland, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland.