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Age Friendly Giants fonds

  • Fonds
  • 2017-2019

Fonds consists of the records of the Age Friendly Giants project, initially conducted in 2017 through Age Friendly Thunder Bay and StoryCentre Canada. This project provided a digital storytelling workshop to 10 older adults, with a focus on neighbourhoods, communities, and aging at home. Results of the projects included 10 videos produced by the participants, posters and tip sheets, and several public events.

Phase II of Age Friendly Giants took place in 2019. Phase II included the development of an education kit to accompany the Phase I videos, Tea Talks held throughout the summer to develop community, the concluding Giants Castle event in October to share information about aging at home, and various media including cable television programs.

Phase I records include videos and handouts, as well as project documentation. Phase II records include project documentation, videos, and material produced for participants.

Al Purdy papers

  • Fonds

Includes approximately 35 drafts and copies of poems, fragments, essays, and one television script.

Amerikan Laulajat fonds

  • Fonds
  • 1956 - 2002

An umbrella organization for Finnish male choruses in North America.

The records relate to the organization's administration and finances, and to major events including nine performing tours of Finland and performances in North America.

Member choirs have included:
Chicago: Sibelius Male Chorus
Detroit: Finlandia Male Chorus
Florida: Male Singers of Florida
Los Angeles: Finnish Male Chorus
New York: New Yorkin Laulumiehet
Sault Ste Marie: Sault Finnish Male Chorus "Kaleva"
Sudbury: Sudburyn Laulumiehet
Thunder Bay: Mieskuoro Otava Male Choir
Toronto: Toronton Mieslaulajat
Vancouver: Vancouverin Mieslaulajat

Angus Bell fonds

  • Fonds
  • 1911 - 1913

Journals, writings, and photographs describing the work of railway construction in the early 1900s.

Barnett-McQueen Construction Company fonds

  • Fonds
  • 1913 - 1955

The collection consists of architectural plans and drawings for construction projects (primarily grain elevators) in Ontario and Manitoba.

Betty Walker fonds

  • Fonds

These records consist of several thousand photographic slides of butterflies, moths, and their eggs and larvae. The collection is not yet processed.

Bill Addison fonds

  • Fonds
  • 1967 - 2001

The records relate to Addison's advocacy work on the development and management of Provincial Parks in Ontario. Includes work with the Save Quetico Committee, the Coalition for Wilderness, and Parks for Tomorrow. These three groups were often in direct correspondence with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, and the records contain many MNR and other government reports.

Bora Laskin Faculty of Law fonds

  • Fonds
  • 2013 - 2018

The records include Faculty of Law newsletters and promotional material, and a set of building plans for renovations of the former PACI building.

The Bora Laskin Faculty of Law was established at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay in 2013.

Cairine Budner fonds

  • Fonds
  • 1900-2010

Records were created, held, or gathered by Cairine Budner over the course of her association with the Thunder Bay Finnish Canadian Historical Society, and other local heritage organizations and sports organizations.

The fonds includes

  • Records of the operations of the Thunder Bay Finnish Canadian Historical Society
  • Records of the operations of the Thunder Bay Historical Society, Thunder Bay Art Gallery (National Exhibition Centre), Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame
  • Oral history interviews created with the TBFCHS and Multicultural History Society of Ontario
  • Historical photographs and documents gathered from the community, including sports photographs, records of the Finnish Building Company, and minutes of the Nahjus Athletic Club

Canada Sea-to-Sea: Alexander Mackenzie Bicentennial Expeditions fonds

  • Fonds
  • 1988 - 1994

Records detailing the planning and execution of the Canada Sea-to-Sea Alexander Mackenzie Bicentennial Expeditions, 1989-1993, to celebrate the bicentennial of the voyages of Alexander Mackenzie, who was the first European person to cross Canada and reach the Pacific Ocean. Expedition leader was Dr. Jim Smithers, of Lakehead's School of Outdoor Recreation, Parks, and Tourism.

Students traced Mackenzie's routes travelling by canoe and overland, and held events in communities along the way.

1989: from Fort McMurray, Alberta to Kendall Island on the Beaufort Sea
1990-1991: development of educational materials and full plan
1991: Lachine, Quebec, to Winnipeg, Manitoba
1992: Winnipeg, Manitoba, to Peace River, Alberta
1993: Peace River, Alberta, to Mackenzie Rock, British Columbia

Records include planning documents, brochures, sponsorship information, route maps, and reports.

Canadan Suomalainen Järjestö fonds

  • Fonds
  • 1911 - 1981

Records of the Canadan Suomalainen Järjestö [Finnish Organization of Canada], Vapaus Publishing Company (responsible for publishing Vapaus and Liekki and other publications), Suomalais-Canadalaisen Amatoori Urheiluliiton [Finnish-Canadian Amateur Sports Federation], co-operatives, and more.

Includes meeting minutes, reports, financial statements, and correspondence related to the operations and administration of these organizations. Also includes a variety of document and pamphlets related to socialism, communism, and the peace movement in Canada and worldwide.

The Canadan Suomalainen Järjestö (CSJ; Finnish Organization of Canada) is the oldest nationwide Finnish cultural organization in Canada. For over a century the CSJ has been one of the main organizations for Finnish immigrants in Canada with left-wing sympathies and, in particular, those with close ties to the Communist Party of Canada. Through the early to mid 1920s, Finnish-Canadians furnished over half the membership of the Communist Party and some, like A.T. Hill (born Armas Topias Mäkinen), became leading figures in the Party. Beyond support for leftist political causes, the cooperative and labour union movements, many local CSJ branches in both rural and urban centres established halls – some 70 of which were built over the years in communities across Canada – that hosted a range of social and cultural activities including dances, theatre, athletics, music, and lectures. The CSJ is also known for its publishing activities, notably the Vapaus (Liberty) newspaper.

The CSJ underwent several changes in its formative years related to both national and international developments. Founded in October 1911 as the Canadan Suomalainen Sosialisti Järjestö (CSSJ; Finnish Socialist Organization of Canada), the organization served as the Finnish-language affiliate of the Canadian Socialist Federation which soon after transformed into the Social Democratic Party of Canada (SDP). By 1914, the CSSJ had grown to 64 local branches and boasted a majority of the SDP membership with over 3,000 members. One year later the organization added two more local branches but membership had dropped to 1,867 members thanks, in part, to a more restrictive atmosphere due to Canada’s involvement in the First World War and an organizational split that saw the expulsion or resignation of supporters of the Industrial Workers of the World from the CSSJ.

In September 1918, the Canadian federal government passed Order-in-Council PC 2381 and PC 2384 which listed Finnish, along with Russian and Ukrainian, as ”enemy languages” and outlawed the CSSJ along with thirteen other organizations. The CSSJ successfully appealed the ban in December 1918 but dropped ”Socialist” from its name. The organization operated under the name Canadan Suomalainen Järjestö until December 1919. The SDP, however, did not recover from the outlawing of its foreign-language sections, leaving the CSJ without a political home. Stepping into this organizational vacuum was the One Big Union of Canada (OBU), founded in June 1919. The CSJ briefly threw its support behind this new labour union initiative, functioning as an independent ”propaganda organization of the OBU” until internal debates surrounding the structure of the Lumber Workers Industrial Union affiliate and the OBU decision not to join to the Moscow-headquartered Comintern led to its withdrawal shortly thereafter. In 1924, CSSJ activists including A.T. Hill helped to found the Lumber Workers Industrial Union of Canada (LWIUC).

Inspired by the Bolshevik Revolution that toppled the Tsarist Russian Empire in November 1917, and following the founding of the Communist Party of Canada (CPC) as an underground organization in May 1921, the CSSJ rapidly became an integral part of the nascent Communist movement in Canada. Reflecting this change, in 1922 the organization was renamed the Canadan Työläispuolueen Suomalainen Sosialistilärjestö (FS/WPC; Finnish Socialist Section of the Workers’ Party of Canada) – the Workers’ Party of Canada being the legal front organization of the CPC. In 1923, Finnish-Canadian Communists formed a separate cultural organization, the Canadan Suomalainen Järjestö (CSJ; Finnish Organization of Canada Inc.), to serve as a kind of ”holding company” ensuring that the organization’s considerable properties and assets would be safe from confiscation by the government or capture from rival left-wing groups. With the legalization of the CPC in 1924, the FS/WPC became the Canadan Kommunistipuolueen Suomalainen Järjestö (FS/CP; Finnish section of the Communist Party of Canada). Between 1922 and 1925, membership in the CSJ through its various transitions also doubled as membership in the Communist Party. This arrangement ended in 1925 when the FS/CP was disbanded following the ”bolshevization” directives of the Comintern. These directives demanded that separate ethnic organizations in North America be dissolved in favour of more disciplined and centralized party cells. It was hoped that this reorganization would help attract new members outside of the various Finnish, Ukrainian, and Jewish ethnic enclaves that had furnished the bulk of the CPC dues paying membership in Canada. From this point onwards, the CSJ officially functioned as a cultural organization but maintained a close, albeit sometimes strained, association with the CPC. The 1930s represent the peak of the CSJ size and influence, occuring during the Third Period and Popular Front eras of the international Communist movement. During this period CSJ union organizers assisted in the creation of the Lumber and Sawmill Workers Union – a unit of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of the American Federation of Labor, successor to the LWIUC – and the reemergence of the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers in Sudbury and Kirkland Lake. CSJ activists also helped to recruit volunteers for the International Brigades that fought against nationalist and fascist forces in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). Finally, in the 1930s some 3,000 CSJ members or sympathizers embarked on the journey from Canada to the Soviet Union to help in the efforts to industrialize the Karelian Autonomous Soviet. Hundreds of Finns in Karelia would later perish in Stalin’s purges.

Despite the CSJ’s active support for the Canadian war effort, the organization was still deemed to be a threat to national security by the federal government and again outlawed in 1940. All FOC properties were seized and closed. The Suomalais Canadalaisten Demokraattien Liitto (SCDL; Finnish-Canadian Democratic League) served as the FOC’s main legal surrogate until the organization was legalized in 1943. The rapid decline of the FOC following this period is apparent from the fact that of the 75 locals in operation in 1936, only 36 remained active in 1950.

Further reading:
Edward W. Laine (edited by Auvo Kostianen), A Century of Strife: The Finnish Organization of Canada, 1901-2001 (Turku: Migration Institute of Finland), 2016.
Arja Pilli, The Finnish-Language Press in Canada, 1901-1939: A Study of Ethnic Journalism (Turku: Institute of Migration), 1982.
William Eklund, Builders of Canada: History of the Finnish Organization of Canada, 1911-1971 (Toronto: Finnish Organization of Canada), 1987.

Canadan Teollisuusunionistinen Kannatus Liitto (CTKL) fonds

  • Fonds
  • 1909 - 1979

The CTKL fonds receives its title from Canadan Teollisuusunionistinen Kannatus Liitto, the Finnish organization which translates to the Canadian Industrial Union Support Circle. This organization was the majority shareholder of the Labour Temple at 314 Bay Street in Port Arthur from 1925 to 1972 and was disbanded in 1979. Prior to 1926, the central administration of the CTKL was in Sudbury after which it relocated to Port Arthur.

The CTKL was made up of supporters of industrial unionism who formed associations in their own local communities and observed rules and regulations as established by an executive committee. This executive committee, the Toimeenpanevakomitea (TPK), was comprised of members of the CTKL elected annually from the central administration and from the local associations. This committee managed the affairs of the league and supported industrial unionism through agitation by engaging speakers, supporting workers in their union activities, and through monetary assistance, as well as writing, publishing, and distributing written materials.

Significant cultural and social events at the Labour Temple and at other branches were supported by the CTKL during the peak years of labour organization.

The records contain minutes of meetings, correspondence, financial records, publications, and miscellaneous items. The fonds has been divided into series as follows:
A - Finnish Building Company
B - Hoito Restaurant
C - One Big Union
D - CTKL
E - Industrial Workers of the World
F - Lumber Workers Industrial Union #120
G - Canadian News Service
H - Miscellaneous

Canadan Uutiset fonds

  • Fonds
  • 1935 - 1975

The correspondence, receipts, newspaper clippings, and several articles of the Canadan Uutiset, a Finnish-language newspaper based in Thunder Bay.

Canadian Federation of University Women, Thunder Bay Chapter fonds

  • Fonds
  • 1932 - 2003

The fonds consists of correspondence, minutes, membership lists, newsletters, photographs and slides, and other various records associated with the activities of the club. Arranged into the following series:

  1. Constitution and Policies
  2. Minutes and Agendas
  3. Reports and Notes
  4. Background Information
  5. Newsletters
  6. Cash Books and Membership Lists
  7. Study Groups
  8. Correspondence
  9. Conferences
  10. Special Projects and Events
  11. Founders Memorial Trust Bursary
  12. Enrichment Nursery School Project
  13. CFUW – National Chapter
  14. CFUW – Ontario Council
  15. Ephemera
  16. Images

Canadian Injured Workers Alliance fonds

  • Fonds
  • 1988 - 2020

The Canadian Injured Workers Alliance was founded in 1990 as an umbrella organization of injured workers' groups across Canada. It has engaged in advocacy, research, and the creation of educational information for members. Records relate to the labour movement, disability, legal and legislative rights for workers, and the operation of the organization.

City of Thunder Bay COVID-19 Response

  • Fonds
  • 2020

Documents the public information-sharing of the City of Thunder Bay during the COVID-19 pandemic beginning March 2020. Videos include Community Addresses with Mayor Bill Mauro, and press events.

Claude Garton Herbarium fonds

  • Fonds
  • 1935 - 2016

Records include:

  • Collection records and slides produced by Claude Garton
  • Site-specific information
  • Correspondence between the Herbarium, collectors, curators, and external groups

Claude Garton fonds

  • Fonds
  • 1908 - 1989

Claude Garton was a teacher and botanist. He amassed a collection of over 10,000 plant specimens, which were donated to form the Herbarium at Lakehead University. These records relate largely to his plant observations and collections.

Claude Liman fonds

  • Fonds
  • 1961 - 2020

Personal and professional writing of Dr. Claude Liman, professor of English at Lakehead University. His work focused on teaching American Literature, poetry and creative writing at Lakehead.

The contents of his journals include daily life, and reflections on teaching and his career. The letters chronicle his private and professional life, and include correspondence both sent and received.The records also reflect his involvement in sports, particularly skiing, but also golf, cycling, and running.

Records have been arranged into four series: Journals, Letters, Writing, and Teaching.

Daniel H. Coghlan fonds

  • Fonds
  • 1960 - 1968

These papers consist of photographs, certificates, pamphlets, programmes, correspondence, notebooks, memos, balance sheets, and newspaper clippings all relating to Coghlan's insurance business, his numerous careers, political and social involvement, and personal life.

David Belrose fonds

  • Fonds
  • 1964 - 2015

Records relate to the lives and rights of LGBTQ+ people and people living with HIV/AIDS in Northwestern Ontario and in Canada more broadly. Records reflect the work of Belrose as an individual, and in conjunction with the AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay (ACT-B); Gays of Thunder Bay; Northern Pride; Out and About; and more.

Includes publications, especially Thunder Gay Magazine, reACT-Believe, and FrontLine; notes, minutes, and correspondence related to formal and informal activism; and news coverage and current events in a variety of media.

The collection includes physical textual materials, video and audio cassettes, digital text, and digital audio and video recordings.

Department of Mathematical Sciences fonds

  • Fonds
  • 1999 - 2010

Minutes of departmental meetings of the Lakehead University Department of Mathematical Sciences. Mathematics was an academic Department at Lakehead University since 1965.

Department of Women's Studies fonds

  • Fonds
  • 1988 - 2007

These records relate to the establishment and first years of operation of the Women's Studies program at Lakehead University. After a proposal in 1988, the first classes ran in the 1990-1991 academic year. The program developed quickly, with more courses added and cross-listed, and Women's Studies was granted status as a Department in 2002.

The records, most of which date 1990-1996, include minutes of the Women's Studies Advisory Committee, and correspondence about the program and its courses. Some files also relate to fundraising, and local events and issues.

Douglas Fisher fonds

  • Fonds
  • 1957 - 2006

Douglas Fisher was a politician and journalist from Northwestern Ontario. He served as Member of Parliament for Port Arthur from 1957 to 1965, representing the CCF and then NDP.

These papers largely consist of correspondence from his time as MP, and cover a range of subjects, most notably including: transportation, shipbuilding, shipbuilding industries and the St. Lawrence Seaway; labour; House of Commons documentation; and Canadian Federal Politics in general.

Dr Elizabeth Arthur fonds

  • Fonds

Research notes and correspondence of Dr. Elizabeth Arthur, professor of history at Lakehead University.

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