United Steelworkers of America District 6 fonds
Records relate to the United Steelworkers of Amercia's (USWA or U.S.W.A.) District 6, Northwestern Ontario, and industries, sites, and companies where Union members worked.
Files include: collective agreements between the union and various companies, correspondence between various company and mine representatives (notably Henry Gareau), as well as presidents of the local unions and officials at different levels of government.
Thunder Cape Bird Observatory fonds
The records consist of daily logs and banding data for birds observed at the Thunder Cape Bird Observatory.
Thunder Cape Bird Observatory (TCBO) is a joint project of the Thunder Bay Field Naturalists, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources - Wildlife Assessment Program (OMNR-WAP), and Bird Studies Canada, working in partnership with Sleeping Giant Provincial Park, and the Canadian Coast Guard. (TBFN)
Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre COVID-19 Response
Documents the public information-sharing of the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre during the COVID-19 pandemic beginning March 2020. Daily updates relate to the hospital's readiness and operations, and testing and detection of COVID-19 in the Thunder Bay region. The records include text updates and video interviews with hospital leadership and others.
Thunder Bay Field Naturalists' Society fonds
The fonds consists of minutes, membership lists, newsletters, correspondence, a photograph and four negatives, bird census data, and other records associated with the activities of the club. The fonds consists of the following series:
Thunder Bay Co-Operative Dairy Ltd fonds
Records of the Thunder Bay Co-Operative Dairy, Ltd, which operated from 1928 to 1969.
The records include: the Board of Directors' meeting minutes, which provide detailed accounts of the Dairy's management and operation from its founding in 1928 through its eventual liquidation in 1972; a time book listing employee wages and deductions; a financial journal outlining the Co-Op's final years in production; and a folder containing various news clippings and written notes.
The fonds consists of publications and clippings in Finnish, including some of Terttu Koivu’s own writings in Canadan Uutiset and other publications. Terttu Koivu immigrated from Finland in 1953, and died in Thunder Bay in 2013 at age 95.
School of Library Technology fonds
The School of Library Technology at Lakehead University operated from 1966 until 2002, administratively part of the Faculty of University Schools. It was one of only two university-based Library Technology programs in Canada.
Students enrolled in either a 2-year diploma program, or a post-graduate diploma program that could often be completed within 1 year. In the late 1980s, amid concerns that non-degree programs might no longer be funded by the Ontario government, there was a proposal to create a 3-year Bachelor of Arts in Library and Information Studies.
The records consist of:
School Administration: Includes reports, plans and proposals, newsletters, and reference material spanning the year of the School's operation.
Student Experience: Includes yearbooks, photographs, and scrapbooks of students and graduates of the program.
The records document Ruth Tye McKenzie’s life and career as an exhibiting artist. They also reflect her career in business as owner of the Painted Turtle Art Shop.
Ruth Tye Mackenzie was born October 6, 1929, in Edmonton, the youngest of 3 children. She attended the Ontario College of Art, and graduated in 1952. She lived in Dundas, ON, for some time, exhibiting in Hamilton, St. Catherines, and other southern Ontario locations.
In 1976 she moved to Thunder Bay with her family, and has become a key part of Thunder Bay's artistic community. She opened the Painted Turtle Art Shop in 1983, and ran it for 30 years until selling to new owners in 2003. Her work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions across the province.
Records relate to the creation and development of the Orillia Campus.
Rev. William (Bill) S. Morris fonds
William S. Morris (1916-1983) was a faculty member in Philosophy at Lakehead from 1968 until his retirement in 1982. He completed his PhD at the University of Chicago in 1955. The Morris Lectures were established as a memorial after his death in 1983.
These records consist of lecture notes for a course or courses at Lakehead looking at the historical development of Western Philosophy. They are grouped by their subject matter, and Morris' titles have been retained.
Records of Reverend Toivo Johannes Pajala (1903-1972), minister of Saalem Pentecostal Church.
Toivo Pajala was born Dec 31, 1903, in Vimpeli, Finland. His family was Lutheran, with some ties to the Pentecostal Church. Pajala migrated to Canada at age 19, and was in Port Arthur at least by 1923. For many years he made a living as a bushworker.
Religion became an important part of Pajala's life: he became Laestadian, then Pentecostal. He attended the Western Bible College in Winnipeg for two years, and then was ordained in 1946 in Toronto. He married his wife Sylvia in 1949 shortly before returning to Port Arthur.
From 1949 to 1963, Pajala was pastor of Saalem Finnish Pentecostal Church in Port Arthur. In 1951, he established a Finnish-language Pentecostal radio program on CKPR, particularly reaching bushworkers and others in rural areas, and people unable to leave their homes. He was also well known for supporting immigrants to the region, and providing funeral services when others would not.
Pajala spent 1963-1967 as a pastor in Waukegan, Illinois. After 1967, he officially retired, and returned to Port Arthur, where he was still active in the church. His death was in 1972.
Most of the records in this fonds relate to either Pajala's religious education in the 1940s (organized by class or by notebook) or the sermons he gave in Finnish or English, in Port Arthur and by radio (organized loosely by theme.)
The last few files of the fonds relate to a project after Pajala’s death: to interview those who knew him and memorialize him. The book “Kansanpappi Toivo Pajala,” written by Tellervo Kähärä and available in the Library, is a result of that work.
Records relate to research carried out by Viitala and colleagues at Lakehead University as part of the Acidic Precipitation In Ontario Study. Field research was done at Hawkeye Lake northwest of Thunder Bay, and at Pukaskwa National Park. The records include data, photographs, reports and research papers. Some records also relate specifically to the International Symposium on Acidic Precipitation held at Muskoka on September 15-20, 1985.
Records date primarily 1980-1988, with some additional documents from 2018 and 2022.
Raili Margaret (Virta) Charnesky (1936-2022) was born and raised in Port Arthur to parents Kalle and Impi Virta, both immigrants from Finland. Raili worked in the Mining Recorders Office, Ontario Department of Mines, in Thunder Bay, and became the Mining Recorder for the Ontario Ministry of Northern Development and Mines in Sudbury and Toronto. She retired in 1993 after 40 years of public service.
These records primarily reflect family relationships, particularly the early death of her brother Olaf in 1951, and the deaths of her parents Kalle (1961) and Impi (1983). Records include family & genealogical information, photographs, memorial books and sympathy cards.
Records of an oral history project conducted with people who travelled to Soviet Karelia. Includes approved and unapproved transcripts, audio cassette recordings, agreements with researchers, and related documentation.
Many of the documents include information that interviewees wish to be kept private. Access will be restricted, except for approved transcripts, and when appropriate measures or agremeents are in place.
Port Arthur Constituency Liberal Association fonds
Minute books, memberships, and other records of the Port Arthur Constituency Liberal Association, Port Arthur Women's Liberal Association, and related organizations.
Pigeon River Lumber Company fonds
Correspondence and papers of the Pigeon River Lumber Company, primarily in the 1930s and 1940s. Includes the original Letters Patent. Many of the records relate to lands in the Township of Pardee.
Records consist of interviews between Peter Fergus-Moore and various individuals, recorded as part of his work as a freelance journalist. Interviewees include:
Biljana Baker, artist (1 tape)
Confederation College film students, multiple interviews (1 tape)
Roy Coran, musician (1 tape)
Gloria Dowton, Magnus Theatre (1 tape)
GAMI, youth arts collective associated with Definitely Superior Art Gallery (1 tape)
Jorma Halonen, history of socialist bookstore in Port Arthur (2 tapes)
Dusty Miller, former mayor (1 tape): https://static.scholarsportal.info/lakehead-permafrost/8bf4/b130/4e56/458e/952f/b457/7bad/a0af/PeterFergusMoore-96a4f6b9-8db6-44c5-8634-8891c7211291/objects/3dbed0bc-42fb-47ec-b72a-4c43185f2014-Tape_5b_Dusty_Miller.mp3
Diane Potts, Magnus Theatre (1 tape)
Sleeping Giant Folk Society (1 tape)
Norman Sponchia, artist (1 tape)
Brad Stephenson, filmmaker (1 tape)
Charles Wilkins, author (1 tape)
Northwestern Ontario Prospectors’ Association Interviews:
Moe Lavigne, geologist (2 tapes)
Northwestern Ontario Prospectors’ Association Symposium (1 tape)
Ruth Petrunka, widow of prospector Dave Petrunka (2 tapes)
Stares brothers (3 tapes)
Mel Stewart, prospector (2 tapes)
Three PDF documents relating to Pentti (Ben) Järvenpää's (1925-2020) life and memorial service. Life story document written by Pirkko Shalden and approved by Järvenpää.
Margaret (Peggy) Tripp was a professor of Biology and of Women's Studies at Lakehead University. She was involved in the creation of the Women's Studies program, and taught until shortly before her death in 2008.
This small collection includes six photographs of Tripp with colleagues and students, two diplomas from the University of Colorado, and a Lakehead University presentation folder.
The correspondence, government employment program material, reports, and minutes for Paul McRae's years as Liberal MP for Fort William and then Thunder Bay-Atikokan. The records cover both national and local issues.
McRae was first elected in 1972, and served four terms in Parliament until 1984.
A prominent businessman who operated a timber firm as well as Gravel and Lake Services Ltd in Port Arthur. The collection consists of correspondence, ledgers, scrapbooks, pamphlets and photographs primarily related to the timber industry.
Records are arranged into the following series:
Camps
Correspondence
Ledgers
Scrapbooks
Photographs
Northwestern Ontario Regional Child Care Committee fonds
The Northwestern Ontario Regional Day Care Committee / Child Care Committee operated from the 1970s to the 1990s. The Committee was a grassroots organization made up of child care workers, administrators, parents, and others concerned with the provision of child care in the region. The Committee was engaged in advocacy work, as well as supporting the work of child care centres and professionals.
Records of the Committee include minutes, membership lists, newsletters, correspondence, and other records associated with the advocacy activities of the organisation. Includes correspondence with governments and partner organizations.
Northwestern Ontario Prospectors' Association fonds
Primarily copies of the Northwestern Ontario Prospectors' Association (NWOPA) newsletter, Bearsh't & Blueberries, 1997-2004. Also assorted issues of the Ontario Prospectors' Association (OPA) newsletter, The Explorationist, and a small quantity of other documents related to NWOPA and OPA.
Northwestern Ontario Development Association fonds
The records of Alexander Phillips, Manager of the Northwestern Ontario Development Association, relating to business and industrial development and policy throughout the region.
Correspondence, business documentation, staff resources, photographs, and Literacy Group documents, kept by Margaret Phillips of the Northern Woman's Bookstore, of Thunder Bay, Ontario. The store opened in 1984 and had locations on Bay St. and Court Street, before having to close its physical location in 2016.