Women’s Literary Club of St. Catharines Fonds

The Women's Literary Club of St. Catharines was founded in 1892 by a local author, Emma Harvey (Mrs. J.G.) Currie (1829-1913) and held its last official meeting on February 19, 1994. The Club developed, flourished and eventually waned. After more than one hundred successful years, the last members deposited the Club's archives at Brock University for the benefit of researchers, scholars and the larger community. The ‘object of the Club’ was established as “the promotion of literary pursuits.” The Club was a non-profit social organization composed of predominantly white, upper middle class women from the St. Catharines and surrounding areas. Club meetings were traditionally held fortnightly from March to December each year. The last meeting of the year was a celebration of their Club anniversary. The early meetings of the Club include papers presented and music performed by Club members. The literary pursuits that would dominate the agendas for the entire life of the Club reflected an interest in selected authors, national and local history, classical history, musical performances and current cultural and newsworthy events. For example in 1893 a typical meeting agendas would contain papers on Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Hawaii, Brook Farm, Miss Louisa May Alcott and “Education of Women 100 years Ago.” Within the first year of the Club’s existence, detailed minute books became the norm and an annual agenda or program developed. The WLC collection contains a near complete set of meeting minutes from 1892 until 1995 and a comprehensive collection of yearly programs from 1983-1967 which members took great care to publish each year. Mrs. Currie brought together a group of women with a shared interest in literature and history, who wanted to pursue that interest in a formal and structured manner. She was well educated and influenced at an early age by her tutor and mentor William Kirby, local historian, writer and newspaper editor from Niagara-on-the-Lake. While Currie’s private education influenced her love of literature and history, the Club movement of the 1890’s offered a more public forum for her to share knowledge and learning with other women. Mrs. Currie was the wife of St. Catharines lawyer, James G. Currie, who also served as a Member of Parliament for the county of Lincoln. Mrs. W.H. McClive, who was also married to a St. Catharines lawyer, worked closely with Currie and they began research into the possibility of a literary Club in St. Catharines. Currie corresponded with a variety of literary Clubs across North America before she and Mrs.McClive tagged onto the momentum of the Club movement and published “A Clarion call for Women of St. Catharines To Form a Literary Club” in the local paper The St. Catharines Evening Journal. in 1892 and asked like Clubs to publish the news of their new Club. The early years of the WLC set the foundation of how the Club meetings and events would unfold for the next 80 plus years. Photos and minutes from the first ten years reveal an excitement and interest in organized Club outings. One particular event, an annual pilgrimage to the homestead of Laura Secord, became a yearly celebration for the Club. Club President, Mrs. Currie’s own personal work on Laura Secord amplified the Club’s interest in the ‘heroine of 1812’ and she allocated the profits from her publication on Secord in order to create a commemorative plaque/monument in the name of Laura Secord. The Club celebrated this event with a regular pilgrimage to this site. The connection felt by Club members and this memorial would continue until the Club’s last meetings. The majority of members in the early years were of the upper middle classes in the growing city of St. Catharines. Many of the charter members were the wives of merchants, business men, lawyers, doctors, even a hatter. Furthermore, the position of president was most often held by a woman with a comprehensive list of interests. This is particularly the case in Isabel Brighty McComb (1876-1941). Brighty who became a member in 1903, became Club president in 1932 and stayed in her post until her death in 1941. Similar to Mrs. Currie, Brighty was a local historian and published 2 booklets on local history. Her obituary indicates her position in the community as an author and involved community member committed to lifetime memberships in the Imperial Order of Daughters of Empire, I.O.D.E., the National Organization of Women, N.O.W. and the United Empire Loyalist Society, as well as the WLC. She was a locally known ‘teacher of elocution’ and a devoted researcher of Upper Canadian history. In a Club scrapbook dedicated to her, the biographical sketch illustrates the professionalism surrounding Brighty. There is very little personal history mentioned and the focus is on her literary works, her published essay, booklets and poetry. This professional focus, evident in both her obituary and the scrapbook, illustrate the diversity of these women, especially in their roles outside of the home. The WLC collection contains a vast array of essay, lectures clippings and scrapbooks from past meetings. Organized predominantly by topic or author, the folders and scrapbooks offer a substantial amount of research opportunity in the literary history of Canada. The dates, scope of topics and authors covered offer historians an exciting opportunity to examine the consumption of particular literary trends, artists and topics within the context of a midsized industrial city in English Canada. This is especially important because the agenda adhered to by the Club was bent on promoting, discussing and reviewing predominantly Canadian material. By connecting when and what these women were studying, scholars many gain a better understanding of the broader consumption and appreciation of literary and social trends of Canadian women outside of publishing and institutional records. Furthermore, because the agendas were set by and for these women, outside of the constructs of an institutionalized canon or agenda, they offer a fresh and on the ground examination of literary consumption over an extensive length of time.

Laura Secord: a study in Canadian patriotism : being an address delivered before the Canadian Club, of Winnipeg, May 1st, 1907 /

Cover title.

Rotary Club of St. Catharines fonds, 1973-1985, n.d.

The first Rotary Club was created in February 1905, by Chicago lawyer Paul P. Harris. Harris envisioned a club which would bring members of the business community closer together. As his vision grew more members were acquired. In order to accommodate everyone, meetings were held at each of the member’s place of business; hence the name Rotary Club was adopted. A wagon wheel was chosen as an appropriate symbol to denote the club; which today has become the cogwheel. By the close of its first year the club had thirty members. Slowly Rotary Clubs began emerging across the country and by 1910 they had become International by moving North to Canada. By 1921 Rotary representation was present in every Continent and in 1922 the name Rotary International had been approved. The Rotary Club of St. Catharines came into existence on May 19, 1921 under the Charter President Canon Bill Broughall. The Club’s beginnings were humble with only twenty-five members; however, by their seventy-fifth anniversary the club had grown to one hundred and forty-four. The Rotary Club of St. Catharines is a non-profit charity, prescribing to the motto Service above Self. This motto is demonstrated through the Clubs numerous contributions to society both locally and internationally. The Club raises funds, supports exchange programs, and participates in community service work. Some of the organizations which have benefited from the Clubs donations; include, Easter Seals, the Niagara Peninsula Children’s Centre, and the Youth Exchange Program.

Collection of Canadian periodical clippings and Peninsular Game Club of St. Catharines broadside, 1874, [1910-1950]

Items include: 13 small poems clipped from newspapers. None of the poems list authors. Most of the poems are based on life lessons. Clippings of short stories which appear to have come from a St. Catharines newspaper. The stories include anecdotes, humour and medical advice. There is no author listed on any of the stories. 2 coloured sewing machine advertisements each measuring 9 cm. x 13 cm. and 9 cm. x 14 cm. 1 broadside measuring 27 cm. x 37 cm. and posted by the Peninsular Game Club of St. Catharines. The broadside is a copy of the game laws of 1874 with a warning that breach of these laws will bring rigorous prosecution.

Royal Military College Club of Canada - Memorial Service, 1942

A memorial service programme dated June 20th, 1942. The service to be held in Kingston Ontario and conducted by Honourary Lt. Col. W.C. Kidd, M.C. District Chaplain. On the last page is the Latin phrase "Pro Deo et Patria" (For God and Country) and a list of names lost during military service.

Image of Niagara Falls n.d.

In 1818 Parkhurst Whitney built stairs leading to the river’s edge at Prospect Point. In 1825 Porter Brother replaced that staircase with a spiral one. In 1844 Whitney started a water powered incline railway there although the staircase was also used until 1890. In 1906 the water wheel was replaced by an electric power plant. There were lower buildings which included Shadow of the Rock which was a concession stand and also rented raincoats to the tourists. This was destroyed by fire and ice in 1892 and replaced by a chalet-style building in 1894-95. On July 6th, 1907 a cable on the incline railway broke. One person was killed and several sustained injuries. An elevator was constructed and it opened in January of 1910. It was condemned in 1954 when water entered the shaft, this was at the time of the collapse of Prospect Point which occurred at 4:50 pm. on July 28, 1954. This photograph was taken prior to 1954. Today the New York State Observation Tower stands at Prospect Point and The Maid of the Mist boat ride is available from the base of the tower. with information from: Niagara Falls Canada: a History by the Kiwanis Club of Stamford, Ontario

Canadian Federation of University Women--St. Catharines fonds, 1921-2013

The University Women’s Club of St. Catharines was founded in 1921, two years after the formation of its national affiliate, the Canadian Federation of University Women. Membership was limited to women with university degrees. In early 2000 the constitution was expanded to include professions that now require university or college degrees. Associate members (non-voting) and student members were also accepted in 2007 by our local club. The purposes of the club are to assist in maintaining high standards of education in Canada, to stimulate members’ interest and participation in public affairs, to provide an opportunity for collective action, and to facilitate intellectual and social pursuits among members. The club takes an active interest in the status of women, provides scholarships at the university and high school levels, encourages reading in the formative years, makes charitable donations to support women and children’s services. In 1988 our club changed its name to Canadian Federation of University Women – St. Catharines at the direction of the National Office of CFUW.

Canadian Shredded Wheat Company Fonds

In 1893 Attorney Henry Drushel Perky and William H. Ford invented a machine for the preparation of cereals for food. Perky soon realized that the actual cereal biscuits were more popular than the machines and he opened Shredded Wheat plants in Massachusetts and Niagara Falls, New York. In 1904, the Niagara Falls, Canada plant was opened. These factories also served as tourist attractions. In 1907, one hundred thousand people visited the plants on both sides of the border. In 1928, the company was sold to The National Biscuit Company and the product name changed to Nabisco Shredded Wheat. The name of the plant was changed to Nabisco Foods in 1956 to reflect the variety of foods that were being produced at that time. In 1985, Nabisco was purchased by J.R. Reynolds thus forming RJR Nabisco. In 1994, RJR sold its breakfast cereal business to Kraft Foods and the international licenses to General Mills. Shredded Wheat is now integrated into the Post Foods portfolio. with information from: Niagara Falls Canada a History by The Kiwanis Club of Stamford, Ontario Inc. and Business Source Complete