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Bert Riggall fonds
https://archives.whyte.org/en/permalink/descriptions587
- Part Of
- Bert Riggall fonds
- Scope & Content
- Fonds includes seven series: I. Personal and professional, 1884-1959; II. Business and financial, ca.1910-1959; III. Professional photography, 1900-1955; IV. Writing, 1906-1957; V. Natural history, 1904-1954; VI. Other interests, 1913-1956; VII. Riggall family, ca.1865-1959. Personal and pro…
- Date Range
- [ca.1865]-1959, predominant [ca.1890]-1959
- Reference Code
- M376 / V26
- Description Level
- 1 / Fonds
- GMD
- Photograph
- Album
- Negative
- Photograph print
- Transparency
- Textual record
- Diary
- Map
- Private record
- Published record
- Part Of
- Bert Riggall fonds
- Description Level
- 1 / Fonds
- Fonds Number
- M 376
- V 26
- Sous-Fonds
- M 376
- V 26
- Accession Number
- 5777, 7200, 7201, 7772 (unproc)
- Reference Code
- M376 / V26
- GMD
- Photograph
- Album
- Negative
- Photograph print
- Transparency
- Textual record
- Diary
- Map
- Private record
- Published record
- Date Range
- [ca.1865]-1959, predominant [ca.1890]-1959
- Physical Description
- ca.13,100 photographs: ca.7080 prints, ca.5310 negatives, ca.700 transparencies. -- 9 photograph albums. -- ca.2 m textual records, print material and graphic records. -- 33 cartographic records
- History / Biographical
- Frederick Herbert (Bert) Riggall, 1884-1959, was a mountain guide, outfitter, hunter, trapper, rancher, naturalist, photographer, writer and gunsmith/loader in southern Alberta. Born in 1884 at Gayton-le-Wold Grange, Lincolnshire, his family moved to Grimsby where his father was an auctioneer and, in 1905, served as Mayor. In England, Riggall was an athlete, avid sportsman and naturalist. He was exposed to alpine country on school holidays in Switzerland and, determined to visit Canada, left for North America in 1904.
- Upon arriving in western Canada, Riggall worked for a year at Craighurst Farm near Calgary. There he met Dorothea (Dora) Williams, 1877-1951, an Irish Quaker ranch cook who had emigrated with her sister Anna in 1902. In 1905, Bert worked on the Correction Land Survey in southwestern Alberta and explored Waterton Lakes. Bert and Dora married in 1906 and until 1946 they homesteaded and ranched adjacent to Waterton Lakes National Park.
- Initially, Bert and partner Jack Hazzard built boats and guided fishing parties on Waterton Lakes. In 1909, with partner Cyril Watmough, the Riggalls began guiding and outfitting summer and fall hunting and fishing trips for numerous repeat clients, especially, after 1913, four Minneapolis, Minnesota families: Bovey, Crosby, Bennett and McKnight. Hunts involved Big Horn Sheep, goats, black and grizzly bears. Bert served as chief guide and Dora as camp cook. Prior to 1911, the Riggalls worked at Gloyne's oil camp and Oil City to supplement their income. In 1911, Bert and partner Cyril Watmough made a 1000 mile (1600 km) exploratory trip from Fort Steele, B.C. to the Yellowhead Pass and beyond. Following that trip, Riggall concentrated guiding activities on the continental divide as far north as the Highwood region, but primarily in the upper Oldman River Valley and Gap in the Livingstone Range. Their outfit grew to include numerous saddle and pack horses.
- Of five children, only two daughters survived infancy. Kay Riggall (Russell), 1909-1984, and Doris (Babe) Riggall (Burton), 1910-1999, were both able riders, markswomen and packtrain workers. They accompanied their parents on summer back country trips starting in 1918. Bert Riggall was renowned for his knowledge of botany, geology, zoology, wilderness life and lore as well as literature and current affairs. He was especially endeared to his clients for his skill as a raconteur and campfire storyteller. He wrote articles for magazines such as: Arms and the Man, American Rifleman, Field and Stream and the Boone and Crockett Club's book: North American Big Game. Riggall was an accomplished semi-professional photographer who specialized in wildlife studies, panoramic landscapes, Dufaycolor and later Kodachrome transparencies. His photographs appear in Department of Interior Reports and other publications.
- Bert's heart problems forced the Riggalls to move to Pincher Creek in 1947. Daughter Kay and son-in-law Andy Russell continued the packtrain and guiding business until 1960. After Dora's death, Bert experienced medical problems and lived with or close to Doris.
- Scope & Content
- Fonds includes seven series: I. Personal and professional, 1884-1959; II. Business and financial, ca.1910-1959; III. Professional photography, 1900-1955; IV. Writing, 1906-1957; V. Natural history, 1904-1954; VI. Other interests, 1913-1956; VII. Riggall family, ca.1865-1959.
- Personal and professional series consists of diaries and notes, correspondence and personal papers.
- Business and financial series consists of guiding and ranching records, gunsmithing, shooting and loading records; and legal and financial records.
- Professional photography series consists of standard photographs, panoramas, transparencies and textual records
- Writing series contains manuscripts, published magazines, book outlines, newspaper articles and letters to the editor
- Natural history series contains bird and plant records, and other natural history papers
- Other interests series consist of clippings, annotated books and collected material
- Riggall family series contains Bert and Dora Riggall family papers and photographs, Williams family photographs, Frederick W. and Fanny Riggall papers and photographs, and Allan Riggall papers and photographs. Negatives and transparencies pertain to Andy Russell as a young man with Bert Riggall.
- Notes
- Some transparencies in V110 Dick Russell are marked Andy Russell, some marked 64 dup; V110 - original transparencies have full set of duplicates (2 sets were made, 1 for Dick Russell and the other is part of this accession)
- Name Access
- Riggall, Bert
- Subject Access
- Arts
- Environment
- Exploration, discovery and travel
- Family and personal life
- Sports, recreation and leisure
- Access Restrictions
- Some restriction/s on access
- Copyright, privacy, commercial use and other restrictions may apply
- Language
- Language is English
- Finding Aid
- basic description for processed material
- Related Material
- Related to the Andy Russell fonds (M153/S43/V555) and the Kay Russell family fonds (M63/V63)
- Creator
- Riggall, Bert
- Category
- Arts
- Environment
- Exploration, discovery and travel
- Family and personal life
- Sports, recreation and leisure
- Title Source
- Title based on accession record and contents of fonds
- Processing Status
- Processed / Unprocessed
This material is presented as originally created; it may contain outdated cultural descriptions and
potentially offensive content.
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Tom Wilson family fonds
https://archives.whyte.org/en/permalink/descriptions38
- Part Of
- Tom Wilson family fonds
- Scope & Content
- Fonds includes textual records and photographs generated and collected by the Wilson family and pertaining to Tom Wilson, son Ed Wilson, daughter Ada Wilson and other family members. Textual records include: Ed Wilson's scrapbook, 1881-1968, which includes mainly items pertaining to Tom Wilson, Ed …
- Date Range
- 1861-1982
- Reference Code
- M10 / V701
- Description Level
- 1 / Fonds
- GMD
- Photograph
- Negative
- Photograph print
- Textual record
- Diary
- Private record
- Published record
- Scrapbook
- Part Of
- Tom Wilson family fonds
- Description Level
- 1 / Fonds
- Fonds Number
- M 10
- V 701
- Sous-Fonds
- M 10
- V 701
- Accession Number
- 551, 981, 1234, 1578, 1634, 2097, 3039, 7750 (unproc)
- Reference Code
- M10 / V701
- GMD
- Photograph
- Negative
- Photograph print
- Textual record
- Diary
- Private record
- Published record
- Scrapbook
- Date Range
- 1861-1982
- Physical Description
- 2 v. and 2 cm of textual records. -- ca.400 photographs : prints, copy negatives. -- 1 cm of print material
- History / Biographical
- The Wilson family were guides, outfitters and ranchers at Morley, Kootenay Plains, Banff and Nordegg, Alberta, Canada. Thomas Edmonds (Tom) Wilson, 1859- 1933, and Minnie McDougall Wilson, 1865-1936, had six children, including sons John Clark Wilson, 1888-1932, and Thomas Edmonds (Ed) Wilson, 1892-1973. Daughters were Ada, 1886-1967?, Rene, Bessie and Dora. Tom Wilson is credited with the discovery of Lake Louise in July of 1882, while working as a packer on the Canadian Pacific Railway survey through the mountains. In 1883, Wilson established his own business at Banff, Lake Louise and Field, British Columbia. After selling the business in 1904, Tom Wilson operated a horse ranch at Kootenay Plains. He later retired to Banff. Ed Wilson was born at Morley and raised in Banff. Around 1910 he began working for Brewster Trading Company at Banff and, later, Lake Louise. Just before the First World War, he moved to Nordegg, where he worked for the Bighorn Trading Company for many years.
- Scope & Content
- Fonds includes textual records and photographs generated and collected by the Wilson family and pertaining to Tom Wilson, son Ed Wilson, daughter Ada Wilson and other family members.
- Textual records include: Ed Wilson's scrapbook, 1881-1968, which includes mainly items pertaining to Tom Wilson, Ed Wilson, the Wilson family, and early guiding and exploration in the Canadian Rockies (photocopy in two volumes); miscellaneous papers, 1905-1929, including a holograph speech by D. D. Galletly on the cave at Banff; letter and note re sale of horses to Frank Wellman, 1920; letters to Catharine Whyte from Ada Wilson re personal matters and Wilson family history, 1964-1965; transcripts of manuscripts by Tom Wilson and B. M. (Bess) Wilson re the CPR and tourism and 1916 pack trip Lake Louise to Kootenay Plains; letters of Col. Robert O'Hara to Tom Wilson, 1895- 1914, re Mount Assiniboine and Lake O'Hara; letter by Catharine Robb Whyte to Tom Link, 1965, re Lake O'Hara history based partly upon above material; diary, Trip to ranch by B. M. Wilson; essay, The last of the pathfinders by Dorie (Wilson) Legit; programmes, articles, clippings re Tom Wilson, 1924-1982; Eliza Edmonds certificate, 1845, and later clipping.
- Photographs pertain to outfitting and guiding activities of Tom, John and Ed Wilson, including clients, associates and trips throughout the Rocky Mountains; Wilson family, friends and associates; Stoney Indians; Kootenay Plains; Banff people and events; Banff townsite and surrounding area; Canadian Pacific Railway; Nordegg area; 1861-1930. Includes photograph of Tom Wilson at Lake Louise inscribed to A. O. Wheeler, 1932. Many of the early photographs were taken by clients of Tom Wilson. Later, after settling at Kootenay Plains, Wilson was apparently given a camera by Mary Vaux and likely took many of the Stoney Indians views. Ed Wilson was an amateur photographer and likely took most of the views of staff at Lake Louise and of Nordegg.
- Name Access
- Wilson, Ada
- Wilson, Ed
- Wilson, Tom
- Subject Access
- Exploration, discovery and travel
- Family and personal life
- First nations
- Sports, recreation and leisure
- Access Restrictions
- No restrictions on access
- Copyright, privacy, commercial use and other restrictions may apply
- Language
- Language is English
- Finding Aid
- Finding aids and reference tools: basic description
- modern reference prints
- Creator
- Wilson, Ed
- Wilson, Tom
- Category
- Exploration, discovery and travel
- Family and personal life
- First nations
- Sports, recreation and leisure
- Title Source
- Title based on contents of fonds
- Processing Status
- Processed / Unprocessed
This material is presented as originally created; it may contain outdated cultural descriptions and
potentially offensive content.
Read more.