Fonds consists of research materials, publications, ephemera, and other materials collected by Jon Whelan. Fonds includes three Canadian Pacific bell boy log books, 1970-1980; five bound scrapbooks with collected newspaper clippings, ca.1880-1890; and collected advertisements and articles pertainin…
Jon Whelan (1952-2022) was a researcher, historian, and collector based in Banff, Alberta. Jon had a special interest in topics related to Banff National Park and Canadian Pacific Railway Company. Jon conducted independent research, as well as research for various authors and historians, from the 1980s onwards. Jon was also an active participant in municipal politics in Banff.
"For most of Jon’s life, he was engaged in community affairs and fearless in voicing an opinion. He was successful in raising public awareness and his tenacity achieved a personal goal, which was to initiate the use of video for regular Town of Banff council meetings. He dedicated himself to the concerns of Banff residents."
-Barry Kelly, Rocky Mountain Outlook, July 30, 2022
Scope & Content
Fonds consists of research materials, publications, ephemera, and other materials collected by Jon Whelan. Fonds includes three Canadian Pacific bell boy log books, 1970-1980; five bound scrapbooks with collected newspaper clippings, ca.1880-1890; and collected advertisements and articles pertaining to Canadian Pacific, Banff, travel and tourism within Canada, and related subjects.
Fonds consists of three sous-fonds: M573 / V797 / S60.
M573 consists of three series, 26 cm of textual records, 1924-2005. Series I: Personal Papers, 19 cm, ca.1930-2005 (including notebooks and drafts of various talks that Jean delivered and records related to her participation in the Trail Rider…
26 cm of textual records.-- 109 photographs (42 prints, 67 lantern slides). -- 2 sound recordings.
History / Biographical
Jean Alexandra Hembroff was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba on April 5, 1908 to Walter B. Hembroff (d. 1945) and Sarah Jane Hembroff (d.1952). Jean was accepted to the MacPhail School of Music and Dramatic Art at the University of Minnesota, from which she graduated in 1927. She returned to Winnipeg to begin teaching courses in speech arts and drama. To establish herself, she first volunteered as the "story lady" at the Williams Avenue Public Library and quickly became known as an excellent speaker sought by many different organizations. She taught at St. Mary's Academy and the Evening Institute at the University of Manitoba, as well as offered private sessions. Many of her students used the skills they learned from Jean as they entered radio, television, politics, and business. Jean was also very active in organizing and adjucating Speech Arts festivals in Manitoba, often going to inaccessible places to give workshops. Her teaching, broadcasting, adjucating, coaching, and speaking career spanned more than 50 years.
Jean was hired by the Canadian Pacific Railway's promotions manager to give presentations and broadcast interviews across Canada and the United States. In 1937, Jean joined the Trail Riders of the Canadian Rockies and participated in their summer trail ride in the same year. For that year's issue of the Trail Rider's Bulletin Jean wrote an article - and became the first woman to ever do so. In 1938, during her lecture titled "Trail Riding in the Rockies" on January 18, 1938 at the Royal Alexandra Hotel, Jean met John David (Jack) MacDonald. Jack and Jean were married on June 18, 1938, and the couple had one son, Bruce Walter James MacDonald (August 28, 1946-August 25, 2016).
Jean participated in several trail rides with the Trail Riders of the Canadian Rockies and the Sky Line Trail, and produced articles reflecting her experiences. Jean loved to travel and visited places all around Canada and the United States, Borneo, Tangier, Montevideo, Stockholm, New Delhi, and Tonga. At the age of 102, Jean passed away on February 2, 2011 and is buried in Winnipeg.
Scope & Content
Fonds consists of three sous-fonds: M573 / V797 / S60.
M573 consists of three series, 26 cm of textual records, 1924-2005. Series I: Personal Papers, 19 cm, ca.1930-2005 (including notebooks and drafts of various talks that Jean delivered and records related to her participation in the Trail Riders of the Canadian Rockies and the Sky Line Hikers of the Canadian Rockies, particularly 1937-1939). Series II: Correspondence and Newspaper Clippings, 4 cm, 1924-2000 (including correspondence with John Murray Gibbon, former students, and attendees at various talks, as well as newspaper articles that Jean wrote about various subjects and articles of her achievements). Series III: Collected Materials and Ephemera, 3 cm, ca.1930-1950 (including a variety of collected poems and ephemera, as well as a copy of The Beaver Magazine from 1940, for which Jean wrote an article titled "On the Trail of Sir George").
V797 consists of two series, 24.5 cm of visual records, ca.1928-1939. Series I: Photograph Prints, 3 cm, ca.1928-1939 (includes personal photographs of Jean and her family and friends as well as photographs of Jean and Jack's visit to Lake Louise in 1939). Series II: Lantern Slides, 21.5 cm, ca.1937-1939 (Trail Riders of the Canadian Rockies official ride of 1937 to Mt. Assiniboine; Sky Line Hikers of the Canadian Rockies official ride of 1939 to Ptarmigan Valley and Skoki; collection of trail ride songs).
S60 consists of two sound recordings, 1 cm, 2004 and 2007 (Winnipeg at Christmas, narrated by Jean, broadcasted on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation).
Fonds consists of views made along the railway and vicinity by professional photographers. Consists of views by Cornelius J. Soule (6 items); O. B. Buell (1 item); and attributed to Boorne and May (4 items). Includes views of Cascade Mountain; Devil's Lake (Lake Minnewanka); Banff hot springs; Cas…
Mr. and Mrs. Newton, of Grand Manon Island, New Brunswick, made a honeymoon trip across Canada on the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1887
Scope & Content
Fonds consists of views made along the railway and vicinity by professional photographers. Consists of views by Cornelius J. Soule (6 items); O. B. Buell (1 item); and attributed to Boorne and May (4 items). Includes views of Cascade Mountain; Devil's Lake (Lake Minnewanka); Banff hot springs; Castle Mountain and Silver City; Kicking Horse canyon and river; Golden, B.C.; Columbia River; and CPR mainline
Collection contains credited and uncredited professional photographs, mainly along the line of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) in western Canada. Includes unidentified photographs and individual photographs which cannot be placed in other fonds or collections. Eighteen albumen prints are uncred…
Collection was assembled by the Archives & Library, Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies
Date Range
[ca.1885-ca.1925]
Physical Description
ca.60 photographs : prints. -- 1 photograph album (67 prints)
Scope & Content
Collection contains credited and uncredited professional photographs, mainly along the line of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) in western Canada. Includes unidentified photographs and individual photographs which cannot be placed in other fonds or collections.
Eighteen albumen prints are uncredited views along the Canadian Pacific Railway between Glacier, B.C. and Canmore, Alberta, ca.1895. Also includes views by Bailey Bros., H. O. Dodge, Alexander Henderson, T. J. Hileman, B. W. Kilburn, Neelands Bros., W. J. Oliver, Henry Greenwood Peabody, Prest Photo Company (William Archie Prest), and others.
Nineteen prints, received as contents of 5 album pages, are travel views between Banff, the Pacific Coast and Washington, U.S.A. Includes views of Lake Minnewanka, Banff Springs Hotel and Glacier, B.C. Views are by Wm. Notman & Son, Boorne & May and other unidentified professional photographers. Also includes snapshot views.
Album is presentation album of professional views taken along the Canadian Pacific Railway between Victoria, B.C. and Banff, Alberta, September to October 1889, by an unknown photographer. Includes views of Banff and area, Field and Glacier areas, Fraser Canyon, Vancouver and Victoria. Album was possibly produced by of for the CPR. Views are similar to those produced by other professional photographers working along the railway. Images in album are accompanied by hand-written captions and exact dates.
Finding aids and reference tools: basic description
selected modern reference prints
reference computer access: Images database
on-line access: Alberta InSight database
Related Material
Other photographs by railway photographers may be found in fonds and collections under individual names. See: Boorne and May, Macmunn, Notman, Smyth, Thom, Thompson, Trueman, and others.
Pertains to the activities of the Canadian Pacific Railway as per Melton Prior who travelled from Montreal to Vancouver on the train and provided a review of the journey which includes sketches of Sir Donald, Great Glacier, Glacier Hotel, Hermit Range, Mount Carroll, Stony Creek Bridge and the interior of a colonial sleeping car.
Notes
In The Illustrated London News, Vol. XCIII, No. 2591, Saturday December 15, 1888, pp. 720 - 722
Pertains to the activities of the Canadian Pacific Railway in Banff and Mount Stephen including railway access and hotels, hotsprings, sanitarium with associated sketches.
Notes
In The Illustrated London News, Vol. XCIII, No. 2588, Saturday, November 24, 1888, pp. 613 - 614
Pertains to the Selkirk Mountains, Illecillewaete Glacier, Glacier Creek, Sir Donald, the hotel and Canadian Pacific Railway access to the area as of 1889.
Notes
In Harper's Weekly, Vol. XXXIII No. 1702, August 3, 1889, pp. 616 - 618
Pertains to westbound travel through the Canadian Rocky Mountains on the Canadian Pacific Railway including maps and distances from stop to stop along the route with accompanying photographs
File consists of 95 negative photographs (colour, b&w) and 32 colour transparencies, most with labels/titles by Nicholas Morant. Content pertains to Canadian Pacific Railway hotel, Victoria BC. Includes interior, 1970, and exterior views, 1962(?), 1969-1970. Portion also pertains to Swiftsure Inter…
127 Photographs: negatives and transparencies, colour and b&w
Scope & Content
File consists of 95 negative photographs (colour, b&w) and 32 colour transparencies, most with labels/titles by Nicholas Morant. Content pertains to Canadian Pacific Railway hotel, Victoria BC. Includes interior, 1970, and exterior views, 1962(?), 1969-1970. Portion also pertains to Swiftsure International Yacht Race boats in Victoria inner harbour.
Notes
Negatives and transparencies have been stored in separate file boxes for preservation purposes. Contains duplicates of multiple images.
Related to files V500 / I / A7 / 15, 20
File consists of 20 negative photographs (b&w and colour) and 49 colour transparencies. Content pertains to Canadian Pacific Railway's Saskatchewan Hotel, Regina SK. Includes interior and exterior views.
69 Photographs: negatives and transparencies; b&w, colour
Scope & Content
File consists of 20 negative photographs (b&w and colour) and 49 colour transparencies. Content pertains to Canadian Pacific Railway's Saskatchewan Hotel, Regina SK. Includes interior and exterior views.
Notes
Contains duplicates. Negatives and transparencies stored in separate file boxes.