Fonds consists of two sous-fonds: M521 and V75.
M521 consists of four series, 154 cm, ca.1870-2002. Series I: Dorothy Wardle Personal Papers, 69.5 cm, ca.1870-2002 (includes Dorothy's written work and research and notes related to Banff). Series II: Wardle Family, 32.5 cm, 1872-1998 (including cor…
154 cm of textual records. -- 1304 photographs (1190 prints, 95 negatives, 19 transparencies). -- 6 photograph albums.
History / Biographical
The Wardle family was comprised of husband and wife, James Morey Wardle (June 26,1888 - May 18,1971) and Maud Leette (Roney) Wardle (May 24,1889 - December 1,1969), and their one child, Dorothy Hope Wardle (May 23,1919 - July 20,2003).
James Wardle, born in Chiliwack, British Columbia, was a civil engineer and public servant. He was the Superintendent of Banff National Park from 1918-1921, Chief Engineer for Parks Canada from 1921-1935, and Deputy Minister of the Interior from 1935-1936. He is primarily known as a highway design engineer, particularly for building the Banff-Windermere, Banff-Lake Louise, and Banff-Jasper highways. He was a councillor for the Municipality of Rockcliffe Park in Ontario and he was the President of the Trail Riders of the Canadian Rockies in Banff from 1925-1929. Mount Wardle in Vermillion was named after him in 1921. James married Leette on November 4, 1913, with whom he had one child, Dorothy.
Born in Calgary, Alberta, Dorothy (also known as Dot and Dorie) grew up in Banff, Alberta and Ottawa, Ontario, due to her father's position with the federal government. She was educated at the Mountain School in Banff and at the Elmwood School in Ottawa. All three family members were graduates of Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. James graduated in 1912 with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering, Leette graduated with a Bachelor's degree, and in 1942, Dorothy also earned a Bachelor's degree. Dorothy was prominent in student life and active in athletics. In 1941, Dorothy became the first woman elected as President of the Alma Mater Society and during her academic career, Dorothy was a member of the Levana Intercollegiate Debative, University Centenary Committee, and Queen’s War Aid Commission.
Dorothy spent her career as a freelance writer however, upon graduation she served as the first Secretary-In-Charge of Records at Carleton College (now Carleton University) from 1942-1944 in Ottawa and in the mid-1950s worked as a secretary for the Glenbow Foundation in Calgary. Dorothy pursued a lifelong interest in traveling, art, and antiques. Although she was fiercely proud and protective of Banff and the Park, and remained a volunteer and patron of the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, Dorothy eventually settled in Sidney, British Columbia and shared an apartment with Sheila Iris Ritchie, with whom Dorothy travelled extensively. After her death in 2003, Dorothy, "Dorie," was laid to rest alongside her parents in the Old Banff Cemetery.
Scope & Content
Fonds consists of two sous-fonds: M521 and V75.
M521 consists of four series, 154 cm, ca.1870-2002. Series I: Dorothy Wardle Personal Papers, 69.5 cm, ca.1870-2002 (includes Dorothy's written work and research and notes related to Banff). Series II: Wardle Family, 32.5 cm, 1872-1998 (including correspondence with Carl Rungius and Mrs. Helen Brett, and Christmas and other greeting cards from Peter and Catharine Whyte). Series III: Queen's University, 7.5 cm, 1911-1980 (including graduation certificates for each family member and records pertaining to Dorothy's participation on the Alma Mater Society). Series IV: Travel, 44.5 cm, ca.1950-1988 (includes hand-written notebooks meticulously detailing their travels).
V75 consists of two series, 79.5 cm, ca. 1912-2001. Series I: Wardle Family, ca. 1912-1971, 6 albums, 31 cm of photograph prints and negatives (including family trips, trail rides in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, and family gatherings). Series II: Dorothy Wardle, 1972-2001, 34 cm of photograph prints, negatives, and transparencies (including Dorothy's travels in Alberta and British Columbia, overseas, and various outings with friends).
File pertains to 68 hand-written letters written by Catharine Robb Whyte to her mother, Edith Morse Robb from April 12 to October 19, 1936. Topics include returning from a trip out east by train, going to Skoki for a few days in April [including updates on the new camp buildings and access road], w…
Date Range
1936
Reference Code
M36 / I / A / 2b / i / 100
Description Level
5 / File
GMD
Postcard
Private record
Inn, a
modern hotel in a charming location on the beach at
Kailua Bay, where lhe night is spent.
OF RE
2.8 cm of textual records (117 pages ; 21.4 x 27.5 cm or smaller)
History / Biographical
See fonds level description.
Scope & Content
File pertains to 68 hand-written letters written by Catharine Robb Whyte to her mother, Edith Morse Robb from April 12 to October 19, 1936. Topics include returning from a trip out east by train, going to Skoki for a few days in April [including updates on the new camp buildings and access road], weather, skiing and ski conditions, film-making, visits from friends and visitors, matters pertaining to the house [opening and closing it as they come and go from various trips], errand trips to Calgary, watching hockey games, going to the movies, leaving for Hawaii via Vancouver in early May [sailing on the Empress of Canada], books Catharine and Edith are reading, arriving in Hawaii and eventually getting settled at the Grand Hotel in Wailuku, Maui, visiting with friends, descriptions of meals, photography and cameras, relocating to the Moana Hotel in Honolulu in mid-May, sightseening and day trips around the islands, sketching, descriptions of other ships coming and going from the harbour, details of the trip back to Banff in mid-June, radio programs [mostly news and operas], cleaning and household chores, events and people in Concord, camping trips, maintenance and upkeep of the house and property, painting/sketching, various holidays [both Canadian and American], the Calgary Stampede, Banff Indian days, the annual Skyline Trail Hikers trip [based out of Lake O'Hara] in early August, matters pertaining to the store, Edith purchasing a painting of two moose from Carl Rungius, developing photographs, a two-week trip to Lake O'Hara in late August/early September to paint and hike [also includes details of other people there, day to day activies, and the subjects painted/sketched], day trips around the national park to take photographs and hike [mostly in the Lake Louise, Moraine Lake, and Bow Lake areas], and preparing for a trip out to Concord at the end of October.
Notes
Please note: language pertaining to Indigenous Peoples used throughout is outdated and may be offensive.
Some letters are written on hotel/lodge letterhead.
Some letters are marked with a small x in pencil, indicating where Jon Whyte made notes for use in his project "Catharine Robb Whyte, Peter Whyte: Commemorative Portfolio," originally published in 1981.
The first 10 or so letters have been numbered in pencil in the upper margin of the page as part of an unknown project.
File pertains to 35 letters written by Catharine Robb Whyte to her mother, Edith Morse Robb from November 15, 1950 to February 19, 1951. Topics include driving down through Idaho, Washington and Oregon to catch a boat from Los Angeles to Hawaii, time spent in San Francisco visiting with Belmore Bro…
2 cm of textual records (132 pages ; 21.4 x 27.5 cm or smaller)
History / Biographical
See fonds level description.
Scope & Content
File pertains to 35 letters written by Catharine Robb Whyte to her mother, Edith Morse Robb from November 15, 1950 to February 19, 1951. Topics include driving down through Idaho, Washington and Oregon to catch a boat from Los Angeles to Hawaii, time spent in San Francisco visiting with Belmore Browne, happenings on the ship [the SS President Wilson of American President Lines], arriving and first staying in Waikiki, moving to Waimanalo, visiting with friends, weather, Christmas cards, holiday activities, tropical food and flowers, radio programs, travelling around to different parts of Oahu, travel back to San Francisco by ship [the SS President Wilson again], driving from San Francisco to Golden, and boarding the train in Golden to Banff [the Jeep was shipped via train as well]. Also includes brochures for Hawaii hotels and a map of the island of Oahu, Hawaii.
Notes
Please note: language pertaining to Indigenous Peoples used throughout is outdated and may be offensive.
Letters are hand-written. Some letters are written on letterhead from ships or hotels. Some letters contain small sketches of hotel/motel layouts, road layouts, and room/ship cabin details.
Some letters are marked with a small x in pencil, indicating where Jon Whyte made notes for use in his project "Catharine Robb Whyte, Peter Whyte: Commemorative Portfolio," originally published in 1981.
Brochures and map are not clearly attached to specific letters so are counted as their own entries.
Many letters are written on very thin paper [possibly tracing paper].
128 / 25 is mis-numbered, missed numbering page 5.
File consists of 109 black and white and colour photograph prints, 23.5 x 17 cm or smaller. File documents various unidentified family members and friends, travels and outings, special events (e.g. weddings, graduations), holidays (e.g. Easter), official portraits (including a National Film Board o…
109 photographs : b&w and col. ; 23.5 x 17 cm or smaller
Scope & Content
File consists of 109 black and white and colour photograph prints, 23.5 x 17 cm or smaller. File documents various unidentified family members and friends, travels and outings, special events (e.g. weddings, graduations), holidays (e.g. Easter), official portraits (including a National Film Board of Canada portrait of James Wardle), and sports and leisure (e.g. canoeing, golf). File also includes photographs of Carl Rungius (on his birthday in 1954), Betty Ormond in Peru (with a message addressed to "Dorrie" written on the back of the print), graduation photograph of James Wardle from Queen's (c.1912), and travel photographs from the United States in 1948 (New York, Washington, Philadelphia, and Atlantic City) and Amsterdam, Netherlands (1952). Notable places the photographs depict include Banff (including Banff Train Station), the Great Divide, St. Lawrence River (the Wardle family had a cottage here), Sunshine trail, Mt. Athabasca, Columbia Icefields, Lake O'Hara, Montreal, Lake Louise, Moraine Lake, Paris (France), Ghost River, Ottawa, Peru, Lake Minnewanka, Elk Island, and Maligne Lake.
Notes
Most (but not all) photographs are annotated on the back identifying who is in the photograph, when it was taken, and where.
File consists of 82 colour photograph negatives, 35 mm. File pertains to miscellaneous events/outings, friends, and objects related to Dorothy Wardle. File documents the animal paintings from the Mount Royal Hotel (Banff); gravestones at the Old Banff Cemetery (1993-1999); miscellaneous photographs…
File consists of 82 colour photograph negatives, 35 mm. File pertains to miscellaneous events/outings, friends, and objects related to Dorothy Wardle. File documents the animal paintings from the Mount Royal Hotel (Banff); gravestones at the Old Banff Cemetery (1993-1999); miscellaneous photographs in and around Banff, including the cabins on the grounds of the Whyte Museum (1993-1999); Savary Island with Joy (1996); the waterfront at Sidney, British Columbia (1997); Yellow Point Lodge with Anne Hudson (August 3-6, 1997); Anne Hudson's home and property (August 12, 2001); and miscellaneous images of artwork by Carl Rungius.
Notes
Images of Carl Rungius' artwork were originally filed with M521 / I / B / 27
File consists of 254 colour photographs, 15.5 x 10 cm. File pertains to Dorothy's various travels and outings across Alberta and British Columbia primarily in the mid-1990s. File documents her travels to Lake O'Hara, Okanagan, Kootenay Lake, Marble Canyon, Canmore, Lake Louise, Banff National Park,…
File consists of 254 colour photographs, 15.5 x 10 cm. File pertains to Dorothy's various travels and outings across Alberta and British Columbia primarily in the mid-1990s. File documents her travels to Lake O'Hara, Okanagan, Kootenay Lake, Marble Canyon, Canmore, Lake Louise, Banff National Park, Emerald Lake, Moraine Lake, Savary Island, Resthaven Beach, Spruce Meadows, Pender Island, Salt Spring, Saturna Island, Sidney Spit, Ucluelet and Broken Islands, Powell River and Sunshine Coast, Yoho National Park, Jasper National Park, Yellow Point Lodge, and Butchart Gardens. Photographs document beach and mountain scenery and activities (shell and rock picking, hiking), outdoor picnics and dinners, traveling on boats, gardens and wildlife (elk, goats, birds), and posed photographs (although most are scenery and landmarks).
Notes
Most photographs are annotated on the back identifying who is in the image, where it was taken, and when.