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…
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Please note: language pertaining to Indigenous Peoples used throughout is outdated and may be offensive.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 68 letters written by Catharine Robb Whyte to her mother, Edith Morse Robb from February 3 to June 30, 1960. Topics include day to day life, Banff events, visits from friends, painting, wildlife, travel, camping, construction projects around the house (mostly pertaining to the new …
1.1 cm of textual records (87 pages ; 22.3 x 27.4 cm or smaller)
History / Biographical
See fonds level description.
Scope & Content
File pertains to 68 letters written by Catharine Robb Whyte to her mother, Edith Morse Robb from February 3 to June 30, 1960. Topics include day to day life, Banff events, visits from friends, painting, wildlife, travel, camping, construction projects around the house (mostly pertaining to the new addition), events and people in Concord, weather, and returning from a trip to Concord in June. Letters are mostly hand-written, some typed. Also includes postcards and a notecard.
Notes
Please note: language pertaining to Indigenous Peoples used throughout is outdated and may be offensive.
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.
146 - 20 has a small newspaper clipping attached to the letter.
Good : all pages creased throughout from being folded prior to accession, minor rips and tears along the edges of most pages.
146 - 20 : staple removed from insert, replaced with plastic paper clip.
Series consists of: one postcard inside a protective cover (H9 x W14.5 cm) one hand-written note (H14.5 x W15 cm) one 13-page hand-written memoir/family history by Oswald A. McGuinness (H28 x W21.5 cm) one envelope (H40 x W23 cm) Content includes: McGuinness family tree; history of the McGuinness f…
1 cm of textual records (16 pages ; 23 x 40 cm or smaller)
Scope & Content
Series consists of:
one postcard inside a protective cover (H9 x W14.5 cm)
one hand-written note (H14.5 x W15 cm)
one 13-page hand-written memoir/family history by Oswald A. McGuinness (H28 x W21.5 cm)
one envelope (H40 x W23 cm)
Content includes: McGuinness family tree; history of the McGuinness family and their time in Belleville, Ontario; Robert's role as inspecting engineer in the Banff Springs expansion; Robert's artwork on the CPR postcard depicting the spiral tunnels; and the envelope that was used to gift the above items to the Whyte Museum
Notes
Oswald A. McGuinness is the younger brother of Father Robert McGuinness. Oswald was a surveyor and helped build the road from Invermere to Calgary, and he lived in Invermere
The McGuinness family tree goes back to Oswald and Robert's great-grandparents, from Ireland to England and then to Ontario
In the hand-written note, which is undated and the author is unknown although it is possible that it was written by Flora McGuinness when she gave it to Mark Nightingale, an association between Robert and the building of the Bow River Bridge is made
Mark Nightingale also gifted 3 newspaper clippings located in M460 / I / B / 3-5
M460 / II / 1 : created by the Canadian Pacific Railway
File pertains to 116 b&w photographs of O. Kathleen Wilson, her friends and coworkers at the Chateau Lake Louise, celebrities and royalty, hiking, climbing, prisoners of war, and scenery around the Lake Louise and Glacier B.C. areas, including tea houses, hotels, trains, and alpine huts.
O. Kathleen Wilson was employed at the Chateau Lake Louise at Lake Louise, Alberta in the 1920s.
Scope & Content
File pertains to 116 b&w photographs of O. Kathleen Wilson, her friends and coworkers at the Chateau Lake Louise, celebrities and royalty, hiking, climbing, prisoners of war, and scenery around the Lake Louise and Glacier B.C. areas, including tea houses, hotels, trains, and alpine huts.
Item pertains to a post card photo album containing photographic portraits of various unidentified people [possibly members of the Flewwelling family] - most are posed in studio settings - as well as scenic photographs from around Banff National Park, post cards [some in English, some in Swedish], …
1 album (194 photographs : b&w and col. ; 22.5 x 28.6 cm)
History / Biographical
See fonds level description.
Scope & Content
Item pertains to a post card photo album containing photographic portraits of various unidentified people [possibly members of the Flewwelling family] - most are posed in studio settings - as well as scenic photographs from around Banff National Park, post cards [some in English, some in Swedish], and a CPR and Department of Natural Resources map of Alberta and Saskatchewan tucked into the back cover. The album has a soft black leather cover with "Post Card Album" embossed in gold in the bottom right corner on the front and green pages with slots cut out to slip items in - each page can hold three items.
File consists of one postcard scrapbook containing 325 postcards. Content pertains to various topics including Canadian landscapes, Indigenous peoples from Alberta, British Columbia, and Northwestern Canada [mostly unidentified] including members of Blackfoot, Squamish, Piegan, Cree, Sarcee and Sto…
Photographs produced by W.G. Macfarlane, Montreal Litho. Co. Ltd., John Innes, T.N. Hibben & Co., Thompson's Studio, Warwick Bros. & Rutter Ltd., Bailey Bros. Ltd., an J.W. Vought
Date Range
1903
1904
Physical Description
ca. 325 prints : b&w and col. postcards ; 9 x 14 cm
Scope & Content
File consists of one postcard scrapbook containing 325 postcards. Content pertains to various topics including Canadian landscapes, Indigenous peoples from Alberta, British Columbia, and Northwestern Canada [mostly unidentified] including members of Blackfoot, Squamish, Piegan, Cree, Sarcee and Stoney communities; horses and ranching scenes in Western Canada; cattle and farming; wildlife; hunting and snowshoeing; and hotels and scenic views within the Bow Valley. Named individuals include Piegan Chief Crow Eagle and Winnipeg Jack [Blackfoot], most individuals not identified.
Material Details
Scrapbook contains unidentified white powdery substance between a few pages near middle of album.
Fonds consists of two series: I. St. Mary's Parish, ca.1945-1983, 0.16 cm, and contains two sub-series: A. Architecture, ca.1945-1983 (architectural plans, general information); B. Correspondence and Newspaper Clippings (pertaining to Father McGuinness and St. Mary's Parish), 1950-1978. II. McGuinn…
1.11 cm of textual records (34 pages : 29 x 42 cm or smaller) -- 9 architectural drawings : annotations ; 89 x 58 cm or smaller
History / Biographical
Originally from ancient Iveagh, which is now County Down, Ireland, the McGuinness family eventually migrated to Liverpool at an unknown time. The McGuinness family were provision merchants in Liverpool, but found supplies limited so they emigrated to Canada. Born on June 20, 1886 in Liverpool, Father Robert James McGuinness moved to Belleville, Ontario, Canada with his family in 1890. He had 7 brothers and sisters, including Oswald A. McGuinness, who settled in Invermere, British Columbia.
Robert attended St. Lawrence College in Ampleforth, Yorkshire, and completed his studies at St. Servan in Rhiems, France, qualifying as an engineer. He held a position with the federal government upon his return to Canada, however when World War I broke out Robert served in the 29th Battalion of CRTS building pontoons behind European battle lines. After returning to Canada, Robert worked for the Canadian Pacific Railway as an architectural engineer, which brought him west to Banff, Alberta. Robert was the resident architectural engineer overlooking the construction of the Banff Springs Hotel expansion in the 1920's.
In the late 1920's, Robert traveled to Rome to enter the seminary and four years later he was ordained as a priest. After serving as priest in Calgary, Robert was appointed Catholic priest in Banff in 1936, where he lived and worked until his death in 1961. To fulfill a personal dream, Robert designed and supervised the construction of the new church building and grounds for St. Mary's Parish (St. Mary's of the Assumption) which was completed in 1951. During his years in Europe, Robert visited ancient churches and cathedrals which influenced the design of the church, primarily the Norman Chateau architectural style.
Robert was also a talented artist. Some of his work can be seen in galleries in New York and in Banff. His work has been reproduced for Canadian Pacific Railway tourism material, including the Spiral Tunnels postcard included in this fonds.
Robert died in Calgary on June 17, 1961, just shy of his 75th birthday, after being ill for a few months.
Scope & Content
Fonds consists of two series:
I. St. Mary's Parish, ca.1945-1983, 0.16 cm, and contains two sub-series: A. Architecture, ca.1945-1983 (architectural plans, general information); B. Correspondence and Newspaper Clippings (pertaining to Father McGuinness and St. Mary's Parish), 1950-1978.
II. McGuinness Family, 1953-1977, 1 cm (private records, including handwritten notes, a memoir, and a postcard).
Notes
. IYounger brother Oswald was a surveyor who built the road from Invermere to Calgary
There is some indication that Robert had a role in the construction of the Bow River Bridge or the collection of the stones used for the bridge, but this is unconfirmed
File consists of one souvenir postcard booklet by Novelty Manufacturing and Art Company Limited, containing 12 postcards, titled "Souvenir of Banff, Alta.". Content pertains to views of the town of Banff and surrounding mountains, the Mount Royal Hotel and Banff Springs Hotel, swimming in sulphur h…
Produced by Novelty Manufacturing and Art Company Limited, Montreal
Date Range
[ca. 1910 - ca. 1915]
Physical Description
1 souvenir postcard booklet : 12 pages ; b&w ; 9 x 14 cm
Scope & Content
File consists of one souvenir postcard booklet by Novelty Manufacturing and Art Company Limited, containing 12 postcards, titled "Souvenir of Banff, Alta.". Content pertains to views of the town of Banff and surrounding mountains, the Mount Royal Hotel and Banff Springs Hotel, swimming in sulphur hot spring baths at the Banff Springs Hotel, and Buffalo Park. Items are not annotated, no dates given.
Notes
Item was loose in box of unprocessed items from accession 3109, no previous number given
Date range provided by the Processing Archivist based on format and context of photographs in the souvenir booklet
File consists of one scrapbook containing ca. 200 attached postcard prints and commercial postcards, as well as two portrait photograph prints and two souvenir booklets. Content pertains to scenic views of the Canadian Rockies including Moraine Lake, Lake Louise, Maligne Lake, Revelstoke and the At…
Some items produced by George S. Cladds [?], Byron Harmon, Gerta Christoffersen, Detroit Publishing Co., and A.C. Leighton
Date Range
[ca. 1925 - ca. 1940]
1932
Physical Description
1 scrapbook : ca. 200 b&w and col. postcards ; 14 x 21.5 cm or smaller
Scope & Content
File consists of one scrapbook containing ca. 200 attached postcard prints and commercial postcards, as well as two portrait photograph prints and two souvenir booklets. Content pertains to scenic views of the Canadian Rockies including Moraine Lake, Lake Louise, Maligne Lake, Revelstoke and the Athabasca River; portrait paintings of unidentified Indigenous girls by artist Gerta Christoffersen; scenes from Australia, Brussels, Venice, Bermuda, Fiji, Portugal, London, Windsor Castle, California, Mexico, the Grand Canyon, Montana, Niagara Falls, Maine, Ohio and Pennsylvania; and sketched art by A.C. Leighton depicting horses and riders. Many postcards are colorized.