File consists of 12 black and white photograph prints, 23 x 18 cm or smaller. File pertains to Jean's personal photographs of various family and friends. File documents Jean and Jack's trip to Lake Louise in 1939 with their sister-in-law, Anna Cran; a portrait of Jean, aged 20-21 (ca.1928); Jean an…
File consists of 12 black and white photograph prints, 23 x 18 cm or smaller. File pertains to Jean's personal photographs of various family and friends. File documents Jean and Jack's trip to Lake Louise in 1939 with their sister-in-law, Anna Cran; a portrait of Jean, aged 20-21 (ca.1928); Jean and a friend from Washington, Lucille Tucker, at the Empress Hotel in Victoria, B.C.; and artist, Dan McCowan.
Notes
Several of the photograph prints are annotated on the back.
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).
File consists of 27 colour photograph transparencies (lantern slides). File pertains to the Official Trail Ride of 1937 organized by the Trail Riders of the Canadian Rockies, which Jean Hembroff MacDonald participated in. File documents the trail ride to Mount Assiniboine and the camp at Mount Assi…
File consists of 27 colour photograph transparencies (lantern slides). File pertains to the Official Trail Ride of 1937 organized by the Trail Riders of the Canadian Rockies, which Jean Hembroff MacDonald participated in. File documents the trail ride to Mount Assiniboine and the camp at Mount Assiniboine, with several landscape photographs but mostly of the hikers.
Notes
Jean wrote an article about her experience in the form of an article and a poem [see related material], and used this experience for future lectures.
Slides are numbered on the back. Some are missing, the new number and order was imposed by Archive and Library Assistant for clarity.
Slides were stored with a note stating: "Slides taken by the C.P.R. of Trail Ride, 1936-1937."
File consists of 33 colour photograph transparencies (lantern slides). File documents the official trail ride of the Skyline Trail Hikers of the Canadian Rockies, which Jean Hembroff MacDonald participated in. File pertains to the Ptarmigan Valley Camp, with landscape scenery and photographs of the…
File consists of 33 colour photograph transparencies (lantern slides). File documents the official trail ride of the Skyline Trail Hikers of the Canadian Rockies, which Jean Hembroff MacDonald participated in. File pertains to the Ptarmigan Valley Camp, with landscape scenery and photographs of the hikers (singing, eating, etc). Places that are documented in this file are the Redoubt Lake trail, Hidden Lake, Ptarmigan Lake, Boulder Pass, and Skoki. Notable people include Jean Hembroff MacDonald, her husband, Jack MacDonald, and sister-in-law, Anna Cran; Dan McCowan; James M. Wardle; George Fisher; Norman Sanson; Betsy Struthers; and Emmeline Savatard and John Wheeler (A.O. Wheeler's wife and grandson).
Notes
Each slide is labelled.
Jean wrote an article about her experience [see related material], and used this experience for future lectures
Slides were stored with a note stating: "Slides taken by the C.P.R. of Trail Ride, 1936-1937."
File consists of 7 b&w photograph transparencies (lantern slides). File pertains to trail ride songs that would be sung at the trail ride camp. File includes the following songs: Life is a Trail Little Old Pony My Mild-Eyed Cayuse My Pony is out in the Open On the Good Old Rocky Trails Ride-Ride-Ri…
File consists of 7 b&w photograph transparencies (lantern slides). File pertains to trail ride songs that would be sung at the trail ride camp. File includes the following songs:
Life is a Trail
Little Old Pony
My Mild-Eyed Cayuse
My Pony is out in the Open
On the Good Old Rocky Trails
Ride-Ride-Ride
When It's Trail Time in the Rockies
Notes
Slides were stored with a note stating: "Slides taken by the C.P.R. of Trail Ride, 1936-1937."
File consists of 27 black and white photograph prints and 1 colour tinted photograph print, 25 x 20.5 cm or smaller. File pertains to the trail rides that Jean participated in, particularly in 1937 and 1939. File documents every day life on the trail ride at the camp (entertainment, setting up camp…
28 photographs : b&w and col. ; 25 x 20.5 cm or smaller
Scope & Content
File consists of 27 black and white photograph prints and 1 colour tinted photograph print, 25 x 20.5 cm or smaller. File pertains to the trail rides that Jean participated in, particularly in 1937 and 1939. File documents every day life on the trail ride at the camp (entertainment, setting up camp); various trail riders, including Nicholas Morant and John Murray Gibbon; several of Jean with her horse and her husband Jack and Anna Cran (sister-in-law); and mountain scenery.
Notes
Several photograph prints are annotated on the back.
One of the photographs of Jean with her horse is colour tinted.