File consists of one personal photograph album [likely created by Eleanor Luxton]. Content pertains to staff members of the Curtiss-Wright Corporation Aircraft Division and related events including a dinner party in New York, as well as friends and relatives of the Luxton family. Includes images of…
Some photographs produced by Associated Screen News Ltd., Curtiss-Wright Corporation, Byron Harmon
Date Range
[ca. 1910]
[ca. 1920 - ca. 1930]
[ca. 1940 - ca. 1945]
1941 - 1944
1950
1954
1956
[ca. 1960 - ca. 1970]
1967 - 1969
Physical Description
1 album (193 b&w photographs ; 20 x 25.5 cm or smaller -- 2 textual records)
Scope & Content
File consists of one personal photograph album [likely created by Eleanor Luxton]. Content pertains to staff members of the Curtiss-Wright Corporation Aircraft Division and related events including a dinner party in New York, as well as friends and relatives of the Luxton family. Includes images of Eleanor Luxton as a child and as an adult, group and individual portraits of mostly unidentified individuals [likely immediate and extended family and friends of Eleanor, including Norman and Georgina Luxton], unidentified children playing, images from the Calgary Stampede parade [ca. 1940s], unidentified Indigenous groups and individuals [possibly Stoney Nakoda community members during Banff Indian Days], Dr. Casey's Ranch [1944], and a family picnic. File also includes one small textual record describing a 1943 Curtiss-Wright Corporation staff event, as well as an annotated Christmas card from Ruth and Frank Neustadt [n.d.].
Notes
Some items are annotated on back
Items not in chronological or other clear order
Material Details
Album has clear plastic layer on surface of front and back covers
Green plastic stitched around border of both covers and side bindings
File consists of correspondence, scheduling notes and floor plans pertaining to a "Trail Riders Against Cancer" event held in 1978, as well as a certificate of completion for the event naming Joe Madaro as recipient; file also consists of a ticket, invitation, order form, auction list and annotated…
0.5 cm of textual records (ca. 35 pages ; 21.5 x 35.5 cm or smaller)
Scope & Content
File consists of correspondence, scheduling notes and floor plans pertaining to a "Trail Riders Against Cancer" event held in 1978, as well as a certificate of completion for the event naming Joe Madaro as recipient; file also consists of a ticket, invitation, order form, auction list and annotated paper menu pertaining to the 9th annual AMPPE [Association for Mountain Parks Protection and Enjoyment] Fundraising Dinner held in 2009; and a certificate and letter [2003] recognizing the Trail Riders as a member and contributor to the AMPPE.
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 consists of 11.5 cm of textual records, 32 x 42 cm or smaller. Records include: Book of Common Prayer (1872); The Pocket Cook Book by Elizabeth Woody (1942); Guide to Marks of Origin on British and Irish Silver Plate from mid-16th Century to the Year 1943 and Old Sheffield Plate Makers' Marks,…
11.5 cm of textual records (32 x 42 cm or smaller)
Scope & Content
File consists of 11.5 cm of textual records, 32 x 42 cm or smaller. Records include: Book of Common Prayer (1872); The Pocket Cook Book by Elizabeth Woody (1942); Guide to Marks of Origin on British and Irish Silver Plate from mid-16th Century to the Year 1943 and Old Sheffield Plate Makers' Marks, 1743-1860 (1943); four booklets related to the Trail Riders of the Canadian Rockies (1934-1950); a booklet titled "Sir George Simpson Centennial Celebration" (1928); an assortment of recipes; "The Margaret P. Hess Collection" booklet published by the University of Calgary (1977) and a related Calgary Herald newspaper clipping (1986); one Carl Rungius postcard; and six miscellaneous postcards depicting a former school teacher of Leette Wardle (1911), James Wardle at the Cave and Basin (1920), the Wardles in San Francisco (n.d.), two unidentified men (n.d.), and visitors to the Banff Springs Hotel (n.d.).
Notes
Book of Common Prayer inscribed with: “Martha Morey, November 4, 1872. New Westminster, BC. From her mother.” It belonged to James Wardle's mother.
The Pocket Cook Book contains annotations and written notes tucked in among the pages of the book.
Trail Riders of the Canadian Rockies booklets kept because the Wardles participated in trail rides and there are photos/mentions of James and Dorothy, and possibly Leette.
The "Sir George Simpson Centennial Celebration" booklet contains a photograph print between pages 32 and 33.
Some of the postcards are annotated on the back, specifically the postcard depicting the Banff Springs Hotel which is addressed to Dorothy.
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