Área de título y declaración de responsabilidad
Título apropiado
Freda F. Waldon Mechanics' Institute Research Materials
Tipo general de material
Título paralelo
Otra información de título
Título declaración de responsabilidad
Título notas
Nivel de descripción
Serie
Código de referencia
Área de edición
Declaración de edición
Declaración de responsabilidad de edición
Área de detalles específicos de la clase de material
Mención de la escala (cartográfica)
Mención de proyección (cartográfica)
Mención de coordenadas (cartográfica)
Mención de la escala (arquitectónica)
Jurisdicción de emisión y denominación (filatélico)
Área de fechas de creación
Fecha(s)
-
1944-1963 (Creación)
Área de descripción física
Descripción física
2.5 cm of textual material.
Área de series editoriales
Título apropiado de las series del editor
Títulos paralelos de serie editorial
Otra información de título de las series editoriales
Declaración de responsabilidad relativa a las series editoriales
Numeración dentro de la serie editorial
Nota en las series editoriales
Área de descripción del archivo
Nombre del productor
Historial de custodia
The minute book dated 1839-1851, was found among the legal papers of Andrew Steven, first Treasurer of the Hamilton and Gore Mechanics' Institute, and donated to the Hamilton Public Library's Local History and Archives department on June 7, 1945, by W.G. Welby. The advertisement for the Mechanics' Ball was donated by Mrs. E.B. Thompson on January 22, 1965. The rest of the older material dating from 1845 to 1878, has unknown provenance. The material dating from 1944 to 1963 belonged to Dr. Freda F. Waldon, former Chief Librarian of the Hamilton Public Library. Upon receipt of some of the older loose-leaf material, former staff combined it together and processed it into a clipping file. Earlier staff, unaware of the archival principle of provenance, placed the volumes and the loose-leaf material all together, breaching this rule. Due to the nature of the material and the small amount, a decision was made by the archivist to keep it together and process it as a general collection on the Hamilton and Gore Mechanics’ Institute.
Alcance y contenido
Series consists of the research materials of Dr. Freda F. Waldon, Chief Librarian of the Hamilton Public Library. Dr. Waldon and members of the library board were interested in researching the history of early libraries in Hamilton, and in particular, the Hamilton and Gore Mechanics’ Institute. They noticed there was a gap in the knowledge of the early libraries that existed before the establishment of the Hamilton Public Library in 1889. The series consists of Dr. Waldon’s correspondence to and from various individuals requesting assistance with her research. Her letter correspondence includes asking certain individuals about their recollections of the Mechanics’ Institute, including a plea to the editor of the Hamilton Spectator, to publish her request in the paper so that members of the community could provide information from their own personal experience, or as descendants of the original members of the Mechanics’ Institute. She was particularly interested in where the Institute was located, the reasons for the demise of the organization and what existed between the end of the Mechanics’ Institute and the establishment of the government-funded public library system. The series also contains Dr. Waldon’s handwritten and typewritten research notes about the history of the Mechanics’ Institute and early libraries. The series also consists of some of her published research including a letter she wrote that was printed in the Ontario Library Review entitled, “From Mechanics’ Institute to Cultural Centre,” dated Febrary, 1949, as well as an address she gave to the Head-of-the-Lake Historical Society, October 11, 1946 entitled, “Early Provision for Libraries in Hamilton.” The speech was later published in the Wentworth Bygones, From the Papers and Records of the Head-of-the-Lake Historical Society, Issue No. 4, 1963.