GENERAL MANUSCRIPTS
Finding Aid for General Manuscripts.
In addition to the main sequence consisting of correspondence, the manuscripts are grouped according to the following series:
Family History: In this series may be found genealogies and supporting papers for the following families: Barrington of Essex; descendants of Thomas Elwood; the Grunert family of Saxony; the Guillet family of Batiscon, Quebec; the history of the arrival of the Baldwin family to Canada in 1798; the interrelated Packham, Burkholder, Van Dusen, Rittenburgh, Carpenter, Coon, and Stephenson families; Genealogical notes on the descendants of the Rev. Thomas Schreiber; the Viets Family Reunion of 1919; and the Wood family of Shelf, Halifax Parish, Yorkshire, England.
Journals, Diaries, Memoirs, Logbooks: These shorter journals offer a glimpse into the activities of missionaries, businessmen, explorers, actors, and Canadian pioneers, from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Several are holograph artefacts, while others are somewhat later typescripts of the original documents.
Legal, Financial, & Administrative Documents: Over sixty documents, dating from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries, provide a rich sampling of the various ways in which the manuscript tradition has supported the legal and financial life of Europe as well as North America. Whether contracts on vellum, or indentures written on paper, the Fisher's collection provides an fascinating insight into the peculiarities of the law as it has endeavoured to bring order to human life at different times and places.
Literary Manuscripts: Four boxes contain loose manuscripts of such authors and poets as Margaret Avison, Audrey Alexandra Brown, Morley Callaghan, and Douglas Grant to name but a few. The chief characteristic of this series is that it includes either literary drafts, or correspondence related to the literary world. Within it are also two smaller collections:
- Robert Browning Collection: Twelve interesting items ranging from several loose pages from Browning's holograph travel diary of 1838 to some letters from the 1880s, as well as two holograph poems.
- Thomas Carlyle Collection: A small group of some fourteen letters, principally concerning Carlyle and his extended family. Dating from about 1832-1873, a number are written to Carlyle's sister, Jenny Hanning who emigrated to Halton, Canada West in 1851. Particularly moving are the letters that discuss the death of Carlyle's mother and, later, of his wife.
Miscellaneous Materials: This last eclectic group of documents includes such things as a nineteenth century funeral oration, a Victorian guide for the development of manners in children, and a variety of speeches and programmes.
