Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1914-1972 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
25 cm of textual records.
46 photographs.
38 audio cassettes.
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Henry Elvins Spencer, 1882-1972, was born in England. In 1908 he and his brother came to Canada and homesteaded near Edgerton, Alberta. In 1913 he married Harriet Zella Crowe, 1885-1977, and they had three children, Elvins Y., Edith E. and Mary Hope, 1919-2011. He farmed for 19 years, during which he became involved in various farm organizations. He served as a provincial director of the United Farmers of Alberta, 1917-1921.
In 1921, he was elected to Parliament as the UFA Member of Parliament (MP) for Battle River. He was re-elected in 1925, 1926 and 1930, but was defeated in 1935. As part of the Ginger Group in Parliament, he pressed for monetary reforms, unemployment benefits and a national health program. After his defeat, he entered school and municipal work. He was president of the Alberta School Trustees' Association, 1944-1948, and secretary of the Canadian School Trustees' Association, 1948-1956. He retired to Comox, British Columbia in 1948.
Repository
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Gift of H.E. Spencer, 1963-1966, and Sara Driedger, 2014.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
The fonds consists of correspondence, speeches, radio broadcasts, newspaper clippings and pamphlets pertaining to the UFA and Spencer's political career; and correspondence, addresses, convention proceedings, etc., related to ASTA, CSTA and other educational organizations. Includes interviews with, and recordings by, Henry Spencer.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Access to oral history records is subject to a privacy review
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
Script of material
Language and script notes
The material is in English.
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Digital content is available
Related units of description
Other Spencer papers are held by Library and Archives Canada; and by the Comox Archives and Museum. An interview with H.E. Spencer is in the United Farmers of Alberta Oral History Project at Glenbow (RCT 15-(1-4)).
Notes area
Note
Title based on contents of records.
Note
A microfilm, AC Spencer, was done in 1990, and has no accession number. It has not been listed here as we no longer loan our microfilms.
Alternative identifier(s)
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Aberhart, William (Subject)
- Alberta Education Council (Subject)
- Bennett, Richard Bedford (Subject)
- Brownlee, John E. (Subject)
- Canadian Educational Association (Subject)
- Coldwell, M.J. (Subject)
- Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (Subject)
- Douglas, C.H. (Subject)
- Irvine, William (Subject)
- King, William Lyon Mackenzie (Subject)
- McPhail, Agnes (Subject)
- Alberta Social Credit Party (Subject)
- Woodsworth, James Shaver (Subject)
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
Thursday, July 05, 2018