Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1929-2021 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
18.13 m of textual and other material
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Henry Cornelius Klassen was born on November 30, 1931 in Coulter, MB, to Cornelius and Margaret Klassen. He was the second youngest of six children. In 1954 he married his wife Agnes, and together they had three daughters, Alice (Shields), Lois (Neufeld) and Eleanore (Finch). He completed his B.A. (1959), B.Ed. (1961) and M.A. (1963) at the University of Manitoba, and his PhD from the University of Toronto in 1970.
Klassen was a founding professor in the University of Calgary Department of History, starting in 1968. He retired in 1998, after which he gained status as emeritus. Klassen was an expert on business history and published several books on the subject including "A Business History of Alberta" (1999), "Eye on the Future: Business People in Calgary and the Bow Valley, 1870-1900" (2002), and a biography on Luther H. Holton: "A Founding Canadian Entrepreneur" (2001).
Klassen died on January 14, 2005.
Repository
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Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
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Scope and content
Consists of research records covering the approximate period from the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century including text, index cards, notebooks, photographs, slides, and microfiche. Also includes a copy of "A nation transformed by banks: Canada's banks and the opening of the West" which was published posthumously by Klassen's daughters. Primarily photocopied material with some annotations (mostly identification information), with some correspondence, original interviews, and notes by Klassen.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
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Script of material
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Finding aids
Box listing only