Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1899-1919, predominant 1899-1900 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
25 cm of textual records
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Richard Bedford Bennett, 1870-1947, was born in Hopewell Hill, New Brunswick. He graduated from Dalhousie University in 1893, and in 1897 he moved to Calgary, Alberta and became junior law partner of Senator James A. Lougheed. In the following year, he was elected Conservative member for Olds in the North-West Territories Legislature. He was defeated in the 1905 provincial election but returned in 1909. In 1911 he was elected to represent Calgary East in the Canadian House of Commons. He was minister of justice in 1921 and minister of finance in 1926. In 1925 he was elected to represent Calgary West. In 1927 he was chosen leader of the Conservative Party and was Prime Minister of Canada from 1930 to 1935. He then spent three years as opposition leader before retiring to England in 1938. The firm of Lougheed and Bennett dissolved in 1922, and the new firm of Bennett, Hannah and Sanford was established. He left the firm in 1937. In 1949 the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada designated Bennett as a National Historic Person. For further information see R.B. Bennett / James H. Gray. -- Toronto : University of Toronto Press, 1991; and P. B. Waite's article, "Richard Bedford Bennett", in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography at www.biographi.ca.
Repository
Archival history
These records were left by Bennett in the house where he lived in Calgary (ca 1906-1922) which was owned by Joseph Stanley. Stanley's legal heir, Hilda Brandt, donated them to the Glenbow.
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Gift of Hilda Brandt, 1966.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
The fonds consists of general correspondence (1899-1900), scrapbooks on his career and First World War (1910-1919), list of books in his personal library, and miscellany.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
No restrictions on access.
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
Related units of description
Some personal papers of R. B. Bennett can be found in the Ernest Watkins R. B. Bennett Research Collection at the Glenbow; photos are available in the George Sherry Robinson fonds.
Further R. B. Bennett records are held by Library and Archives Canada and the University of New Brunswick Archives.
Notes area
Note
Title based on contents of records.
Note
Files 1, 25 and 26 were transferred to the Stanley and Smith Family fonds.
Note
Files 27-28 were transferred to the reserve collection.
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Description control area
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Dates of creation revision deletion
Wednesday, February 17, 2016