Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1884-1942, 2004 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
20 cm of textual records. -- 10 microfilm reels. -- 141 photographs. -- 1 computer disk
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Robert Randolph Bruce, 1863-1942, was born in St. Andrews, Scotland, and received a bachelor of science degree at Glasgow University in 1886. He worked as a civil engineer and then came to Canada via New York in 1887. He became a surveyor on the Canadian Pacific Railway's (CPR) Crowsnest Pass route. He then went to McGill University for a degree in mineralogy and established himself in mining. In 1897 he moved to Lake Windermere where he bought land and formed the Columbia Valley Irrigation Fruit Lands, Ltd. In 1900 he became CPR land agent for the Windermere district. For a time he was assistant engineer at the Horse Thief Mine, after which he bought and developed the Paradise Mine, a silver-lead mine near the town of Invermere, which he had founded. From 1926-1931 he was lieutenant-governor of British Columbia, and from 1936-1938 he was Canada's Minister to Tokyo. He was married twice, to Lady Elizabeth Northcote, ?-1916, in 1915, and to Edith Molson in 1932. He died in Montreal. For further information see Thomas C. Meredith's article "Boosting in British Columbia : The Creation and Rise of Invermere" in Urban History Review. - vol. 16, no. 3 (February, 1988); and Georgeen Barrass' article "Western Caricatures" in Glenbow [magazine]. -- vol. 4, no.1 (February 1971), p. 4-7.
Repository
Archival history
The caricatures came into the possession of Randolph Bruce's secretary, Howard Cleland, who gave them to George Bureau in 1946. Mrs. G. Bureau donated them to the Glenbow.
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Gifts of Mrs. G. Bureau, Bud Cleland, O.A. McGuinness, Helen Keefer and Madge Skinner, 1961-2005.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
The fonds consists of personal and business correspondence (1900-1908 [microfilm]); personal correspondence inward (1884-1916, transcriptions), diaries, notebooks, cashbooks and garden records (1888-1925 [microfilm]); and letterbooks (1897-1904 [photocopies]). Also consists of his caricatures of Calgary area personalities (1890s); and photographs of CPR officials and bridges in British Columbia (1892-1894), the Crowsnest-Kootenay Landing survey (1894-1895), R.R. Bruce and the Lake Windermere area (1900s-1930s), Columbia Valley Irrigation Fruit Lands Ltd. canals (1911), Columbia Lake mines (1911), Kootenay Central Railroad construction (1911), and the Glacier Hotel (1893). Includes background information on persons and places mentioned in the letters, compiled by Madge Skinner.
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
No finding aid
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
The originals of the microfilmed and photocopied records are in the possession of Bud Cleland. The originals of the transcribed personal correspondence are held by a relative of Madge Skinner.
Existence and location of copies
Digital content is available: https://digitalcollections.ucalgary.ca/Package/2R3BF1S3E2XHG
Reference prints from the original negatives are also available.
Related units of description
Notes area
Note
Title based on contents of records.
Note
Letterbooks and correspondence copied in 1976-1977.
Note
NA 2240 are copied from M 151.
Note
Personal correspondence transcribed in 2004-2005.
Note
Microfilm-Bruce
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Description control area
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Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
Monday, August 20, 2018