This item is a journal of events kept by the Post Manager at Eastmain, Outfit 260, James Bay District of the Hudson's Bay Company. His instructions were to record weather conditions, temperatures, activities of Inuit and Native fur trade, animal and bird migration patterns, supply ship and passenger activity, mail arrivals and news of Revillon Freres at an adjoining post. A transcription of the Journal is available.
Hudson's Bay CompanyItem is a survey dated 1 January 1966 of males employed at Frobisher Bay. The organization that conducted the survey is not identified.
These manuscripts were written by Dr. Barclay McKone, M.D., and are in typescript format. The first manuscript with the title "Moose Factory Indian Hospital" describes, in addition to a brief historical and geographical background of Moose Factory and its service area, salient treatments used to fight tuberculosis, and the frequent successes. The record comes alive with frequent records of specific cases. A review of cases indicated different characteristics of the disease and its treatment between "Indian" and Inuit patients. This report also refers to the treatment of other diseases and cases handled by the hospital between 1951 and 1955. The second manuscript with the title "Eastern Arctic Medical and X-Ray Survey 1955" describes in more complete diary-like detail the considerable amount of work done by group #2 of a 3 group expedition in their attempt to grapple with all the medical problems of the eastern Arctic. Again a primary concern is to identify and arrange to treat patients with tuberculosis. The time frame is June to September 1955.
Materials added in 2015:
Two DVDs of film footage taken by Dr. Barclay McKone between 1951 and 1955 while he was working as a physician in the James Bay region. Also included are typed notes by Dr. McKone which provide information about the content of the films. The film footage was originally in VHS format and was copied to DVD prior to being donated by Dr. Barclay's great niece Christine Fischer Guy. Ms. Guy received the original VHS tapes from Dr. McKone to help in the research of her novel, The Umbrella Mender, which was published in 2014 and is set in Moose Factory. The DVDs and notes were donated from the estate of Dr. Barclay McKone in 2015 via Christine Fischer Guy. Restriction: Permission to publish from this material is required from Christine Fischer Guy.
McKone, BarclayItem is a 180-page typescript of an Eskimo-French dictionary written by Arthur Thibert in 1932. An accompanying note written by Mary M. Parsons reads as follows: "While stationed at Eskimo Point N.W.T. where my husband was the O/C the R.C.M.P. detachment, I was requested by the priests of the Catholic mission to type a copy of this dictionary. I would believe this book to be one of the copies I made at that time. Arthur Thibert whose name the manuscript bears, was a priest of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate and was, in fact, the priest who performed our marriage so I got to know him well. My part was done during the winter of 1941-42. [signed] Mary M. Parsons."
Thibert, Arthur