Fonds consists of research materials and notes, modern correspondence, photocopies of historical documentation, and genealogical resources for the Need family as well as other people living in both England and Newcastle District. The historical documentation includes wills, gravesite information, lot and concession records, military records, correspondence. As well as the Need family, there is also biographical information on other families, including the Dunsfords, Langtons, Campbells, and Sawers.

These research materials were accumulated by Dawn Bell Logan and used to write books, articles, and biographical entries about Thomas Need, including Thomas Need : settler in the backwoods of Upper Canada (self published, 2022), and the Dictionary of Canadian Biography entry for Thomas Need (V. 12). Photographs are of some sites in Lincolnshire, U.K, Peterborough, Canada, the Trent Severn Waterway, Thomas Need’s descendants, and gravestones of Need family members.

Fonds is organized into four series: Thomas Need journals and correspondence; Research materials and manuscripts; Dawn Logan correspondence; and Files on Dawn Logan’s publications.

Thomas Need Biography

Thomas Need (1808-1895) emigrated from Nottingham, England to Upper Canada in May 1832 and settled in Verulam Township in Victoria County in 1833 around Sturgeon Lake. He had graduated from University College, London, in 1830 and rejected the idea of becoming a member of the clergy. This contributed to his decision to leave England.

While in Upper Canada, Need was a member of the government commission that oversaw the construction of what became the first lock of the Trent-Severn Waterway, founded the Village of Bobcaygeon in 1834, and served as a magistrate for the Court of Requests from 1835 to 1837.

Need anonymously published his book Six years in the bush or extracts from the journal of a settler in Upper Canada (London, 1838) on his experiences in Upper Canada. The book was based on his journal entries he made in his personal journal which he called the “Woodhouse Journal.” Need returned to Nottingham, England permanently in 1847 and died in 1895. His authorship was confirmed with the publication of John Langton’s letters in 1926 and he was subsequently recognized as a contributor to early Canadian literature.

Source: Biography – NEED, THOMAS – Volume XII (1891-1900) – Dictionary of Canadian Biography. http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/need_thomas_12E.html. Accessed 11 Jan. 2024.

Fonds consists of Professor Dawn L. Smith's research on the Spanish Golden Age Theatre revival, post-Franco 1975-1996. The collection includes research materials, newspaper clippings, theatre bulletins, correspondence, notes, and published articles. Also included are copies of two books: Historia de los Teatros Nacionales 1939-1962 and Cuatro Siglos de Teatro en Madrid.

Series consists of personal and professional correspondence written by Dawn Bell Logan to Need and Sawer family members while researching Thomas Need. Files also include newspaper clippings, and correspondence written to the Dictionary of Canadian biography as well as historians, libraries, and archives in Canada and England. Files also include several draft biographies of Thomas Need written by Dawn Bell Logan. Files also include photographs of some Need family members taken in Surrey, United Kingdom.

File consists of a photograph and two images of Peter Dawson, a Professor Emeritus of Physics and Astronomy at Trent University. He was also the acting Master of Champlain College in 1988, Senior Don of Champlain College in 1985, TUFA Chair from 2000 to 2004, and a recipient of the Eminent Service award in 2016.

Octavo. (20 cm x 15.5 cm), pp. iv, 232 (adverts p. 219-232), tipped-in errata slip, tables. Rebound in grey paper covers with mounted computer printed label, title-page and preface missing piece from bottom outer corner, crude tape repair to bottom centre of p.iii/iv. P. 1-128 printed on a different paper stock which has tanned, primarily to the margins, last 4 leaves (adverts) chipped with corner pieces missing. Otherwise, a good tight, clean copy. Lowther 592; Peel (3) 978. Dawson (1810-1894) was born at Redhaven, Banffshire, Scotland, ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1835, and came to Canada in 1854. He published several volumes of verse. Besides this descriptive volume was the author a number of translations from the French, and of a history of "The Catholics of Scotland" (Ottawa, 1890). [2263]

Volume is a day book from a grocery stroe in Keene, Ontario. Store sales cover the period 1862-1863. The rest of the book lists mortgages -people listed include Isabella Campbell, William Campbell, Claud Brownlee, and James Campbell. Loose receipts, correspondence and stock and bond information are interleaved in journal. A draft notice of 17 May, 1918 is also interleaved.

The microfiches consists of the catalogue of municipal records and manuscripts in the D.B. Weldon library at the University of Western Ontario.

This file consists of Prof. John Wadland’s subject file on Mazo De La Roche. Contains a couple newspaper clippings regarding De La Roche and their works, and this file contains a report written by Julie Robinson for Prof. Wadland.

File consists of eight photographs of John de Pencier, five of the photographs are of him and unidentified individuals in Trent University apparel. De Pencier received an honorary degree (Doctor of Law) in 2002, and the Eminent Service Award in 1993. He was also on the Trent Board of Governors from 1981 to 1993, five of those years as Chair. One photograph includes Katie Brown.