This collection consists of eighteen prize lists from agricultural fairs in Ontario including the Canadian National Exhibition, the Ontario Provincial Winter Fair, the Central Canada Exhibition in Ottawa, the Western Fair in London, Ontario; the Dominion Exposition in Regina, Saskatchewan; the Canadian Industrial Exhibition in Winnipeg, Manitoba; the Central Exhibition in Cobourg, Ontario and various small town agricultural societies lists.

Agricultural fair prize lists were produced in advance of the fair in order to attract people to compete in various categories. The categories consisted of a number of different elements that were part of agricultural life for a number of people. For instance categories included entries of the best cow or calf, horse showmanship, poultry, pig and sheep breeds. Produce competitions ranged from wheat, barley, rye, corn and oats to homemade pickles, jams and jellies. There were usually floral arrangement and best vegetable arrangement competitions. Ladies would often be able to enter competitions involving sewing and handywork. The prize lists always had advertisers and a list of contributors to the prizes. The book was divided into sections so that each competitor could find the competitions he/she desired to enter, a list of the categories and a small description of who could enter as well as the prizes to be awarded. The cover of the book listed when the fair was to take place and inside there was a list of fair organizers and contestant rules, dates and deadlines.

This fonds consists of a retail day book of the Aikenhead Hardware Company for July 10, 1835 to September 5, 1839, with the currency being recorded in pounds, shillings and pence. The fonds also contains wholesale price lists of the Aikenhead Company from 1895 to 1899; a commemorative booklet of the company for its 100th year and a nine-page history of the company. The Aikenhead Hardware Company was established in Toronto in 1830 and played a very significant role, in providing to early settlers, tools and equipment to build their homes and businesses.

This item is an ambrotype of an unidentified woman.

This item is a small notebook containing local baseball scores and list of team members, 1913-1915. Arthur Bailey was the catcher for the Mount Pleasant team. There are also records of the Ontario Hockey Association and professional hockey, 1914-1915, including lists of players, game summaries and scores.

This fonds consists of approximately 843 original cartoons by A.G. Racey covering a wide range of subjects. Due to the universal nature of his cartoons, Racey gained international recognition and his works were reproduced in numerous newspapers and magazines around the world. A file list and descriptions of the cartoons, including dates where known, is available below.

This collection of small broadsides consists of a Grand Trunk flyer regarding the fares to the Buffalo Pan-American Exposition in 1901; an Orangeville Methodist Church broadside advertising a concert with Myrtel Tellessen Cooke from 1900; and a broadside for the King George Theatre in Cobourg, Ontario, advertising the film "Avenger" which aired before 1920.

This fonds consists of records encompasing three generations of the Boyd family of Bobcaygeon. The fonds has been divided into the following series: photographs and glass negatives; Reverend Henry C. Avant; Mossom Boyd; Mossom Martin Boyd (Mossie); Lillian de Grassi Boyd; the De Grassi papers which are records of Dr. Alex De Grassi, Lillian Boyd's father, a physician from Lindsay, Upper Canada; Gardiner Cust Boyd; Mildred Boyd; Winnett (Brownie) Boyd; Laurence Chadwick Boyd; Mossom de Grassi Boyd; A. Sheila Boyd; stamps; artifacts; business which deals with the Boyds interests in lumbering; agricultural papers which deal with the Boyd's farming interests in buffalo and cattle; and, estate papers. The strength of this fonds lies in its completeness. Nothing was thrown away and there are grocery lists, laundry lists, staff salary books, furniture receipts, party and wedding invitations, school report cards, ship and railway timetables, diaries and approximately 20,000 pieces of correspondence. This has resulted in a remarkable record of a large household from the 1880s to the 1980s and an invaluable source for social and business historians.

This addition to the fonds consists of records from the Canadian Forum magazine primarily from the years of 1979 to 1986, although some of the material dates back to 1973. Included are manuscripts from most issues between 1979 and 1986, as well as correspondence with the editors.

This fonds consists of 45 issues of the magazine: Canadian Horticulturalist and Beekeeper which was published in Peterborough, Ontario from 1881. Four additional issues (March, 1897, November, 1897, March, 1898 and January 1899 were donated in 1993 by Jean Cole via the Friends of the Bata Library) and in 1994, additional issues (May 1890-June 1896, scattered) were added courtesy of the Friends of the Bata Library.

This fonds consists of publicity records from the Canadian Images film festival held at Trent University between 1978 and 1984. As well, there are memos, minutes, correspondence and business papers donated by T.H.B. Symons, from his tenure as honorary board member of Canadian Images.

This addition to the fonds consists of correspondence, publicity materials, posters, film journals and magazines, buttons, t-shirts, tickets, administrative records and film catalogues of the Canadian Images film festival held in Peterborough annually from 1978 to 1984.

This fonds consists of manuscripts of three poems by Wilson MacDonald: "The Song of the Undertow", "A Song to the Valiant", and "Graduation Day". There are ten pages of play titles with short critiques and names of publishers. Also included in the fonds are two letters from A. Maclaren giving lists of plays and authors, dated 1922 which are addressed to Vincent Massey.

This addition to the fonds consists of newspaper clippings, correspondence, photographs, music books, notes and memorabilia concerning various parts of Peterborough County.

This item is an 80 page journal, the 2nd in a series, published in 1966/67, and containing a variety of articles on the subject of collecting antiques in the Kawarthas.

This 8-page, typewritten manuscript is entitled "Folk Songs of Peterborough" and consists of a brief overview of the folk song tradition of the Peterborough area. Fowke indicates that the Peterborough region is one of the richest in Ontario and credits this in large part to the significant Irish representation in the County. She mentions by name individuals who can sing old songs brought from the old country, or songs learned in the lumbering shanty and carried down from generation to generation. She quotes songs that give specific reference to places such as Kinmount, Omemee, Gannon's Narrows, Tory Hill, etc. Farming traditions, love ballads, and jail terms all find their places in the canon.

The first item is a diary of historical places in Paris, France, written from November 1911 to July 1912. It includes postcards of historically interesting buildings and notations regarding the use of the buildings and their origins. The second item is a diary of art history, written from February to July 1912. It includes postcards of works of art and notations relating to the history of art.

This fonds consists of four expense books. One book contains a price list for assorted household items listed in alphabetical order from 1912 to 1915. Another book covers someone's personal expenses from 1887 to 1889. The third book covers someone's accounts from 1912 to 1915. The fourth book has a few expenses in it but it is mostly a handwritten English to French phase translation book with accompanying letters from an agency which placed governesses.

This item is a leather-bound photograph album containing photographs and tintypes. Some of the photographs are identified.

This item is a notebook which belonged to F.W. Hilshaw, Churchfield House, Halton, near Runcorn in Cheshire. It contains schoolwork, newspaper clippings, accounts and recipes.

This collection consists of records collected by G. Wilson Craw such as school histories, Peterborough County; Barnardo's Canadian Homes Almanac 1901; a list of Peterborough Utilities Commissioners 1902-1965; biographies of Peterborough residents; deeds and mortgages; North Monaghan voters list 1883-4; 76 photographs of industries, schools and churches and sporting groups, as well as a history of Springfield, North Monaghan.

This fonds consists of the personal and business records of the Geale, Hamilton, Peck, Barker and Rogers families. There are letters relating to World War I written by Beresford and Robert Hamilton and Heber and Harry Rogers; letters, diaries, journals of Richard Birdsall Rogers (superintending engineer of the Peterborough Lift Lock); the records of Hon. Robert Hamilton, a factor at the Hudson's Bay Company stationed at Fort Edmonton. The fonds also contains stereographs, approximately 1000 photographs, and a C.E. Goad fire insurance plan for the city of Peterborough, 1882. Items of interest include a group of photographs of the Trent Valley area and the building of the canal; Rogers family pictures of the Stoney Lake area and the Juniper Island Regatta; photos of early aircraft and the Curtiss Aviation School; photos of hydraulic lift lock at Peterborough; and one letter from Catharine Parr Traill to Robert Miles Hamilton.

This collection of family papers, correspondence, journals, photographs, newspaper clippings and published works spans the years 1834 to 1966 and measures approximately 3 1/2 linear metres. The papers were deposited in Trent University Archives through the courtesy of members of the Geale and Rogers families in 1983.

The papers are divided into two series:

Series A, the Geale family papers, consists of records pertaining to the descendants of the Hon. Robert Hamilton, a factor of the Hudson's Bay Company stationed at Fort Edmonton in northern Manitoba. Robert Hamilton married Annie Seabourne. One of their sons was Robert Miles Hamilton (1864-1939). He married Alice May Barker and resided at "Auburn" in Peterborough, Ontario. Their children were Miles Beresford Hamilton, Robert Barker Hamilton, (Alice) Seabourne Hamilton, and S.R. Hamilton (son). Alice Seabourne Hamilton married Charles Norman Geale. Papers of the Barker family (the Hon. Samuel Barker was Mrs. Robert Miles Hamilton's father) are included in this series as are the papers of the Peck family. Edward Armour Peck was the natural son of Arthur Henry Peck and the adoptive father of Charles Norman Geale. He married Kitty Revell. Both Miles Beresford Hamilton and Robert Barker Hamilton served overseas in the First World War and their correspondence is included in this series.

Series B of this collection consists of the Rogers Papers. Richard Birdsall Rogers was born at Ashburnham in 1857. He lived there until 1916 and then moved to "Beechwood Farm" in Douro Township. He was a land surveyor and was appointed superintendent engineer of the Trent Valley Canal in 1884. Richard married Clara Mina Calcutt of Peterborough in 1881. They had seven children. One daughter, Leah, married Herbert Geale, brother of Charles Norman Geale. Two sons, Heber and Harry served overseas in World War I. Their correspondence is included. R.B. Rogers designed and supervised the building of the hydraulic lift locks at Peterborough and Kirkfield. These papers included several files of plans and specifications for the locks, correspondence and documents accrued during the scandal preceding Rogers' resignation in 1906, the Holgate Report which condemned Rogers and the Keefer investigation which completely vindicated his work as Chief Engineer. We have created a major on-line exhibit focusing on the life and times of Richard Rogers and the Peterborough Lift Lock: http://digitalcollections.trentu.ca/exhibits/birdsall-rogers/zrptboll.htm

This fonds consists of three letters between Gene Kelly, Steve Otto and James Rothenburg discussing a possible connection between Kelly and the Sheehy Family of the former "Sheehy" house, which became part of Peter Robinson College, on George St. N., Peterborough, Ontario.

Collection consists of greeting cards, humorous postcards, and postcards portraying places in Canada, U.S.A., and the U.K. Some of the humorous postcards depict social concerns of the time, such as the women's suffragette movement and WWI. Several of the cards were posted to people in Yorkshire, England and in Markham and Milliken, Ontario.

This item is a guest book from the fiftieth wedding anniversary of Mr. and Mrs. A.G. Squire, 1927. It also contains entries upon the occasion of Mrs. Squire's 75th birthday in 1932 and the sixtieth wedding anniversary in 1937.

This collection consists of coupons from the Gummed Address Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.