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This fonds contains documents and images related to nineteenth- and early twentieth-century European settlement in Essex and Kent counties. These include an Irish immigrant’s personal journal of settling in Essex County with his two sisters (1850). The journal primarily details Jasper Golden’s travels (Atlantic crossing, St. Lawrence River, Quebec, Kingston, Niagara, Buffalo, Detroit, Windsor) but also includes later details about time spent in Malden, Anderdon, and the now-lost port of Albertville (near Kingsville). There are also official records of infrastructure and property in Howard Township (1909), and organizational and research material related to an effort to preserve the Walker family’s rare fieldstone-clad Kent County farmhouse as a historic site. (David and Ann Walker were Scottish immigrants who settled in Harwich Township, Kent County in 1845, with their original grant of farmland remaining in the family until 1972.) The fonds also includes approximately 448 slides depicting pre-1900 homes, buildings, furnishings, objects, weapons, and equipment in Kent and Essex counties, from a Canada Council-funded project to document these artifacts. There is also a short history of Buxton, Ontario, and slides of a memorial to Shawnee chief Tecumseh.

This fonds contains 25 personal diaries of Kent County merchant F. J. Mayhew, beginning with an 1863 trip to his birthplace in England, then following his daily activities back in Thamesville, Ontario and surrounding area, 1879-1905. The diaries are small, and the entries brief; some entries are “cross-written” (in which the diarist fills the available space, then turns the page at a 90-degree angle and writes another passage over the first). Mayhew comments on the weather, meals eaten, people he visited or received visits from, business activities, farming activities, and social or other events.

This bilingual (French/English) fonds contains financial records, daily journals, and a short family history created by Jules Robinet over more than six decades of business, family, and community life in Sandwich and Tecumseh. Since Robinet employed and/or entered business partnerships with many family members and neighbours, the records document intertwined elements of both his personal and professional activities. The journals in particular capture elements of daily life within a large Franco-Ontarian family during an eventful half-century of war and economic depression. Also included is a book of biographies about notable men in Essex County, inscribed by the author to Robinet, and a modern article about Robinet’s local significance as a winemaker and Francophone community figure.

This fonds documents aspects of the personal and professional life -- and particularly the First World War experiences -- of Captain Arthur Flowers, a British military careerist and mid-20th c. immigrant to Essex County. Series I contains records and images relating to his personal life and political views; Series II contains records relating to his military career, including correspondence and health records from the First World War; Series III contains official First World War correspondence and publications circulated by the British military to boost morale. Series IV contains records relating to Flowers' wife Annie, including correspondence, a 1914 travel diary, and souvenirs of the British Royal Family.