McGill Library
McLennan Library Building3459 rue McTavish
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 0C9
Grant Family Fonds
Fonds
30 cm of textual records
Bertha Alice Grant (? - 1974) and her sister Angelina (Dolly) Grant (1893-1975) cultivated from their school days a life-long interest in the history of their family and their home town, Grantville, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. This devotion survived the removal of many of the family to New England, including Bertha herself, who for most of her adult life worked for welfare agencies in Boston.
This is an archive of family memorabilia, with no records of the professional careers of the Grants. Amongst the family memorials are Angelina Grant's brief notes on Grant family history, 1962, and the school-girl albums, assembled in 1910 by Bertha and her sister Edith, on the history of Grantville and the physical and human geography of Truro. As well, there is a memorial album of callers at Angelina Grant's funeral and five Bibles, most of which contain family obituaries. Family photographs are grouped in a large album of formal portraits, mostly by Boston photographers, ca 1875-1900; a small album of snapshots, ca 1935-1950; and about a dozen mounted or framed portraits, ca 1890-1930. None are identified. Private memorials include an autograph album and birthday book, ca 1887-1890, belonging to Jamima (Jenny) Dowring Grant, Bertha and Dolly's aunt; Bertha's scrapbook, ca 1960-63, largely of obituaries, wedding notices and items of religious interest; and Angelina's diary and address book, ca 1962-74, with her notes on the weather and the deaths of her friends and members of the family.
Originals and printed materials