The fonds consists of records created and accumulated in the course of film and television production activities. It provides an integrated and holistic view of executive, creative and operational areas at Muse and its affiliates. The material is particularly strong in documents relating to the legal, financing, and management aspects of the industry, revealing the behind the-scenes requirements for sustainable and commercially-successful production. This depth of administrative records provides a significant complement to the creative materials generally found in archival film holdings. The materials serve to illustrate the economic impact of cultural industries on communities, including business, labour, and suppliers, as well as talent. They also document the various government incentive programs from the perspective of theproducer.

While the focus in making the archival selection has been on executive and production records, the fonds also contains a broad sampling of technical, craft and creative activities. It includes examples of script development, casting, locations, wardrobe, continuity, shooting and production logistics, promotion, and distribution. Scripts for all Muse productions are included. From the perspective of content development, Muse productions have included numerous productions based or derived from real life stories, including Roch Thériault, Nancy Eaton, Jane Doe, Jerri Nielsen, Rudy Guiliani, and Victor Davis. There are also examples of productions related to musical performers the Monkees, and Ricky Nelson.

The fonds documents the work of numerous Canadian directors, including Anne Wheeler, Jerry Ciccoritti, Bruce McDonald, Gary Yates, Holly Dale, Christian Duguay, Roger Spottiswoode, Gary Burns, Sturla Gunnarsson, John L’Ecuyer, as well as international directors such as Darren Aronofsky.

The audio-visual materials cover completed, as-released and as-broadcast productions in professional formats (usually masters on Digital Beta) for domestic and international versions. Selected production materials have also been retained, particularly with a view to providing examples of production processes and creative decisions.

The audio-visual programs provide a strong archival record of successful prime-time television content produced by a Canadian company, and viewed both domestically and internationally.

The date range covers the establishment of Muse in 1998, including some legacy productions from Pebblehut, through to 2007.

The fonds consists of textual records related to the operations and administration of the Percé Handicrafts Guild, the Black Whale Shop, as well other community initiatives sponsored by Percé Handicrafts Guild such as the the Black Whale Dental Clinic, and photographs of the shop and its volunteers. Operational and administrative files are intermingled with a range of informal correspondence, in particular many letters between Ethel Renouf and Phyllis Birks, and files of anecdotal notes and clips related to the Black Whale shop as well as to the history, flora, and geology of the Gaspé region.

Formal administrative records consist of letters patent for the Percé Handicrafts Guild, full minutes for 1939, and brief annual summaries of activities from 1933 to 1975. Legal documents comprise licence and registration papers, together with pertinent correspondence, 1938-1953, and a correspondence file relating to rental of the shop building. The financial side is illustrated by a cash book, 1934, and files of miscellaneous receipts, inventories, balance sheets and bookkeeping instructions, 1935-1971. Almost half the records of the Black Whale are informal in nature, for example, letters from Ethel Renouf to Phyllis Birks mixing personal news with accounts of shop operations and craft production, 1934-1937. Files of anecdotal notes and clippings relate the shop and to the history of the Gaspé, as well as on the flora and geology of the region. The fonds includes a copy of The Black Whale cookbook and some related records.. Some correspondence, budget notes and flyers pertain to the work of the Dental Clinic, 1939-1940. Sixty photographs featuring different views of the Black Whale handicrafts shop in Percé, Quebec, are also included. A number of photographs are individual and group portraits of the volunteers who created and ran the shop, including Ethel Renouf. A few photographs document a Black Whale Shop stand at the University of Montreal.

Description forthcoming.
Please contact McGill University Archives for further information: 514-398-4711 or refdesk.archives@mcgill.ca

The fonds contains memorabilia from Basil C. MacLean's years at McGill University, including Old McGill yearbooks (1925, 1929), McGill knitted button-up sweater, a silverware set with the McGill crest, a small oval silver tray, a silver tureen with lid, 2 pennants and 8 photographs which include the Montreal General Hospital 1927-30, Faculty of Medicine 1926, Alpha Delta Chapter Fraternity, 1924-25 and the McGill Student's Executive Council, 1924-26.

The Joseph Aspler fonds contains photographs, slides and negatives of productions of McGill Savoy Society, Red and White Revue and players' theatre.

Description forthcoming.
Please contact McGill University Archives for further information: 514-398-4711 or refdesk.archives@mcgill.ca

restricted

The Aileen Ross fonds consists mainly of correspondence (1935-1990), research files, a brief autobiography (1940-1980), biographical material (1920-1990), and specific talks (1942-1973). Included are personal diaries (1918-1962), appointment books (1946-1992), and Matthew Ibbotson's correspondence to Ross (1921-1927). Books, original and printed articles, newspaper clippings, and reviews of books and articles are also part of the collection. Non textual records consist of several photographs.

Very few of the McLeod papers actually concern the Observatory. However, his work for the railways and in Newfoundland is documented, as are his views on the education and employment of engineers. The basic record for the early part of his career is a diary kept from 1870 to 1875, regarding student days and early work on the Observatory. An essay, "Winter under canvas" (1868) describes an early surveying job, and a letter from his father (1872) inquires about his academic progress. His work for the railways is documented by three letters of recommendation, and two letters (one from Stanford Fleming) on the work of his colleagues in the West. The Newfoundland survey (1875) is described in McLeod's diary, a manuscript essay "Across Newfoundland" (1876), his printed reports and three letters. His work at McGill is represented by six letters (largely official acknowledgements of appointments), and McLeod's manuscript notes on McGill history. McLeod's concern with the engineering profession is reflected in two addresses on education and professional development, and copies of about a dozen letters to Sir Wilfrid Laurier (1906-1908), C.A. McGrath and E.F. Wurtele (1912), largely on the employment of engineers in the civil service.

Lewis' papers consist of a few scattered items apparently assembled as part of his research for Royal Victoria Hospital 1887-1949, Montreal, McGill University Press, 1969. Newspaper clippings, 1932-1964, deal with Montréal and R.V.H. history. Lewis' correspondence, 1965-1971, with the Dominion Archivist, the McGill Archives, Dr. John Cleland, Mrs. Ellen Scrimger and others discusses various historical materials connected with the hospital. Also includes notes on material in the R.V.H. archives, some hospital newsletters and photographs, and a few reprints and addresses.