Fonds Mss 56, Pc 76 (A.84-42, A.85-15, A.87-06, A.87-58, A.90-54, A.93-16, A.97-48, A.98-72) - Charles William Gordon fonds

Title and statement of responsibility area

Title proper

Charles William Gordon fonds

General material designation

Parallel title

Other title information

Title statements of responsibility

Title notes

Level of description

Fonds

Reference code

CA UMASC Mss 56, Pc 76 (A.84-42, A.85-15, A.87-06, A.87-58, A.90-54, A.93-16, A.97-48, A.98-72)

Edition area

Edition statement

Edition statement of responsibility

Class of material specific details area

Statement of scale (cartographic)

Statement of projection (cartographic)

Statement of coordinates (cartographic)

Statement of scale (architectural)

Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)

Dates of creation area

Date(s)

  • 1883-1937, 1948, 1982 (Creation)

Physical description area

Physical description

6.25 m of textual records.
81 photographs.
58 postcards.

Publisher's series area

Title proper of publisher's series

Parallel titles of publisher's series

Other title information of publisher's series

Statement of responsibility relating to publisher's series

Numbering within publisher's series

Note on publisher's series

Archival description area

Name of creator

(1860-1937)

Biographical history

Charles Gordon was born in Glengarry County, Ontario. His father was a Scottish Presbyterian minister who came to Canada to preach to the Scottish settlement near Sherbrook in the Eastern Townships of Quebec. Gordon graduated from the University of Toronto and then attended Knox College. He began his church work as a missionary in Southern Manitoba and was ordained in Calgary in 1890. In 1894, he came to Winnipeg to the pulpit of St. Stephen's where he remained to the end of his ministerial career. Gordon began his writing career in 1896 with a short story for the Presbyterian paper The Westminster Magazine. When he wrote his first book Black Rock: A Tale of the Selkirks, he introduced his pen-name "Ralph Connor". By the time he wrote The Sky Pilot (1899), he had established his name in literary circles. He also wrote The Man From Glengarry (1901), Glengarry School Days (1901), The Prospector (1904), The Life of James Robertson (1908) and The Foreigner (1909). In total, Gordon wrote over thirty novels, five million copies of which were sold around the world.

Custodial history

The fonds was donated to University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collection by the Gordon family in three instalments in 1969, 1987 and 1997.

Scope and content

The fonds contains all of Charles Gordon's known literary manuscripts, his ministry records, his papers, writings and maps as a chaplain in the Canadian army in World War I, his papers as a labour negotiator in many Winnipeg labour disputes before and after the war, and various personal papers including those as Moderator of the Presbyterian Church. His literary papers consist of original manuscripts, publishers' correspondence, and abundant fan mail. The photographs are mainly of Gordon, the family cottage at Lake of the Woods, and some pictures of his ministry.

Notes area

Physical condition

Immediate source of acquisition

Arrangement

Language of material

  • English

Script of material

Location of originals

Availability of other formats

Restrictions on access

There are no restrictions on this material.

Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication

Finding aids

The finding aid is available in published form, see For God, King, Pen & Country (Winnipeg: The University of Manitoba, 1990). A printed finding aid is also available in the Archives reading room and an on-line finding aid is available at the link below: MSS 56, PC 76 (A.84-42, A.85-15, A.87-06, A.87-58, A.90-54, A.93-16, A.97-48, A.98-72)

Associated materials

Digitized Material: Canadian Wartime Experience

Related materials

Accruals

Alternative identifier(s)

Standard number area

Standard number

Access points

Subject access points

Place access points

Name access points

Genre access points

Control area

Description record identifier

Institution identifier

Rules or conventions

Status

Level of detail

Dates of creation, revision and deletion

Language of description

Script of description

Sources

Accession area

Related subjects

Related people and organizations

Related places

Related genres