Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
Elizabeth (Poole) Shand fonds
General material designation
- Textual record
- Graphic material
- Object
Parallel title
Other title information
Title statements of responsibility
Title notes
Level of description
Fonds
Repository
Reference code
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)
Physical description area
Physical description
0.01 m of textual records
1 memento box
49 photos; 1 negative
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
Biographical history
Elizabeth Shand (née Poole) was the daughter of Elizabeth Poole who worked as nurse and medium with the Hamilton family. Elizabeth (commonly known as Bessie) was born October 3, 1895 in Rankinston, Scotland. She emigrated to Canada with her family in 1904. By February 1906, the family was settled in the Winnipeg neighbourhood of Elmwood. In 1910, the Hamiltons moved to their Elmwood house at 185 Kelvin Street (now 185 Henderson Highway), a 10-minute walk from where the Poole family was living at 270 Johnson Avenue West.
Bessie married Harold Shand on October 3, 1917 at the King Memorial Presbyterian Church on 127 Cobourg Avenue in Winnipeg. Harold Shand was an engineer with the Greater Winnipeg Water District. Bessie and Harold had three children: Ian (1919-1978), Elizabeth Jean (Betty) (1922-2011), and Neil (1931-2004). For many years, the family lived at 7 Neil Place in East Kildonan, a Colonial-style house designed by Harold Shand.
Bessie Shand volunteered for the St. John’s College Guild (which later became the St. John’s Ravenscourt School Guild) during the 1930s and 1940s. She also was the secretary of the women’s auxiliary and the war work committee of the Red Cross in the late 1930s. Shand was a member of the Crafts Guild of Manitoba and a prize-winning weaver. In 1958, Shand was elected president of the Guild of Canadian Weavers, Manitoba Branch. Bessie Shand was frequently featured in the society pages of the Winnipeg Tribune and the Free Press.
In the 1920s, Bessie Shand attended séances at the Hamilton home. After T.G. Hamilton’s death in 1935, both Bessie and Harold Shand participated in the séances organized by Lillian Hamilton in 1935 and 1936. Bessie even substituted as a medium in experiments conducted by Lillian Hamilton and Dr. Bruce Chown. It is possible that Bessie Shand could be the medium referred to as “Hope” in the 1938 letter from Reverend W.R. Wood contained in this collection. According to archivist Walter Meyer zu Erpen, Bessie Shand’s daughter Betty Jean confirmed that Bessie practiced automatic writing and occasionally acted as a medium. Betty Jean also said that the Shand family had a few sittings in their own home.
In 1921, Harold Shand was a witness to one of Elizabeth Poole’s (Bessie’s mother) table-tilting sessions at the Hamilton home. Betty Jean also said that her father sometimes attended the Hamilton séances to assist with loading the cameras. In the 1930s and 1940s, he also helped Lillian Hamilton when she needed photographic prints from the séances for lending. Harold was one of the honourary pallbearers at Lillian Hamilton’s funeral in 1956.
Harold Shand died in Winnipeg in 1960. Bessie Shand died in 1963 in Vancouver.
Custodial history
These records were in the custody of Elizabeth (Poole) Shand's grandson Richard Shand who donated them to the archives in 2016. Walter Meyer zu Erpen, President of the Survival Research Institute of Canada, facilitated the donation of this collection.
Scope and content
This fonds contains photographs and documents related to seances, and to T.G. Hamilton and Elizabeth Poole (Elizabeth Shand's mother). These records were saved by Elizabeth (Poole) Shand in a cardboard memento box and this box has been included in the fonds.
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 to access.
Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication
Finding aids
Generated finding aid
Associated materials
Accruals
No further accruals are expected.
Accompanying material
Draft notes by Walter Meyer zu Erpen about Elizabeth (Poole) Shand and her mother are located in folder 15.
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
Draft
Level of detail
Partial
Dates of creation, revision and deletion
Created by M. Horodyski (August 2019).
Language of description
- English
Script of description
Sources
Draft notes by Walter Meyer zu Erpen and the Winnipeg Free Press.