Fonds MSS 014 - Hamilton Family fonds

Title and statement of responsibility area

Title proper

Hamilton Family fonds

General material designation

Parallel title

T.G. Hamilton fonds

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Fonds

Reference code

CA UMASC MSS 014

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Date(s)

  • 1919-1986 (Creation)

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Physical description

2.5 m of textual records and other material.

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Name of creator

(1873-1935)

Biographical history

Dr. T.G. (Thomas Glendenning) Hamilton was born in Agincourt, Ontario in 1873. In 1883, his family moved west to Saskatchewan and was among the first pioneer families to settle in Saskatoon. After his father died in 1891, his mother moved the family to Winnipeg where young T.G. Hamilton attended Manitoba College. He graduated from medical school in 1903, completed his internship at the Winnipeg General Hospital in 1904, and commenced practice in the district of Elmwood within Winnipeg in 1905. In 1915, he was President of the Manitoba Medical Association. Hamilton also served on the Public School Board for nine years, one year as chairman. He was also elected a member of the provincial legislature in 1914-1915. In 1918, Hamilton investigated paranormal activity briefly, but began in earnest in 1920 after the death of his three year old twin son Arthur. His aim was the investigation of paranormal phenomena such as rappings, psychokinesis, ectoplasms, and materializations under scientific conditions that would minimize any possibility of error. His work became known in the United Kingdom, Europe, and the United States. Between 1926 and 1935, he presented eighty-six lectures and wrote numerous articles that were published in Canada and abroad. Dr. Hamilton's wife, Lillian, carried on his paranormal experimentations following his death in 1935.

Custodial history

The fonds was donated to University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections by T.G. and Lillian's daughter, Margaret Hamilton Bach, and her daughters in several instalments between 1979 and 1986. A further acession was donated in 2012 by Dorothy Reynolds Bach, Margaret Hamilton Bach's Daughter, with Walter Meyer zu Erpen, President of the Survival Research Institute of Canada, acting as the transfering agent.

Scope and content

The fonds is primarily related to Dr. T.G. and Lillian Hamilton's investigations of psychic phenomena spanning the years 1918 to 1945. The subject matter of the records includes rappings, clairvoyance, trance states and trance charts, telekinesis, wax molds, bell-ringing, trance scripts and visions, as well as teleplasmic manifestations. The records are in the following various formats: scrapbooks, seance attendance records and registers, affidavits, automatic writings, correspondence, speeches and lectures, newsclippings, journal articles, books, photographs, glass plate negatives and positives, prints, slides, tapes, manuscripts, and promotional materials related to major publications. All positive prints taken from the photographic negatives have been retained with the written records of the experiments which they illustrate. Almost all the glass plate negatives were photographed for archival purposes, and the black and white glossy print collection is also available. A library of related books and journals which accompanied the collection has been separately catalogued and is available. An acession from 2012, donated by Margaret Hamilton Bach's Daughter, Dorothy Reynolds Bach, contains a photo of Lillian May Hamilton, ca. late 1940s, several photographs taken in the 1930s that ended up in the book "Intention and Survival", and various reviews of that book and "Is Survival a Fact?" Also included is Lillian May Hamilton's personal copy of "Intention and Survival".

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Physical condition

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Language of material

  • English

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There are no restrictions on this material.

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Finding aids

A printed finding aid can be downloaded from this description. An earlier accession is available at the link below: MSS 14 (A.79-21, A.79-41, A.79-52, A.79-56, A.79-65, A.80-08, A.80-25, A.81-09, A.86-56)

Generated finding aid

Associated materials

This description is also available in: Français Deutsch 日本語 Polski

Compilation of photographs set to original music (also on UMA-TV)

For more information on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's visit to Winnipeg in 1923 and his participation in T.G. Hamilton's experimentations, see Michael W. Homer's article in Manitoba History titled "Arthur Conan Doyle's Adventures in Winnipeg."

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Alternative identifier(s)

Photograph Collection

PC 012

Tape Collection

TC 070

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