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Background
History
As early as 1924,
Canadian Pacific Railway made a concerted effort to collect, preserve
and make available documentation, photographs and artifacts pertaining
to the Company's history.
Always conscious
of the great significance of the CPR to the development of Canada and
immensely proud of those achievements, company officers ensured that a
tangible corporate memory was recorded and retained.
| In 1924,
Chairman and President E.W. Beatty authorized the establishment
of the Archives section of the CPR Library with a mandate to
collect significant historical documents from current and retired
employees. The impetus for this activity arose when research
began for a monograph on Canadian Pacific and much of the historical
record was not immediately available. (The first edition of
the monograph was not published until 1937 under the title Canadian
Pacific Facts and Figures, and was first in a series of educational
and self-improvement texts produced for the benefit of company
employees.) |
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Under
Beatty's direction, J.S. Dennis, Chief Commissioner of CPR's
Department of Colonization and Development, sent a letter
to employees and pensioners requesting their assistance in
building a collection for the Library and Bureau of Canadian
Information within his department.
In the
1930s, the company Librarian, Mrs. M.E. Bevington, continued
the process of collecting and organizing the precious material,
which though modest in size became the nucleus of what later
grew to one of the largest corporate archives in Canada.
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| In 1965,
J.C. Bonar was appointed Archivist, having served previously
as Assistant Corporate Secretary. Bonar had a scholarly grasp
of economics, business methods, and corporate history and his
various notes and reports comprise an important contribution
to the documentation of CPR history. |
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| In the
1970s, a new phase in the Archives' development was launched.
In the aftermath of the Canadian centennial in 1967, in which
CP played a significant role, and as a result of a burgeoning
interest in popular history, Canadians expressed a growing interest
in the history of their beloved company and the ways in which
it had touched their lives. Requests for information poured
in and were directed to a particular desk in the Public Relations
and Advertising Department - that of Omer Lavallée. |
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| Omer
Lavallée had emerged as the pre-eminent authority on
all aspects of Canadian Pacific history, and more generally,
on transportation history and economics. Lavallée was
named Supervisor, Special Projects and Corporate Archives in
1973 and retired in 1986 as Corporate Archivist and Historian
Emeritus. During his tenure, voluminous quantities of early
company documents were transferred to the custody of the Archives
from various company departments. As well, Lavallée spearheaded
the collection of objects deemed surplus when rail and ships
passenger services were phased out. But his contribution is
remembered more personally by scores of researchers, rail fans,
writers and others, with whom he generously shared his encyclopedic
knowledge. Omer Lavallée retired in 1986 and was inducted
into the Order of Canada in 1989. Following his death in 1992,
the reading room of Canadian Pacific Archives was named in his
honor. |
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| Management
of the Archives continued under the able supervision of Jim
Shields who had worked diligently at Omer's side from 1973,
bringing the collection up to professional standards of arrangement,
description and conservation. Shields' cataloguing work on the
vast photographic collection has helped to earn it the reputation
of being "one of Canada's finest photo libraries." |
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In 1989,
Canadian Pacific Railway renewed their commitment to preserve
the collection when Judith Nefsky joined the Archives and
was eventually appointed Corporate Archivist. Under Ms. Nefsky's
12-year tenure, the charming, but impractical, office in the
"small tower" of the Price wing of Windsor Station
was left behind and specially designed premises were opened
on the ground level of the Painter wing. The collection, which
had been dispersed in various vaults throughout Windsor Station,
was centralized in this location. A sophisticated computerized
collections management database system now facilitates access
to the corporate memory, along with a dedicated staff. Archives
now falls under the management of Carol Lacourte, who also
manages CPR's Business Information Services, with Calgary-based
Jonathan Hanna fulfilling the role of Corporate Historian.
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| An emphasis
continues to be placed on internal business purposes, however,
Archives' mandate within the company has expanded. Canadian
Pacific Railway Archives provides fee-based scholarly research
on a broad range of subjects relating to the railway's history
as well as decorative and visual content to a diverse range
of professional users interested in the role of CPR in Canadian
development. |
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All
About CPR Archives
CPR Archives
is one of the most significant corporate collections in Canada,
documenting the evolution of the company since its incorporation
in 1881, and its contributions to the development of the country.
Although it
is a private collection with the primary function of serving the
business requirements of Canadian Pacific Railway, special arrangements
can be made for access to the Archives for research or commercial
purposes, upon submission of a written request. Access is provided
at the discretion of the company. Click
here to contact us.
The collection
contains documents, publications, photographs, graphic artwork and
artifacts created and collected over the course of the company's
existence. While the railway is the primary focus, other business
entities and activities developed or acquired by Canadian Pacific
are also reflected in the collection: hotels, resorts & tourism;
ships, immigration & colonization; and to a lesser extent airlines,
natural resources, and other ventures. The interest of Canadian
Pacific in fine arts, folk arts and popular culture is also documented.
CPR Archives
has collected research papers and publications from those who have
used the Archives for their studies. The range of subjects is vast
and includes: railway technology and operations; economics; accounting;
art and architectural history; labor and management studies; biographical
works; international relations, community histories, etc.
Other products
of archival use include films & videos, newspaper and magazine
articles, displays and exhibitions, and new media. |
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