The accession consists of a sketchbook entitled "CANADA / 1935", by the German/American artist P. Schaaphaus containing twenty-five (25) drawings of Montfort, Quebec and surrounding area, some of which are unfinished and one of which is by another, presumably local artist, Alfred Marois. Montfort is located north of Montreal and just west of Morin Heights and Saint-Sauveur-des-Monts in the Laurentian Mountains.
Subject matter depicted includes: various views of the village of Montfort, (including the general store); views of the Catholic orphanage and outlying buildings (i.e. the main building, the barn, the hay shed); views of the country residence (landhaus) of one Karl Geiger at Montfort including an interior livingroom view; views of mirror lake adjacent to the Geiger residence showing the Geiger dock; as well as other miscellaneous views or locations (i.e. rural road signage, fishing activity at Long Lake(?), outline view of an unidentified woman's head, unidentified religious monument with the figure of a priest holding a cross, views of another private residence near Morin Heights and a club house at "Newaygo[?], Canada" ).
The New York City artist P. Schaaphaus (active early 20th century), his wife Milly and a woman named Elizabeth Pfeil were the guests of Karl Geiger, late in the Summer of 1935. Geiger was a friend of the artist's from Montreal, who owned a country residence at Montfort, Quebec and during his stay at Montfort, the artist executed these drawings. The German inscription on the inside of the front cover of the sketchbook is translated as follows: "Trip to Canada / 13 August -- 13 September / 1935 // by car with Milly and Elizabeth Pfeil / Guests at Karl Geiger's 16 Aug., in Montreal / 861 Wilder Ave. / and in his country house in the Laurentian Mountains / from 17 Aug. - 8 Septbr. 1935".
Mounted on the last five pages of the sketchbook are twenty-eight (28) postcards and seven (7) view cards depicting various views of New York State, Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
Also mounted on the inside back cover of the sketchbook are two manuscript pages, handwritten on both sides in old German/Gothic* script, containing several humourous extempore limericks/rhymes bearing the title "Schauer - Ballade" (Horror Ballads/Poems). [*The old Gothic script was abolished in Germany in the 1930's under Hitler.]
