This important series provides detailed information on the company administrative, corporate and operational activities. It includes five groups of documentation:
Corporate records; - a voluminous correspondence pertain to operational and administrative activities; - contracts files and agreements pertaining to employees, elevators and vessels operations; - compensation and insurance files; - personal insurance files; - files on the production of the company's newspaper "The Paterson News".
The corporate records include all type of documentation relating to a wide variety of companies controlled by or in which Paterson family had an interest. These were mainly local firms involved in grain trade, shipping, mining, pulp and paper activities and financial services. These firms are located in Thunder Bay and Winnipeg. They are: Kam Lumber, Mount McKay Railway, Canadian Protein Pellets Ltd., Fort William Hotels Ltd., Norcom Homes Ltd., Polaris Navigation Ltd., Steep Rock Iron Mines Ltd., Northwest Design & Fabrication Ltd., Western Engineering Services Ltd., Winnipeg Charterers Ltd., Paterson Investments Ltd., and others. The documentation consists of stock and investments, incorporation letter patents, By-Laws, articles of amendment, minute books, stock certificates, receipts, etc.
The correspondence forms the most vital part of the documentation. It pertains to crew injuries and compensation from 1960 to 2000 as well as special repairs made on vessels. The files are arranged and described by the name of the crew and by the name of the ship in chronological order. The special repairs files refer to specific vessel incidents, damages, collisions or groundings. They are described in chronological order by name.
Contract files cover the operational activities of N.M. Paterson & Sons Limited between 1975 and 2002. These contracts cover expenditures to operate vessels and transporting material. They were signed to operate buildings, office spaces, elevators, Paterson residences, automobiles, equipment, furniture and properties owned by the company. Lists of all contracts are available for each year. They provide information on employees' tasks as well as additional company instructions. Included in these records are documents related to the engagement of employees (managers, officers, captains, mates, chief engineers, etc.) and the management of their pensions and retirements.
The compensation and insurance files pertain to company properties, employees, grain offices, elevators, and the Paterson family. Insurance policies dated between 1935 and 1982 cover damages made to company buildings - this includes country grain elevators, mercantile buildings, terminal buildings, warehouses, cabin-trailers, workshops and offices. These policies also cover the contents of the buildings including machinery, office equipment, personal property of employees, agricultural fertilizers and chemicals, grain, seeds or any other stock stored in a Paterson elevator or transported to or from a Paterson elevator. The policies are arranged in chronological order starting with the latest date and ending with the most recent. They are then arranged in alphabetical order according to insurance company and policy coverage.
The personal insurance files of the Paterson family include policies on the life of Norman M. Paterson, his wife and children; policies on private family dwellings and property including summer houses, private residences in Fort William and Thunder Bay automobiles and boats; and policies on household contents including paintings, furniture, furs and jewellery. The policies are arranged in chronological order starting with the latest date and ending with the most recent. They are then arranged in alphabetical order according to insurance company and policy coverage.
Insurance policies for the Paterson Sailors Memorial in Fort William can also be found in this series. The Sailors Memorial was erected in 1946 to commemorate the merchant seafarers and sailors that sailed with the Paterson fleet and were killed during the Second World War.
During the 1940s, N.M. Paterson & Sons Limited produced a bulletin for its employees. The purpose of this bulletin was to provide information on the company's operations and activities. Bulletins were published like a monthly journal and were used to inform employees of social events, awards and special ceremonies. It provided an occasion for the President and the Vice-President to address messages to employees. These bulletins are quite useful as they show the evolution of the company's activities and social activities which are not usually well-documented in other records.
Photographs in this series pertain to the personnel of the company. Many of them include group portraits, which were taken at special occasions such as the retirement of employees, annual dinners, awards, club events and banquets.
This series contains 4 items of art material in container 779. The first one is a colour drawing entitled "Mock Up" Paterson Elevator Building Image, which was probably used for publicity purposes. The second is a watercolour drawing of a Paterson grain elevator and ship produced in 1920 by the artist H. Mears. The third one is a colour print signed by the artist Peter Humeniuk in 1993 showing a ship and dockside buildings (taken from textual container 779). The container 1512 contains a metal plate used by the administration to engrave the company's logo on documents, which was used to make plaques for special retirement ceremonies or special award ceremonies.
