Collection search - Helen and Bill Wright fonds [textual record]

Record information – Brief
1
Helen and Bill Wright fonds [textual record]

Hierarchical level:

Fonds

Date:

1928-1964.

Reference:

R5101-0-7-E, MG31-D208

Type of material:

Textual material

Found in:

Archives / Collections and Fonds

Item ID number:

98335

Context of this record:

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Helen and Bill Wright fonds
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Record information – Details
Date(s):

1928-1964.

Place of creation:

No place, unknown, or undetermined

Extent:

2.7 cm of textual records (129 p.).

Language of material:

English

Scope and content:

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Fonds consists of correspondence of Bill Wright and Helen Wright to his parents in Matheson, Ontario. Most of the earlier correspondence was written by Bill, the later largely by his wife and sometimes by his children. It is in a booklet with the title "Dear Folks 1928-1964" with an unsigned introduction. The correspondence concerns family life on a railway school car which travelled to isolated groups of children across northern Ontario. It is noted that many of the children were of Finnish or Indian descent. The route of the car changed from year to year depending on the stations with school age children who had no access to other schools. From 1937 on it covered the Chapleau to White River route. Much of the correspondence concerns the railway, weather, gardening and summer at their cottage at Esher north of Chapleau. The correspondence was used as a major source for Andrew Clement's book The Bell and the Book, 1987 on the history of the railway school cars.

Provenance:

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Wright, Bill

Additional name(s):

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Wright, Helen

Biography/Administrative history:

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Wright, Bill : Bill Wright, teacher, was born in London, England the son of immigrants who homesteaded in Matheson, Ontario. He attended Teachers College in North Bay and taught school first in Muskoka. In 1928 he was hired by the Ontario Department of Education to teach children on the Canadian Pacific Railroad School Car No. 2 between Fort William and Kenora. He met Helen Atkinson another teacher in 1932 and they were married in 1933. Bill continued teaching on the School Car for forty years until 1967 when he retired. Helen and he raised four children on the school car which was also their residence. After the children were grown she assisted by teaching children with language difficulties or helping grades 9 and 10 with their supervised correspondence courses. Both the C.N.R. and the C.P.R. phased out their school car programs in 1967. School car No. 2 was kept by the C.P.R. for display in the museum at Delson, Quebec.

Finding aid:

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(No finding aid)

Additional information:

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General note:

Compiled by the Wright Family from correspondence found in the Wright Family home in Matheson. Acquired through Kate Campbell, Ontario Ministry of Citizenship and Culture, Heritage Branch, Museum Section in 1987.
Subject heading:

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Teachers - Ontario, 1928-1964 "Dear Folks 1928-1964", 1928-1964

Visiting teachers - Ontario, 1928-1964

Schools, Traveling - Ontario, Northern, 1928-1964
Source:

Private

Related control no.:

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1987/0398

Former archival reference no.:

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MG31-D208
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Textual records

[Consultation90 Open]

Volume [MG31 D 208] 1

[Consultation 90 Open]

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Date modified:: 2024-07-04