Series consists of reference material collected by Diefenbaker and his office staff while he served as Prime Minister and during his second term as Leader of the Opposition. Types of records include correspondence, reports, speech notes, press clippings, and some published material. The series is arranged into eight groupings: General, 1957-1967; Election Campaign 1958, 1952- 1958; Election Campaign 1965, 1962-1965; Paul Martineau, 1958-1960; Merril Menzies, 1942-1959; B.T. Richardson, 1954-1964; Sant Singh, 1960-1965, and Thomas Van Dusen, 1963-1966. The records in each of the subseries are arranged alphabetically and chronologically.
The General Reference sub-series (Vols 1-266), which constitutes the majority of the series, contains the general reference files used by Diefenbaker and his staff.
The 1958 Election Campaign sub-series (Vols 267-270) and the Election Campaign, 1962-1965 subseries, (Vols 271-273) contain reference material accumulated by Diefenbaker's staff for the 1958 and 1965 election campaigns respectively.
The Paul Martineau sub-series (Vols 273-274) contains reference material assembled by Paul Martineau while he served as Diefenbaker's Parliamentary Secretary. Martineau, born in Bryson, Quebec in 1921, was a lawyer and Conservative Member of Parliament for Pontiac-Temiscamingue from 1958 to 1965. He served as Diefenbaker's Parliamentary Secretary (1959-1961), Deputy Speaker (1962), and Minister of Mines and Technical Services (1962-1963).
The Merril Menzies sub-series (Vols 274-288) contains reference material accumulated by Merril Menzies while serving as Diefenbaker's economic advisor. Menzies was an economist and brother-in-law of Dr. Glen Green, one of Diefenbaker's closest political supporters in Prince Albert. In late 1956 Green gave Diefenbaker a paper by Menzies on the possibilities of northern development in Canada. As a result, Menzies became Diefenbaker's chief economic advisor and the force behind the Northern Vision policy of the 1958 campaign. He resigned his position prior to the 1963 election.
The B.T. Richardson sub-series (Vols 288-300) contains reference material assembled by Burton T. Richardson while serving as Diefenbaker's special assistant. Burton Taylor Richardson was a journalist, born in Manitoba in 1906. He was editor of the Toronto Telegram from 1953 to 1962 and special assistant to John Diefenbaker from 1963 to 1966. He wrote Canada and Mr. Diefenbaker in 1962 and briefly helped Diefenbaker with his own memoirs.
The Sant Singh sub-series (Vols 301-302) contains the reference material assembled by Dr. Sant Singh. Dr. Singh served as an assistant to John Diefenbaker during the 1960s.
The Thomas Van Dusen sub-series (Vols 303-315) contains the reference material assembled by Thomas Van Dusen. Van Dusen served as Diefenbaker's executive assistant 1964-1967.
Available on microfilm reels M-8928 to M-8950, M-9151 to M-9250, and M-9261 to M-9293.
