Fonds consists of correspondence relating to the memoirs of R.K. Finlayson, the private secretary of R.B. Bennett from 1930 to 1938, with R.K. Finlayson and others, such as Mrs. R.K. Finlayson, Duncan Finlayson, J.M. MacDonnell, and the publishers Macmillan and McClelland and Stewart; notes in the correspondence prepared by Finlayson for Mr. Wilbur concerning the Bennett years.
Fonds also includes sound recordings of a radio documentary about R.B. Bennett and interviews conducted by Wilbur of R.K. Finlayson, 1962-1967.
Wilbur, J.R.H., 1926- : Richard Wilbur, also known as J.R.H. Wilbur, is a teacher, professor, academic, political author and children and juvenile literature writer. Born in 1926, he is a graduate of Mount Allison and Queen's universities and has also studied history at the University of Toronto. He taught high school in Ontario and New Brunswick and is the founding chairman of the New Brunswick League of Historical Societies and Museums as well as being a member of the Canadian Historical Association Council. He has been a member of the department of history at the University of New Brunswick, visiting professor at Queen's University and a member of the summer school staff at Trent University.
In 1968, he left full-time university teaching to concentrate on historical writing, in particular a full-length biography of R.B. Bennett. He has written several articles and books on the Bennett period, several children and juvenile books on Canadian politics, Canadian natives, and a variety of stories relating to New Brunswick.
