Alma College fonds
https://heritagecollections.elgin.ca/link/archives1017
- Museum / Archive
- Elgin County Archives
- Part Of
- Alma College fonds
- Description Level
- Fonds
- GMD
- textual records
- Date Range
- 1877-2019
- Accession Number
- 2002-11
- 2002-22
- 2002-23
- 2003-31
- 2005-07
- 2006-40
- 2006-46
- 2007-05
- 2007-23
- 2011-09
- 2018-53
- 2019-10
- 2019-29
- 2020-04
- 2021-01
- Storage Location
- R6 S4 to 2
- M6-M7
- M5 S1 Sh3 B1
- M5 S2 Sh3 B8
- C1 Sh4 9-11
- Museum / Archive
- Elgin County Archives
- Part Of
- Alma College fonds
- Creator
- Alma College
- Description Level
- Fonds
- Accession Number
- 2002-11
- 2002-22
- 2002-23
- 2003-31
- 2005-07
- 2006-40
- 2006-46
- 2007-05
- 2007-23
- 2011-09
- 2018-53
- 2019-10
- 2019-29
- 2020-04
- 2021-01
- Storage Room
- Archives Storage Rm. 107
- Archives Storage Rm. 105
- Archives 4th Floor Storage Room
- Storage Location
- R6 S4 to 2
- M6-M7
- M5 S1 Sh3 B1
- M5 S2 Sh3 B8
- C1 Sh4 9-11
- GMD
- textual records
- Date Range
- 1877-2019
- Physical Description
- 14.9 m of textual records
- ca. 4500 photographs
- 3 art works
- 2 audio tapes
- 1 video tape
- History / Biographical
- Alma College was established as Alma Ladies College by the General Council of the Methodist Church in 1877. The charter was granted by an Act of Legislature on March 2, 1877. Alma College was owned and operated by the Methodist Church. The school was known as St. Thomas Ladies College until early in 1877 when the responsibility of naming the school was bestowed upon Sheriff Colin Munroe. He named the school Alma after his daughter and recently deceased wife. Alma College officially opened as a liberal arts school for young women on Thursday October 13, 1881. The college colours were chosen to represent the three original departments: red for music, gold for art and blue for literature. The school became recognized for the training it provided in music, drama, and the arts. It also became well-known for the strong representation of international students throughout school history. Between 1881 and ca. 1930 the College’s post-elementary level curriculum gradually evolved from that of a traditional liberal arts finishing school to private university prep school to Ontario Department of Education-sanctioned secondary school. Alma College was open to day students as early as 1907. A junior school for girls under 13 years of age was also opened in the same year, offering elementary or public school-level education (although as early as 1899 the College was enrolling students in its “Preparatory Department,” whose course of study included “Public School” grammar, arithmetic and geography). The ownership and operational management of Alma College was transferred from the Methodist Church of Canada as a result of the formation of the United Church of Canada in 1925. In 1950 the College limited instruction in its elementary-level Junior School to grades seven and eight, and beginning with the school year commencing September 1959, the College ceased operating its Junior School altogether, limiting academic instruction to grades 9-13. In 1974 the College began offering a course in Family Studies. To provide practice teaching opportunities for the secondary school students taking this course, the College re-established its Junior School for the 1975-76 school year as a co-educational day school encompassing pre-school, junior kindergarten and kindergarten. Also in 1975, a portion of the new residence was opened as Valleyview Satellite Home, a residence for female seniors. Alma College was designated as a provincial historic site on October 28, 1976 in commemoration of the school’s centennial. In 1989 the secondary school closed as a result of a labour dispute. However, the primary and music school continued. Following the closure, two companies were formed: Alma College St. Thomas and the Warner Endowment Fund. The two new corporations were chartered federally in November 1990 to separate the operations of Alma College from the trusteeship of the Warner Endowment Fund. The Warner Endowment Fund was created by the ex-students of Alma College on the occasion of the Fiftieth Anniversary of their Alma Mater and in memory of past principal Doctor Warner and his wife Mrs. Warner. Alma College separated from the United Church of Canada in 1991. Alma's Music School, Junior School and Kindergarten were scheduled to re-open on September 6, 1994, but were permanently cancelled on September 2. The secondary school was also scheduled to re-open as a co-ed facility in September. However, low enrolment was cited as problematic and the school did not re-open. Alma College finally closed in September 1994. Alma College was sold by approval of the Ontario court to Royal Cambridge Corporation, who intended to reopen the college as a co-educational institution, in January 1996. However Royal Cambridge Corporation defaulted on their mortgage payments and the college was offered up for sale once again. In August 1996 the Alma College International Alumnae Association reached an agreement with the receivers Price Waterhouse Ltd. to purchase Alma College. However in December the alumnae’s offer was rejected by the court in favour of a third offer from Royal Cambridge Corporation. Royal Cambridge Corporation again received court approval to purchase Alma College in order to open a co-educational college. By December 1997 Royal Cambridge Corporation defaulted on their mortgage payments and never succeeded in opening the school. In May 1998 a judicial sale of the buildings was conducted and aborted because all bids fell short of the reserve bid. Alma College was finally sold to a London development company led by Mr. Brian Squires in August 1998.
- Custodial History
- The Alma College Archives was established in 1985 to preserve both the records of the college and the Alma College International Alumnae Association. The college retained custody of the records on site until the Alma College Board of Management filed for bankruptcy in September 1994. On October 19, 1994 Price Waterhouse Inc. of London was appointed interim receiver and therefore obtained custody and responsibility for the records of Alma College. By permission of the court the alumnae association purchased the records in November 1997. Soon after, the alumnae association moved the records to Central United Church in St. Thomas where the records were sorted. The business and personal records were subsequently transferred to the United Church of Canada Archives. Student transcripts were transferred to the Ontario Ministry of Education. The alumnae originally intended to donate the remaining records to the Elgin County Pioneer Museum. However, Mr. Steve Peters, the Mayor of St. Thomas at the time and past volunteer Archivist for Alma College, offered an empty office at City Hall for storage of the remaining records in November 1998. Subsequently, the alumnae then moved the records to Raven's Shoe Store in St. Thomas. In March 2000 the records were furthermore moved from the shoe store to the Elgin County Administration Building. At the 2002 Alma College International Alumnae Association Reunion, the alumnae voted to transfer the records to the Elgin County Archives. The alumnae donated the records to the Elgin County Archives later the same year.
- Scope and Content
- Fonds consists of the records of the Alma College Board of Management, Council, Senate and Students' Council and includes correspondence, accounts, minutes, photographs, negatives, scrapbooks, student newspapers, yearbooks, programs and invitations to special events, blueprints and plans, and prospectuses. Scrapbooks, photograph albums and memorabilia kept by students and staff are also included. The fonds will be of particular interest to historians seeking information about Alma College in particular and about the administration, staffing, curriculum, academic standards and student life of Canadian and international women’s private boarding schools in general. The fonds will also interest students of denominational educational institutions in Canada, particularly those administered by the Methodist/United Church. Historians will also find the fonds useful for investigating the social history and commercial development of the city of St. Thomas and Elgin County, as the records provide voluminous information about local events, institutions, businesses and individuals through their interaction with Alma College and its students and staff. Genealogists seeking information about particular students and staff will find the student records and staff registers invaluable. Fonds is divided into the following series: 1.Scrapbooks 2.Alma 3.The Almafilian 4.Board of Management records 5.Board of Management Executive Committee 6.Senate minutes 7.Alma College Council minutes 8.Prospectuses 9.Special Events 10.Student records 11.Mary Powell MacKellar records 12.Miss Bone records 13.Staff records 14.Student grades 15.The Alma Mater 16.Record and log books 17.Kate Johnson MacTavish records 18.Contents of the Cornerstone 19.General Correspondence 20.Miscellaneous records 21.Accounts 22.Fundraising records 23.Photographs 24.Blueprints and building records 25.Student Council minutes 26. Alma College Alumnae Bulletin 27.Alumnae index cards 28.The Alma Buzzer 29.The Doughnut 30.Marriage Registers 31.May Day 32. 50th Anniversary 33. 75th Anniversary 34. 100th Anniversary 35. Graduation records 36. Diplomas 37. Advertisements and posters 38. Music building records 39. Academics at Alma 40. Alma Students' Guides and A-B-C 41. Alma College Directories 42. Alma College Address lists 43. Student lists 44. Staff lists 45. Student profiles 46. Letters of permission 47. Student grades 48. Alma College Session Calendars
- Name Access
- Alma College
- Alma Ladies College
- St. Thomas Ladies College
- Subject Access
- Education
- Historic Sites
- Schools
- Women
- Access Restriction
- Requests for Alma College official student records should be directed to the Student Records Field Services Branch at the Ministry of Education by email at student.records@ontario.ca, or by phone at 416-212-8462.
- Finding Aid
- Finding Aids are available in Reference Room- REF 34 and beside the collection- Storage Rm. 107- R6 S2 Sh6
Images
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