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<\/a>Maria Spelterini was the first woman to cross the Niagara River on a tightrope and often performed various feats including sitting, pushing a wheelbarrow and walking with buckets on her feet. This colour poster from approximately 1877 can be viewed by appointment in Brock Library\u2019s Archives and Special Collections.<\/p><\/div>\n
Brock is the new home of the Campbell Family Fonds<\/a> collection, which contains personal and business records dating from 1797 to 1973. Thanks to the generous donation of Andy Campbell, great grandson of John S. Campbell and Elizabeth Oille, the records of a family deeply rooted in St. Catharines\u2019 history is being preserved for future generations.<\/p>\n Campbell\u2019s ancestors include some of the city\u2019s most prominent citizens, including Dr. Lucius Oille, who was elected as St. Catharines second mayor in 1878, served as first chairman of the waterworks and was a major contributor to the railway. Another of Campbell\u2019s ancestors was John S. Campbell, a judge who served as mayor in 1908 and 1909 and as the first chairman of St. Catharines Public Utilities in 1914.<\/p>\n \u201cBeing born and raised in St. Catharines certainly gives me a connection to our community,\u201d Campbell says. \u201cHowever, becoming aware of my family\u2019s historical involvement, contributions and impact on the city beyond my father\u2019s leadership role with the Welland Canal and my grandfather\u2019s involvement with the Lincoln and Welland Regiment has been enlightening.\u201d<\/p>\n Local military history is the focus of another of the collections added by the Brock Library in 2023 when it acquired seven letters written by Duncan Campbell, who is not related to Andy Campbell, a soldier assigned to the 83rd (County of Dublin) Regiment of Foot.<\/p>\n While many archival collections feature documents created by high-ranking officials, these letters provide insight into the experiences of a lower-ranking officer. Addressed to his family in Scotland, the letters detail the soldier\u2019s battles in Lower Canada and travels to rebel hotspots from 1837 to 1838.<\/p>\n \u201cThese letters are historically significant because they provide raw, unfiltered information about what was happening at the time,\u201d says Brock Archives Processing Specialist Chantal Cameron.<\/p>\n Six of the seven letters provide examples of cross writing \u2014 when an author writes a letter from left to right and then rotates the page 90 degrees to write over the existing text.<\/p>\n \u201cThis was common practice at the time,\u201d says Cameron. \u201cPostage was expensive, and often paper and writing supplies were not readily available.\u201d<\/p>\n Other notable collections added in 2023 include an unpublished report manuscript titled Remarks etc. on the Navigation of the Lakes Erie, St. Clair, Huron and Ontario<\/em> by Henry Kent, a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy who wrote a Great Lakes navigation guidebook shortly after the War of 1812, and the Sherman Zavitz fonds, a personal collection of his writings as the official historian for the City of Niagara Falls from 1994 to 2019.<\/p>\n Aids for Duncan Campbell\u2019s letters<\/a> the Campbell Family Fonds<\/a> and other materials are available on Brock University\u2019s Archives and Special Collections<\/a> website.<\/p>\n For access to the physical collections, please email archives@brocku.ca<\/a> to schedule an appointment before visiting.<\/p>\n\n\t