Sandford Fleming fonds [textual record (microform), graphic material, cartographic material]

Fonds consists of textual records divided into 11 series. This material includes correspondence; letterbooks; memoranda; notes; financial journals; telegram books; travel journals; diaries; printed matter; addresses, diplomas, certificates and newspaper clippings from Sir Sandford Fleming concerning the Canadian Pacific and Intercolonial Railways; Canadian and Imperial affairs; Queen's University; business and financial affairs; personal papers; travel; and telegraph service. Fonds contains photographs depicting the construction of the Intercolonial Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway; several U.S. railways; and various locales in Western Canada including Fort Garry, Man., and Jasper House. Also included are photographs by William James Topley, G.R. Lancefield and Alfred George Pittaway depicting a bust of Sir Sanford Fleming by Hamilton McCarthy; Sir Sanford Fleming with a group of children; photographs of the Colonial Conference; portraits of Sir Sanford Fleming; construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway in the vicinity of Lake Superior; and a photo by G.H. Woodelton of Albany, Australia depicting aborigines of Western Australia, 1839. The fonds also includes artistic material. See lower level series description for more details. The fonds also includes 1 map of Ireland Counties, n.d., and a mapsheet showing Fifeshire and Kinross-shire, Scotland, as well as a letter and text related to Arnot Tower also in Scotland.

Fleming, Sandford, Sir, 1827-1915: Sir Sandford Fleming (1827-1915),surveyor, draftsman, engineer, office holder, and college chancellor, was born in Kirkaldy, Scotland. After receiving an education in Kennoway and Kirkaldy from the Scottish engineer and surveyor John Sangand. Fleming emigrated from Scotland in 1845 and completed his engineering education in Canada. To complete his certificate in engineering, Fleming prepared maps of Peterborough, Hamilton, Cobourg, and Toronto in 1849. After numerous noteworthy activitiesin the early 1850s, including the founding in Toronto of the Canadian Institute, an early professional society of architects, surveyors, and engineer, he became - in 1857 - engineer-in-chief of the Ontario Northern Railway. In 1863 the Canadian government appointed him chief surveyor of a proposed route for the intercolonial railway linking the Canadas to the Maritime colonies. He subsequently became chief engineer of the Intercolonial. In 1871 the Canadian Pacific Railway Company chose Fleming to direct the construction of the transcontinental railway. Though he was summarily dismissed from the directing the railway construction in 1880, he received a substantial payout package, which he re-invested in the Hudson's Bay Company. Also, by 1884 he had become one of the directors of the company. In November 1885, he can be found at the centre of things, captured in one of the most famous of Canadian photographs, the driving of the last spike of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Fleming is the towering central figure with the top hat and broad beard. Although Sir Sandford Fleming did not make a career in politics, much of his work had an impact in this area. His sector was technology, and it was for technology that he had national and international goals: building a railway to unite the provinces of British North America, the development of the engineering profession, the setting up of a telegraph that would circle the globe via the British territories, and universal time measurement. As a distinguished scientist, he was the prime advocate of the adoption of an international system of standard time and wrote many scientific monographs. He also worked privately for the cause of imperial unity, and designed the first Canadian postage stamp. During his lifetime, he was awarded honorary doctorates by the University of St Andrews in Scotland (1884), Columbia (1887), the University of Toronto (1907), and Queen¿s (1908). He also held a membership in the Royal Society of Canada.

036-89
118-080171-7
1928-001 NPC
1936-272 PIC
1939-146 NPC
1951-566 PIC
1971-039 PIC
1974-219 NPC
1989-101 DAP
1990-475 DAP

MG29-B1