![Image - 1900, Apr [5] – Letter to Marion 1](/uploads/r/bruce-peel-special-collections/2/5/3/253200794d10b091b033fc23aeba88f6d08ecb940bf5c194e82d1bf0cc8d9e76/TA_Patrick_Corr204_142.jpg)
![Image - 1900, Apr [5] – Letter to Marion 3](/uploads/r/bruce-peel-special-collections/7/f/b/7fb66949302552059350e3f4a41ff43c0af60d18c2cdaa595f1eb72f9288b6fd/TA_Patrick_Corr205_142.jpg)
![Image - 1900, Apr [5] – Letter to Marion 2](/uploads/r/bruce-peel-special-collections/a/9/f/a9f10142381db193ebc316b57ee881168022fb61578ebfc0ea1ccf91aff0a9ef/TA_Patrick_Corr206_142.jpg)
Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
General material designation
- Textual record
Parallel title
Other title information
Title statements of responsibility
Title notes
- Source of title proper: Title derived from series content
Level of description
Repository
Reference code
Edition area
Edition statement
Edition statement of responsibility
Statement of scale (cartographic)
Statement of projection (cartographic)
Statement of coordinates (cartographic)
Statement of scale (architectural)
Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
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1889 - 1920 (Creation)
Physical description area
Physical description
Fifty-two (52) letters and forty-nine (49) envelopes.
Publisher's series area
Title proper of publisher's series
Parallel titles of publisher's series
Other title information of publisher's series
Statement of responsibility relating to publisher's series
Numbering within publisher's series
Note on publisher's series
Archival description area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Medical doctor, pioneer, and politician. Dr. Patrick is credited with suggesting the current boundary between the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Name of creator
Custodial history
Scope and content
An archive of 52 interesting and significant letters by Thomas “Alf” Patrick and his wife Marion (1889-1904). Almost all letters come with their original stamped mailing envelopes (49 envelopes in total). 44 letters are by Thomas and 8 by Marion.
Most of the letters are handwritten and signed, ranging from a single page up to five pages, often closely written. 3 are typed and signed.
In the case of letters by Thomas Patrick, many of the letters to his wife are almost in diary form recording events as they happened [often mailed from Regina]. Some letters are written when Patrick was physically sitting in the Legislative Chambers waiting for events to unfold there. These are usually on embossed North West Territory Legislative stationery.
Three themes run through the archive:
- Significant political matters and events surrounding the period when Patrick served in the North West Territories Legislature
- Historical events on the Prairies
- Issues relating to a lack of infrastructure and a changing societal and political landscape due to heavy immigration into the
Prairies. - Life on the Prairies in the late 19th and early 20th centuries
- The close personal relationship and related family matters between two early pioneers in Saskatchewan
Topics covered include: medical, legislative matters, Indians and half-breeds, railway events, life in Saltcoats and Regina, Saskatchewan, land investments, illnesses on the prairies, people (Clifford Sifton and Frederick Haultain) and related topics, immigration, Mennonites, Hungarians, Doukhobors, infrastructure, visiting patients, and much more.
Notes area
Physical condition
Textual records are in good condition. Some records have minor damages including, discolouration, fading ink, and tears.
Immediate source of acquisition
The T. A. Patrick Letters & Correspondence were purchased in 2010 by the University of Alberta Libraries from Bjarne Tokerud Bookseller Inc. The letters had been purchased on an unknown date from a philatelic collector in Edmonton, who had acquired the letters from a Patrick family descendant.
Arrangement
Language of material
- English
Script of material
- Latin
Location of originals
2010.042 Box 11. Bruce Peel Special Collections is part of University of Alberta Libraries.
Availability of other formats
Restrictions on access
Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication
Finding aids
Associated materials
- The University of Saskatchewan Archives and Special Collections holds additional personal correspondence from T.A. Patrick's family (1908-1925) within the Joe Cherwinski fonds and T.A. Patrick papers within the A.S. Morton Manuscript Collection. Please refer to the Joe Cherwinski fonds finding aid and the A.S. Morton Manuscript Collection finding aid for more information.
- Papers from T.A. Patrick's days as a medical student are available at the University of Western Ontario, Western Archives, within the Thomas A. Patrick Fonds. Please refer to the finding aid for more information.
Accruals
No further accruals are expected.
Alternative identifier(s)
Standard number
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Patrick, Thomas Alfred (Subject)
- Patrick, Marion Griffith (Subject)
Genre access points
Control area
Description record identifier
Institution identifier
Rules or conventions
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation, revision and deletion
Language of description
- English
Script of description
- Latin
Sources
Information based upon contents of the series, accession information, and T.A. Patrick's biography "Pioneer of Vision: The Reminiscences of T.A. Patrick M.D." by C.J. Houston and C. Stuart Houston.