Fonds MS-2-367 - Will R. Bird fonds

Title and statement of responsibility area

Title proper

Will R. Bird fonds

General material designation

  • Textual record

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Level of description

Fonds

Reference code

MS-2-367

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Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)

Dates of creation area

Date(s)

  • 1910-1980,1928-1950 (Creation)

Physical description area

Physical description

82 cm of textual records . -- 49 large format scrapbooks. -- 2 boxes of index cards. -- 10 volumes

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Archival description area

Name of creator

Biographical history

William R. Bird was born in East Mapleton, N.S. on May 11, 1891. Born into poverty, he moved to the Canadian Prairies to help harvest crops as a teenager. In 1914, he enlisted in the Canadian Army and served in the trenches with the Canadian Expeditionary Forces (42nd Battalion, Black Watch of Canada) in France and Belgium until 1918. Upon demobilization in 1919, he returned to Cumberland County, N.S, where he married Ethel Sutton with whom he had two children, Stephen and Betty. After a failed general store venture in Southampton, he moved to Amherst with his family and worked at the Post Office. Winning a story-writing contest in the early 1920s and a love of writing prompted him by 1928 to try making his living by writing. Bird's stories were widely accepted by magazines such as Saturday Evening Post, Maritime Advocate, Toronto Star Weekly, Family Herald and Weekly Star and his first monograph, A Century at Chignecto, was published in 1928. During the 1930s, Bird lectured widely across Canada, and in 1933 he joined the staff of the recently established Nova Scotia Tourist Bureau. For the next thirty-three years, he worked in various capacities for the Nova Scotia government. In 1938, he and his family moved to Halifax where he served as Chairman of the Historic Sites and Monuments Advisory Council until his retirement in 1966. Bird died on January 28, 1984.

In 1949 he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters by Mount Allison University. He published roughly 25 books and 600 short stories, for which he garnered acclaim for his historical fiction and war stories. Although Bird wrote on many subjects, he was continually fascinated by the early settlers of Nova Scotia and wrote many stories and novels on the topic. His experience during the First World War also became inspiration for much of his work. He twice won the Ryerson All Canada Award for Fiction and served as president of the Canadian Author's Association.

Custodial history

The complete fonds of Dr. William R. Bird were acquired through purchase by the Dalhousie University Archives on May 23, 1979.

Scope and content

The fonds includes correspondence covering the years 1962-1978; scrapbooks containing clippings, correspondence and photographs (1926-1973); manuscripts for a number of Bird's published and unpublished works-including novels, stories and articles (undated); hardcover novels, fiction and non-fiction published in magazines, journals and newspapers (1928-1975); and miscellaneous documents including reviews, articles about Bird and royalty information (1935-1976).

Notes area

Physical condition

Immediate source of acquisition

Arrangement

The records within each series are arranged chronologically unless otherwise noted.

Language of material

  • English

Script of material

Language and script note

English.

Location of originals

Availability of other formats

Restrictions on access

There are no access restrictions on these materials. All materials are open for research.

Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication

Materials do not circulate and must be used in the Archives and Special Collections Reading Room. Materials may be under copyright. Contact departmental staff for guidance on reproduction.

Finding aids

Finding aid

Associated materials

Related materials

Accruals

Further accruals are not expected.

General note

Preferred citation: [Identification of item], William R. Bird fonds, MS-2-367, Dalhousie University Archives and Special Collections, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

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Rules for Archival Description

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Dates of creation, revision and deletion

2003

Language of description

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