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Archival description
Seagram collection Local History
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Joseph E. Seagram and Sons, Ltd. fonds.

This fonds contains originals and copies of correspondence, legal instruments, licenses, manuscripts, photographs, ephemera, plans, reports, and topical files relating to the early history of the Seagram Company to 1911, and from its incorporation in 1911 to 1928, when it was purchased by the Bronfman family. The records of Joseph E. Seagram and Sons, Ltd., actually stretch beyond the 1928 date, as many records emanate from the Waterloo plant and document certain of its activities to the 1950's and 1960's. The sousfonds contains information about the incorporation of the company under its various names, on imports and exports of alcohol to and from the plant, on registration of labels, and on subsidiary operations such as feed stuffs. It also includes information about the distillery site itself, in the form of topical files, reports, plans and photographs. Information on local history is also present, as the Seagram family and company figured largely in local business, political and social circles.

Joseph E. Seagram and Sons, Ltd.

Seagram family fonds.

The contents of these files were assembled by Seagram Museum Staff from a variety of sources, and consist of original documents, including clippings, correspondence, ephemera, estate records, photographs, scrapbooks, wills, etc. Some documents are photocopies. Wherever possible the original Seagram Museum accession number is included in the descriptions. As the materials were acquired from several sources, coverage is uneven. The largest group of materials centres around Joseph Edward Frowde Seagram, grandson of Joseph Emm Seagram, with lesser focus on his father, Edward Frowde, and grandparents, Joseph Emm Seagram and Stephanie Urbs. A few documents are present relating to the estate of Octavius Seagram, father of Joseph Emm, as well as wills and associated correspondence of Wiltshire Seagrams. Photographs of the McLachlan family of Guelph, Ont., of the Bland Family, and of Warnock family members are present, as is biographical material pertaining to the Hespeler family as well as to the Seagram family.

Seagram Family

Seagram Museum fonds.

The materials in this collection were assembled by Seagram Museum staff from a number of sources and reflect the museum's focus on the beverage alcohol industry in the North American context. It contains articles, clippings, correspondence, ephemera, etc. and includes correspondence with wine merchants re shipments by sea, information illustrative of bootlegging, prohibition, temperance, etc.

This fonds also contains accession registers, correspondence, invoice copies, purchase order copies, and other materials relating to the acquisition of book and archival material by the Seagram Museum Library and Archives.

Seagram Museum

Seagram Museum Rare Book Collection

In 1997, the Seagram Company and the Seagram Museum donated the rare book collection and the early archives held by the Seagram Museum Library to the University of Waterloo Library.

The collection of more than 1200 titles covers every aspect of the beverage alcohol industry. Topics include distillation, wine and wine making, brewing, viticulture, bottling and cooperage, taxation and government regulations, temperance and prohibition, the culinary arts, and advertising.

The collection complements the University of Waterloo Library's existing research collections in the fields of chemistry, chemical engineering, and the history of technology as well as the decorative arts, temperance, and social history.

The earliest imprint is the 1545 Italian translation of Charles Estienne's Vinetum..., an early work on viticulture. Other notable early works include De Secretis Remediis aut Potius Thesaurus by Konrad Gesner (1554), and Livre du Vigneron et du Fabricant du Cidre ... et Autres Vins de Fruits by Joseph de Mauny de Mornay (1838).

The collection includes many examples of fine bindings and illustrations.

Also present is a small group of books that belonged to the Seagram family.

Seagram Museum