An article written by Harold Russell titled, “Schantz Family History: Restoration of 43 Schneider Avenue, 1994.” The article outlines the history of the Schantz Russell family home located at 43 Schneider Avenue, Kitchener, Ont. and the restoration of the house completed by Harold Russell and his wife Lynne after they moved into the home in 1994.

An article written by Harold Russell titled, “The Russell Family of Highgate.” The article provides biographical information about various members of the Russell family.

An article written by Harold Russell titled, “The Schantz Family History: The Schantz Family.” The article provides biographical and genealogical information about the Schantz family.

1 letter.

Date and Place from: [after 1924] Detroit [Michigan] To Russell, Dorothy Etta, 1900-2005 From Laurena Attachments: No envelope.

Eight postcards which constitute the complete first set of Titania's Palace series no. 1 postcards by Tuck's Post Cards. A note on verso of card 4 indicates that they were produced sometime after 1904.

Head and shoulders studio portrait of Sophie Schantz seen looking at camera and wearing a top with leg of mutton sleeves.

Head and shoulders studio portrait of unidentified child looking off camera in partial profile.

Photograph of an unidentified child reading while seated in a rocking chair in a residential home. An upright piano is visible against the wall in the background.

Photograph of an unidentified woman seated in a rocking chair in a residential home. Framed items hang on the wall behind her and a table with a tea set is visible against the wall on her left side.

Photograph of the staff of the Lang-Tracey retail store. Frank Schantz can be seen in the back row. Also includes an item of correspondence from Margaret Lang identifying members of the Lang family.

Studio portrait of two young children. Dressed in similar outfits, one is seated in a highchair and the other is standing with left hand on chair arm.

Head and shoulders studio portrait of two unidentified teenagers seen looking at camera. Both are wearing outdoor coats and fancy hats.

One photograph of Orpheus Moyer Schantz with his granddaughter Joan Elizabeth Schantz on his shoulders.

Included are 19th-century Canadian imprints, books on horticulture, early school textbooks, scarce local imprints, such as the 1886/89 County of Waterloo Gazetteer and Directory and the Assessment Roll of 1897 of the Town of Berlin, and a selection of Victorian literature. There are extensive runs of early 20th-century periodicals, such as The Youth's Companion, St. Nicholas, The Ladies' Home Journal, and the Canadian Forestry Journal. The Schantz/Russell Family library offers a unique insight into the reading habits and the interests and activities of a Canadian family in Berlin, Ontario during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Tobias Schantz (1842-1925) worked as an itinerant book salesman at the end of the 19th century, and more than 40 examples of books known as "salesman's dummies" are present in the collection. These books were made up by the publishers as samples for their salesmen to show to potential customers. Each one displays the most noteworthy features of the book offered for sale, including the table of contents, the illustrations, selections from the text, and examples of the variety of elaborate binding styles available. Blank pages at the end of each sample book were used by the itinerant salesman to record his orders and, in this collection, some of the dummies contain up to as many as 8 pages of hand-written lists of local subscribers to the books that Tobias marketed in his trips around the region.