Collection of advertisement trade cards, primarily from the Victorian era, that show the role of women in the household and the defining of gender roles in the period. There are also 4 items from the mid 20th century that speak to the changing and expanding role of women at the time.

Contains one manuscript recipe book, in an unknown hand. One recipe is dated May 17, 1867. Contains recipes for mains, desserts, and home remedies for ailments.

Broadside of a poem delivered by Lizzie Doten on September 23, 1866 at Library Hall, Chelsea, titled "Reconstruction." The poem addresses then President Andrew Johnson and criticizes his approach to the South at the end of the American Civil War. She believed that Johnson was too lenient on the South and allowed too much wealth and influence to remain with Southern Confederate politicians. She also criticizes Johnson for being unconcerned with Black suffrage or the rights of Black soldiers who fought for the Union. She ends her poem with the rallying cry "...let the ballot finish what the bayonet has begun."

One manuscript copy (1 vol. 180 pp.) of excerpts from works by Pierre Jean Burette on the history of ancient dance and sport. The transcription is in an unknown hand and was copied from the work in the Bibliothèque de la ville de Boulogne-sur-Mer. From the library of Gustave Desrat.

File consists of materials relating to the Rutherford family of Wellesley, Ontario. Includes a subscription list for building a church in Wellesley (dated 1856), a snapshot of Harriet Rutherford Hess and four mounted portraits of members of the Rutherford family. These are identified on the verso as William Rutherford, his wife Mary Jane Freeborn Rutherford, his mother-in-law Jane Freeborn Rutherford and a first wife Ellen Freeborn Rutherford.

File consists of one letter from Christian Enslin, bookseller and bookbinder, Waterloo, Ontario to Fredrick Heinitsch, M.D., Lancaster, Pennsylvania requesting the right to "Mother Drops", a medicine created by Dr. Heinitsch on which he held the patent.
The letter also includes information on bookbinding and printing practices in Upper Canada and makes reference to local figures such as Benjamin Eby, Bishop of the Mennonites.

Consists of typescripts of fifteen letters, fourteen from John Goldie to his son James written between 1846 and 1854, one undated from William to James.

One holograph letter from Amelia Alderson Opie to an unidentified correspondent dated May 5, 1838 refusing an invitation.

The Sims family collection encompasses records of the Sims and Cook, Davidson and Garden families retained by members of the two family branches that came together when Harvey James Sims and Florence Katherine Roos married in 1902. Their Sims and Davidson forbears were equally significant in the history of the Waterloo-Wellington area and in the growth and development of agriculture, education, business and government. Harvey James Sims and Florence Katherine Roos were deeply involved in their local community of Berlin, (later Kitchener) Ontario and their own records contain significant additions to our knowledge of local personalities and affairs. Harvey was a childhood and lifelong friend of William Lyon Mackenzie King; they wrote and visited each other regularly. King's sister Bella was also a close friend of Florence from school days on.

Fonds consists of one Upper Canada deed of enrollment from Richard Beasley to David Gingrich for a parcel of land in Waterloo County. The parcel in question is noted as being "a certain parcel on tract of land in the Township of Waterloo in Richard Beasley Lower Block on the Northside of the Grand River containing one hundred acres ... being composed of the Eastern half of lot number four in the Second Concession beginning at a post planted equal distance from the front to rear on the division line between lotts number three and four which is the south east corner of Jacob [M] half of the same lott. Thence move seventy seven degrees East forty chains more or less to within fifty links of the rear of the said concession. Thence North thirteen degrees west twenty five chains more or less to the north east of Jacob [M] said half lott thence south thirteen degree east twenty five chains more or less to the place of beginning containing one hundred acres..."

One handwritten letter from Robert Southey addressed to a William Webb of Dublin. The letter was sent from Keswick and is dated November 8, 1826. Also includes an etching of Southey.

Collection consists of seven legal documents regarding the sale of land in the Township of Dumfries in Southern Ontario.

File list:

1. Deed of land between Aaron White and Joseph Dorland -100 acres (Hallowell Township) – June 5, 1818
2. Deed of land between between William Dickson and William Otis - 50 acres – May 9, 1831
3. Deed of land between between William Dickson and John Campbell - 315 1/3 acres – July 14, 1832
4. Deed of land between between William Dickson and Jacob Kinsey - 150 acres – April 25, 1833
5. Deed of land between between William Dickson and John Fraser - 50 acres – October 1, 1834
6. Deed of land between between William Dickson - Levi Howell, 25 acres – April 16, 1834
7. Receipt for Joseph Pettengall from the Commissioner for Crown Lands - 100 acres (Hillier Township) – June 6 1839

Holograph manuscript titled "Cours de calcul integral" by Auguste Bienaimé Désiré Pioch (1812-1846). Bound with his "Memoire sur les fonctions arbitraires exprimes par des integrales doubles" [G3145]. Taken from Tome XV of Memoires Couronnes, Academie Royale de Bruxelles.

Fonds consists of one birth-and-baptismal certificate (Geburts-und-Taufschein) for Margareta Riehl. The certificate is written in German and is a fraktur text featuring examples of decorative calligraphy and artwork.

One vellum bound manuscript cookbook of unknown origin. Cookbook features approximately 50 recipes in at least fifteen different hands. Most recipes are for desserts, although a few are for savoury dishes and household products. Some recipes are signed. Signatures include: M. Moore, Mary Dawson, and S. Lowels. Also included in the file is an index of recipes and the original seller's note.

One manuscript copy (1 vol. 347 pp.) of Euclid's elements of geometry being an abbreviation of Mr. Cunn's edition of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 11th and 12th books in which the verbal demonstrations are greatly abridged and the figures for their elucidation laid down with accuracy, so as to be proved by scale and compass, by James Horne, son of Richard Horne, First Clerk of the Admiralty. Two bookplates, one of W.R.B. Osterholt and one of Henry Buxton Forman.

Consists of one holograph letter from John Galt addressed to "Croker." The letter requests that Croker publish the enclosed items in his magazine if they are not too late reaching him.

One manuscript copy (1 vol. 348 pp.) of Lorenzo Mascheroni's Geometrical problems resolved by means of compasses or by the mere description of circles translated and with additions by A.B. Lousada, Devonshire, 1820. Also includes bound in original plates with diagrams.

Notebook containing diagrams of 84 contredanses with written annotations, circa 1780. Diagrams show the step by step movements of specific types of dances such as La Camille, Les Caprices de Chantenany, Les Cerises de Montmorenci, and Le Retour de Blanchard.

List of Contredanses included in Notebook:

1. La Camille
2. Les Deux Amies
3. La Zemia
4. La Labotiere
5. La Caprices Indiens
6. La Legere
7. L'Aufantine
8. L'été
9. La Nouvelle Etienne
10. La Nouvelle Monaco
11. L'Anglaise
12. Paule et Virginie
13. Lew Tembourins Picards
14. L'Union Intime
15. Les Trois Amis
16. La Champete
17. Les Caprices de Chantenany
18. Les Folies de Roncé
19. Les fête Villageoise
20. La Crécy
21. Les Plaisirs de Warennes
22. La Juno
23. La Petite Chasse
24. La Colbert
25. La Victoire de Cobourg
26. La Princesse d'Orange
27. La Rosalie
28. Le Duc d'Yorck
29. La Coalisée
30. L'arrivée du P. d'Orange
31. L'Espangnole
32. La Belle Elizabeth
33. Les Plaisirs d'Irlande
34. Carlalez [?]
35. La Julie
    4o. La Tulipano
36. Le Retour Autrichien
37. L'Arrivée de l'Empereur
38. Les Cerises de Montmorenci
39. La Yacinte
40. La Belle Annete
41. Les Bons Amis
42. La Simplicie
43. Les Plaisirs d'Alançon
44. La Figaro
45. La Fille à Nicolas
46. L'inconnu à la Redoute
47. La Belle Poûlé
48. Le Plaisir de Chatenet
49. La Satisfaction
50. La Chinoise
51. La Petite Charmante
52. Le goût du jour
53. La Guchen
54. Le Plaisir de Basque
55. La Pastorale
56. La Charboniere
57. Les nouveaux capricieu
58. La Redoute
59. La Vandeuie
60. L'Enfant Trompeur
61. La Petite Savoyarde
62. Luca
63. Les hannetons [?]
64. Le Depart Indien
65. La Chasse d'Amour
66. Les Dettes
67. La Nouvelle Eté
68. La Tarare
69. Le Portaille Anglois
70. Le Caprice de Erevan
71. Les Amourettes
72. Les Pantalon
73. La Neuville
74. La Monaco
75. L'Elisabeth
76. La Fête villageoise
77. L'Infortuné
78. Le Retour de Blanchard
79. [Untitled]

Correspondence from Daniel Claus to Captain Matthews. The letter is regarding the capture of Peter Hansen and his servant as members of the rebellion by the Mohawk nation to be used to gather intelligence. The letter also mentions a contract for fresh meat, and that members of the village had been unwell. At this time Claus had been appointed deputy agent of the Six Nations in Canada under Frederick Haldimand.

Photograph and scrapbook album containing photographs and other materials related to the early life of Camilla Young, an African American woman from New Jersey.

Photographs in album cover Young's life from her birth in 1946 to the early 1980s. First sheets include disbound pages from a commercial baby book written and illustrated by Tony Sarg (issued by New Library Inc. for Greenberg Publishers) filled in by Young's mother with Camilla Young's first photographs and baby accomplishments. Rest of sheets include photographs from Young's childhood, teenage, and adult years. Most photographs are ordered chronologically and range in fashion styles and locations. Photographs include family and friends gatherings, school events, celebrations and parties, holiday trips, and other moments in Young's life.

Album includes a newspaper clipping with an article about Young published in The News Tribune of Woodbridge Township (today the Central New Jersey Home News Tribune) from August 9, 1979, written by Donna Eastman. Also contains Young's certificate of merit for participation and outstanding performance in the Miss Black America Pageant of New Jersey.

Two photographs on one sheet from the Sheriff's Department Los Angeles showing the booking photographs of Rose Pena Ventura. Ventura is seen in full length profile and straight on. The verso of the photograph indicates it was taken September 22, 1955 when Ventura was 32. Her aliases are listed as Rose Pena and Rose Garduna and she was arrested for the crime of abortion.

This collection, donated to the University of Waterloo in 1988 by the family of the late Rosa Breithaupt Hewetson Clark and Spencer Clark, includes family papers from three families, the Breithaupt family, the Hewetson family, and the Clark family; records from the Guild of All Arts in Scarborough, Ontario, founded by Rosa Breithaupt Hewetson Clark and Spencer Clark; and several smaller collections acquired by the Breithaupt family and by Spencer Clark. The personal library of Spencer Clark, which includes many books, periodicals, government documents, and ephemeral items, was donated together with the archival collections, and is particularly strong in the fields of urban planning, architecture, and Canadian art.

Southey's version of nursery rhyme, presented as a holograph poem in a letter to his brother, Captain Thomas Southey, St. Helen's, Auckland, New Zealand. Signed with Southey's initials.