Accession GA118 - Mary Johnston fonds.

Title and statement of responsibility area

Title proper

Mary Johnston fonds.

General material designation

Parallel title

Other title information

Title statements of responsibility

Title notes

  • Source of title proper: Title based on content of the fonds.

Level of description

Accession

Reference code

SCA145-GA118

Edition area

Edition statement

Edition statement of responsibility

Class of material specific details area

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)

Physical description area

Physical description

ca. 1.3 m of textual records
ca 1.1 m of graphic material

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

(1930-2017)

Biographical history

Mary Johnston (1930-2017) pursued a career as an elementary public school teacher and thereafter as public school principal in Waterloo, Ont. She was widely known for the contributions she made to education-related local and provincial committees as well as to the Presbyterian church and to historical groups in the Region. During her 37 year career in education she was presented with numerous awards including the Queen's jubilee medal three times, the K-W Oktoberfest Woman of the Year Award and the Wiegand Award for Teaching Excellence.

Mary Johnston was born to Joseph Samuel and Marion Halley (nee Leslie) Johnston in Edmonton but moved to Waterloo at a young age, attending elementary and secondary school in the city. She was a graduate of Stratford Teacher's College and she received her Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Western Ontario (1957). She also held a B.Ed. Degree (1963) and a M.Ed. Degree (1968) from the University of Toronto.

She began her teaching career at a rural one room school located on Bearinger Road, now located in the City of Waterloo. She then taught at MacGregor Public School in Waterloo. Her next position was as vice-principal of Empire, followed by Centennial Public School in Waterloo. She later served as principal of Brighton and Winston Churchill. In 1977 she was the first principal of Keatsway, then principal of Macgregor Senior Public School from which she retired in 1987. Her appointment to principal of Brighton in 1969 marked the first time there was a female principal in Waterloo history.

Mary was an active member of many local education board committees and provincial committees. She was a member of the Ontario Teachers' Federation advisory committee to circular 14, and was Regional Professional Development Chairwoman for the Midwestern region of the Ministry of Education from 1974-1976. As well, Mary was a member of local and national bodies including the Waterloo County Women Teachers' Association and the Federation of Women Teachers' Associations of Ontario. She was also involved in local community endeavours and was a member of the K-W University Women's Club. She also served on the City of Waterloo's architectural advisory committee and on the publication committee of the Waterloo Historical Society. Her interest in education and local history lead her to publish The Trail of the Slate, a history of education in the Waterloo Region.

She was ordained an elder of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in 1973 and had been actively involved in many of the church's activities including teaching the Communicants class and serving on the advisory committee for the student intern programme. Her work with the Presbyterian Church lead to her being awarded a life membership in the Women's Missionary Society of the Presbyterian Church in Canada.

Mary passed away on July 7, 2017.

Custodial history

Scope and content

The fonds consists of materials belonging to Mary Johnston which she acquired during her time as a school teacher and principal, as a member of various teachers organizations, and during the time she spent serving on various education-related local and provincial committees. This collection consists of correspondence, legal documents, minutes and other supporting documents re meetings, course materials produced for training courses and workshops, summary reports and other supporting documents re conferences, clippings, publications, printed materials, scrapbooks, and ephemera.

Notes area

Physical condition

Immediate source of acquisition

Donated in 1999 by Mary Johnston.

Arrangement

Arranged in series as follows :

  • 1. Correspondence and Information Files;
  • 2. Meetings;
  • 3. Events and Activities;
  • 4. Historical, Topical Files: Clippings;
  • 5. Publications, Printed Materials;
  • 6. Scrapbooks;
  • 7. Ephemera.

Language of material

Script of material

Location of originals

Availability of other formats

Restrictions on access

Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication

Finding aids

Associated materials

Related materials

Accruals

Alternative identifier(s)

Standard number area

Standard number

Access points

Place access points

Name access points

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

Script of description

Sources

Accession area

Related people and organizations

Related places

Related genres