A B4
Date of the items: 1908, 1929-1970
Physical description: 32 cm [1.1 cu ft.]
Title: Anne Heideman Fonds
Creator: Anne Heideman
Repository: Trent Valley Archives
Reference number: TVA Fonds 29
Scope and contents: The fonds consists of newspaper clippings, photos, posters, pamphlets, brochures and memorabilia related to the history of Peterborough and the neighbouring region and more broadly to heritage and museum issues. Highlights include the organization charts for Peterboro Lock, 1943 and 1946; an excellent selection of newspaper articles on local history; stereopticon cards from 1865-1870, excellent in all respects; and reports related to the Peterborough Centennial Museum, Hutchison House, the Peterborough Historical Society and the Ontario Historical Society.
Newspaper clippings and pages dominate the fonds, but she also included significant sections of the Peterborough Examiner which promoted local history. Notable among these are the tourism section, 22 May 1937 and 19 September 1956, marking the centennial of the Examiner. The industrial special “Peterborough Today”, 29 March 1984 was the beginning of an annual feature. Some items relate to Anne Heideman and to matters that interested her.
As well, she collected several featured series such as Elwood Jones and Bruce Dyer, Our History, 1987; and Martha Kidd and Jane Deyman, Around the Mall, 1969-70.
Access Conditions: No Restrictions
Finding aid: None, see file listing below
Accruals: No further accruals are expected
Custodial history: The records were donated by Anne Heideman and her nephew in 1998 and 2006. They consisted of items that she had collected over the years. These were broken into subject files in order to make them more accessible. When the additional donation arrived they were added rather than integrated.
The donation also included a copy of the 1908 Sears Catalogue; some issues of Ontario History; and some issues of the Imperial Oil Review; these were transferred to the TVA library.
Biographical sketch: Anne Louise Henderson (1908-2001) was predeceased by her parents Robert Heideman and Emily (nee McGraw) and her bother Alan (d. 1968).
Her working career included stints at an insurance office and as a co-owner of The Wool Shop on George Street. She was the first Director of the Peterborough Centennial Museum and Archives from 1966 to 1975 and was instrumental in getting the Peter Robinson papers transferred from temporary loan at the Archives of Ontario to the new museum.
In the 1950s and 1960s she was a leader in the local historical community, notably with the Peterborough Historical Society which she helped reorganize, and in creating museum exhibits at the Carnegie Library. From the 1960s, she was the leading volunteer and expert at the Hutchison House Museum, organized the Parish Archives of St. John’s Anglican Church in Peterborough with Elwood Jones, and was a supporter of the Trent Valley Archives.
In 2000, she was one of the recipients of the Peter Robinson Medal, in recognition of her lifetime support of local history. The awards were presented at Showplace and featured film interviews by Graham Hart of the recipients.
The life of Anne Heideman was featured in the Heritage Gazette of the Trent Valley in February of 2002, and her receipt of the Peter Robinson Medal was discussed in the Heritage Gazette of the Trent Valley in November of 2000.
Related fonds at TVA: There are other fonds at TVA with strong collections of newspaper clippings related to the Peterborough area, including F131 Heritage Gazette of the Trent Valley and F340 Peterborough Examiner.
Access Points:
Peterborough, Ontario
Peterboro Lock
Peterborough Centennial Museum
Peterborough Historical Society