Archives

Finding Aid - South West Head collection (MG94)

Generated by Access to Memory (AtoM) 2.3.0 Printed: September 14, 2016 Language of description: English

Grand Manan Archives 1919 Route 776 Grand Manan Canada E5G3H1 Telephone: (506) 662-5277 Email: [email protected] http://www.grandmananmuseum.ca/MUSEUM_Archives_Collections.html http://search.canbarchives.ca/index.php/south-west-head-lighthouse-collection South West Head Lighthouse collection

Table of contents

Summary information ...... 3 Administrative history / Biographical sketch ...... 3 Scope and content ...... 4 Notes ...... 4 Series descriptions ...... 4

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Summary information

Repository: Grand Manan Archives Title: South West Head Lighthouse collection ID: MG94 Date: 1895-1960 (date of creation) Physical description: 10 cm of textual records Dates of creation, revision and deletion: Note [generalNote]: Previously held as MG12 / Fog Alarms MS 3 and MS 8 South West Head Lighthouse.

Administrative history / Biographical sketch

Note South West Head is the southernmost point of New Brunswick. It is located on Grand Manan Island in the . South West Head Lighthouse opened 1 January 1880 with Walter McLaughlin as its first keeper. The lighthouse was built at the top of 230 foot cliffs, about 2.5 miles from the village of Seal Cove, at the southern tip of the Island. It was a square, wooden tower that stood forty-three feet from base to vane. McLaughlin, who had spent the last twenty-six years as keeper of Gannet Rock lighthouse, moved his large family into the adjoining house under quite severe conditions and remained there until his retirement in 1901. In 1959 a new modern lighthouse was built nearby and the old one was torn down. The last keeper of the old light was Ottawa Benson, great-grandson of Walter McLaughlin, the first keeper. Two new dwelling houses were built at the same time and a third house was added later. In the 1970s South West Head changed from a three-man station to a two-man station, then to a one- man station in 1978. The last principal keeper, Doug Daggett, retired in October 1987 and the station was automated. Principal keepers at South West Head from 1880 to 1987 were: Walter McLaughlin; Turner Ingalls; Clyde S. Ingersoll; Thomas P. Foster; Samuel Harvey; Harvey Benson; Ottawa Benson; Addison Naves; and Douglas Daggett. Source: Deborah Daggett Web Site. http://www.geocities.com/grandmanan.geo/SouthWestHead.html

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Scope and content

This collection consists of monthly returns recording weather conditions, stores ordered, and repairs; letters date 1911-1923 from federal authorities about South West Head Lighthouse; visitor book kept by the Foster family as they tended South West Head Lighthouse; and light keepers diaries that were reused as scrapbooks by the children collecting information on radio amplifiers; also newspaper articles about South West Head Lighthouse in 1955 and 1960.

Notes

Title notes • Source of title proper: Title based on contents. Immediate source of acquisition Placed in the Grand Manan Archives by the Grand Manan Museum in 1989.

Location of originals The diaries of Walter McLaughlin are available on microfilm at the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick, F-230 and F-231.

Related material Records of other lighthouses in the Grand Manan area are also avilable in the Archives. The diaries of Walter B. McLaughlin are also available.

Other notes • Publication status: Published

Series descriptions

Ref code Title Dates Access status Container MG94-1/1 File - 4 "Diary of Light Keepers" dated 1895, 1903, 1905, and 1909-1910 used by children for scrapbooks re: Radio Amplifiers and other technical information MG94-1/2 File - Correspondence Thomas Foster with Federal Authorities 1911-1923 re: supplies and repairs at lighthouse

Grand Manan Archives Page 4 MG94 South West Head Lighthouse collection MG94-1/3 File - Visitor Book used by the Foster 1911-1927 family at South West Head July 1911- Sept. 1927 MG94-1/4 File - "Diary of a Lightkeeper" recording 1903 weather and times of light operation, 1903 Turner Ingalls, Jr. MG94-1/5 File - Newspaper articles re: South West 1955; 1960 Head Lighthouse 1955 and 1960

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