Brooke, Clara Marion, nee Farrell - Tape One

File consists of a recording of Clara Brooke. Topics of the conversation include TAPE ONE Queen's University Principal's residence (Summerhill) seen through eyes of child visitor (early 1900s): Scottish Victorian atmosphere under Principal Gordon. Wilhelmina Gordon as sociable bluestocking, good sportswoman; dual responsibility as university lecturer in English, house chatelaine for widowed father. Prominence of Theological College in university affairs. Grandfather (Very Rev. Malcolm Macgillivray) as Queen's graduate, Minister of Chalmers Church, Kingston (1893-1927); position as Moderator of Presbyterian Church of Canada (1915), service to ecumenical movement (United Church of Canada); assistance to Principal Grant during Queen's great fundraising drive. Bursaries awarded to student nominees of contributors to Principal Grant's fund drive. Teenage acquaintance with Principal Bruce Taylor's family, 'a rowdy, zestful, humorous lot': female children's accomplishments, later ambitious careers (law, dietetics, music); Mrs. Taylor's mental illness, death; importation from Scotland of Principal's sister as indomitable mistress of Summerhill. Enrolment at Queen's; concentration on social life, theatricals, to detriment of studies; determination (against father's wishes) to transfer standing to McGill, finish degree in dietetics; interim year at Queen's achieving science course prerequisites. Father as Queen's grad, Kingston lawyer, police magistrate, member of Queen's Dominion Championship football team. Founding of Kingston Juvenile Court by women founders of Ban Righ women's residence (Mrs. Harry Lavell, Anne Campbell Macgillivray, Marion Redden, Mrs. Arthur Clark). Sunday social routine of Queen's students (after-church dinner at manse or professors' houses); enlightening nature of home visits (e.g. for rural students), contrast with today's restaurant socializing. Summer 'loafing', sporting habits of women students; Taylor family as excellent sailors, daughter's high-diving accomplishments. Utilization of Queen's buildings for WWI military purposes. Superior, aggressive stance of WWI veteran fresh­ men: science men's 'great fights', 'a tough lot'. 'Thés dansants' social entertainments ('the only French word we ever used'); student theatrical revues, dramatic excellence of Prof. Hicks' wife. Degree course in dietetics at Macdonaid College (McGill Univ.); physics instruction in practical applied science (changing fuses); stimulation of ambitious fellow-students, revealed meaning of true studying. Boarding-school attendance in Toronto during WWI. Summer tour of Great Britain, western Europe: sociable third­class voyage by ship, impression of lonely first-class travellers' envy. Male students' summer employment on oceanfaring cattleboats. Employment as dietician in Presbyterian Hospital, New York; complicated individual menu calculations for diabetic patients (abhorrent sense of forcefeeding) during period of American assimilation of Canadian discoveries in insulin research. joyous experience of New York: International Students' House conviviality, Greenwich Village arts and crafts quarter. Employment as first Dietician, Queen's Student Memorial Union; special table (steak diet) for football players, catering services for campus dinners, use of radiators (Grant Hall) as warming platters. Happy participation in Queen's Faculty Players, typecasting as company 'ingenue'. //Artistic beauty of Summerhill home during Principal Fyfe's residence; Mrs. Fyfe's exceptional organisational abilities (planning furniture arrangements of Summerhill before removal from English home, sending plans ahead), 'Japanese eye' for interior light and space, flower-arranging artistry. Grandmother's hospitable compassion as minister's wife throughout Depression. Holiday abroad after quitting Students' Memorial Union; marriage to Queen's Associate Professor Reginald Jackson (1934), transfer to University of St. Andrews, Scotland. Sense of Canadian identity; poor social apprehension of Quebec (1930s), bewilderment at Quebecois self-distinction as 'French' Canadians. Men's snowshoeing parties to Wolfe Island for winter sport (father's generation). Aspect of Edinburgh streets during WWII; Edin­ burgh women's census, shock of encountering stratum of Edinburgh population her own age, noting the range in health, poverty; Edinburgh tenement conditions, health­ breaking labour of women transporting laundry to public washhouses and back. Conscientious objection during WWII: anti-Franco pacifist element, Scottish nationalist objectors; fear of invasion, heightening public scorn for 'malingerers'. Husband's position in Home Guard, premature death in 1946. Return to Kingston with two children, residence with 80-year-old father; discouraging experience of having to 'shut off' recent Scottish experience, dredge up former know­ ledge of Kingston society, adopt its interests. Intellectual isolation as widow; wish that women would share their husbands for general conversation, 'good talk'. Ban Righ Board membership: Adelaide Hall women's residence building campaign, 'great women' co-workers Thelma Bogart, Emily Graham, May Chown, Mary Chown; Alumnae women's 'superlative job of voluntary work' from Ban Righ fundraising onwards; Alumnae retention of Adelaide project despite university administrative attempts at takeover. Principal Wallace's 'kindly, whimsical humour', friendly chairmanship of Ban Righ Board, role as financial middleman between donor R.S. Maclaughlin, Ban Righ Board executive. Initial meeting with Vibert Douglas. Jean Royce interview with 'poor prospect' freshman: encouraging ability to draw him out, 'I've never been talked to like that by anyone'. Mrs. Wallace's perception of need for Faculty Women's Club: campaign efforts following WWII, while maintaining heavy routine hospitality at Summerhill; FWC cultural programmes, daily tea service for male student-faculty informal discussions. Preference for lighthearted, 'impromptu' university atmosphere during 1920s; personal happiness during Fyfe regime (instructive social life, membership in Faculty Players). TAPE TWO Son's quick adaptation to Canada (through having to learn to skate, play hockey); daughter's trials as 'bumptious Scot', solved much later by Queen's enrolment, Philosophy major under Prof. Sandy Duncan. Son's position as Professor of English, Victoria College, Univ. of Toronto; daughter's position with Faculty of Philosophy, Leeds Univ., England. 'Disturbing' tendency of modern films to 'belittle' characters, be disrespectful. Sympathy with women's movement, defence of its 'natural' occasional blatancy, overstepping of limits. Crusade to save Kingston Grand Opera House from demolition for downtown carpark; years' efforts (1960-5) at fundraising, renovation; difficulty sustaining townspeople's interests, 'small group' resuscitation efforts directed by subject and Mrs.John Delahaye; victory, supported by Symphony, attacked by sectors of town, university. Subject's fascination for former Kingston Theatre of her childhood, concern to protect Grand Theatre for younger generations.