Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
Alexander Begg fonds
General material designation
Parallel title
Other title information
Title statements of responsibility
Title notes
Level of description
Fonds
Repository
Reference code
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
50 cm of textual records. -- 36 photographs
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
Biographical history
Alexander Begg, 1825-1905, was born in Scotland, where he received a teaching diploma. In 1846, he emigrated to Ontario where he resumed teaching. In 1854, he turned to journalism and established a number of newspapers. He married Emily Maria Luke, ?-1932, in 1858 and they had eleven children. One of their sons, Magnus, became agent at the Blackfoot (Siksika) Indian Agency in Alberta. For a number of years Alexander was employed by the Department of Internal Revenue and was Collector of Customs for the North-West Territories in 1869. In 1872 he was appointed Emigration Commissioner in Scotland for the Province of Ontario and persuaded thousands of crofters to settle in Canada. He later attempted to promote a similar scheme as Commissioner for the British Columbia government but this was abandoned as impractical. In the 1870s he established a temperance colony at Parry Sound and Beggsboro. In 1881, he visited the West as a Toronto Mail correspondent. He then acquired the Dunbow Ranche near Davisburg and High River, Alberta in 1883. In 1887 he moved to Victoria where he and three of his sons later formed the Stickeen and Teslin Railway, Navigation and Colonization Co. The following year he was employed by the Dominion Government to assist in defining the Canada-Alaska border. He retired to New York City in 1903. For further information see Jill Wade's entry, "Alexander Begg", in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. XIII. - Toronto : University of Toronto Press, 1994, p. 56-58.
Custodial history
Records originate from the Glenbow but are available at the Glenbow Western Research Centre, University of Calgary
Scope and content
The fonds consists of correspondence (1854-1905) relating to his newspaper businesses, the Temperance Colonization Society, the crofters' immigration scheme, the Alaskan boundary, and the Dunbow Ranche; legal records; diaries (1842-1904); correspondence, minutes and incorporation documents for the railway company; and certificates, appointments and commissions. Includes Emily's correspondence (1853-1914) and photographs of the Begg family.
Records related to the following subjects are also in this fonds. See inventory for details: Robert Begg, Bow River Ranch, Canadian Yukon Railway Co., D.W. Davis, William Duncan, Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, Richard C. Hardisty, J.J. Hill, Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) lands, Louis Riel, St. Joseph's Industrial School (Dunbow School), Sir Thomas Shaughnessy, and James Wallace.
Notes area
Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
Gifts of Mrs. A.M. Fortune, 1964, and G. Alexander Begg, 1980.
Arrangement
Language of material
Script of material
Location of originals
Availability of other formats
Restrictions on access
No restrictions on access.
Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication
Finding aids
Inventory available. Please consult before requesting material. http://www.glenbow.org/collections/search/findingAids/archhtm/begg.cfm
Associated materials
A small amount of Alexander Begg's records are held at the City of Vancouver Archives and the British Columbia Archives and Records Service. Magnus Beggs' correspondence as Indian agent is in the Blackfoot Indian Agency records at Glenbow. The records of son Robert A. Begg are also held by Glenbow.
Accruals
General note
Call numbers. Please consult inventory.
Alternative identifier(s)
Standard number area
Standard number
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Begg, Alexander (Subject)
Genre access points
Control area
Description record identifier
Institution identifier
Rules or conventions
Level of detail
Language of description
- English