J.S. and Lucy Woodsworth family fonds
- MsC-204
- Fonds
- [ca. 1860-1997?]
This fonds consists of primarily of correspondence between members of the Woodsworth/MacInnis families, along with photographic material documenting extended family and some key events. James Shaver Woodsworth (J.S.) was a leader of the social democratic movement in the early 20th century and a co-founder of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) party in 1932, of which his daughter and son-in-law were also key figures. However the subject matter of most of this fonds is of a personal familial nature, rather than in-depth political discourse or strategizing. Included in this fonds are notes, manuscripts and letters, primarily written between himself and his wife, Lucy Staples Woodsworth during the years he was serving first as a clergyman through to his involvement and arrest at the Winnipeg General Strike in 1919, as well as an extended tour of Europe and Russia with Lucy in 1932. There are a few letters between J.S. and his children as they mature and pursue careers but even when J.S. ceases to be the primary author, there is news of him in the correspondence of Lucy up until his passing in 1942.
The bulk of content in this fonds consists of correspondence between Lucy Woodsworth and her daughter Grace Woodsworth MacInnis, although there are occasional letters to, from or between her other children Belva, Ralph, Charles, Bruce and Howard. The content of this material is primarily anecdotal as Lucy informs Grace of her day-to-day activities and meetings. There is some mention of her political activities and leanings - particularly of her attendance at a Women's International League conference in 1924 or in correspondence with Grace's husband, Angus MacInnis - but most letters contain news of friends and family, of health and daily activities.
Because many of these letters were originally assembled by Grace MacInnis herself, there is a subsection of correspondence between herself and Angus, from the very first days of their courtship through their combined political careers in Parliament and up until Angus's passing in 1964.