Phyllis R. Blakeley was born in Halifax, N.S., on 2 August 1922, the daughter of Cecil Pearson Blakeley and Clara Amanda McLearn. She received a BA (1942) and MA (1945) from Dalhousie University. She taught briefly at Alexandra School in Halifax and joined the staff of the Public Archives of Nova Scotia as a research assistant in 1945. She served as Assistant Provincial Archivist, 1959-1977; Associate Provincial Archivist, 1977-1981; and Provincial Archivist, 1982-1985. She received an honourary LLD from Dalhousie University in 1977, was a member of the Order of Canada (1978) and a Fellow of the Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society (1979). She wrote extensively under her own name, as well as under her early pseudonym, Ruth Blake. Phyllis Blakeley died in Halifax on 25 October 1986.
Stephen R. Black was born in Grand Mira North to parents Roderick and Ann MacDougall, both of whom were born in Scotland. He worked as a carpenter-contractor in Sydney for most of his adult life but also spent a few years in Boston. Black was remembered as a great Gaelic scholar and vocalist. He was very active in the Scottish Catholic Society of Canada.
Joseph Bernard, marquis de Chabert was a French naval officer, geographer and astronomer. He was commissioned in 1750 to go to North America to correct the maps of the coasts of Acadia, Isle Royale and Newfoundland. It was during this trip that Bernard visited Louisbourg and established an observatory. He documented his findings in the publication "Voyage fait par order du Roi en 1750 et 1751".
Jacques Nicolas Bellin was appointed hydrographer (chief cartographer) to the French Navy at the age of 18 in 1721. He was eventually named the official hydrographer to King Louis XV. A member of the French intellectual group, the philosophes, Bellin's work was known for intellectual rigour and high quality often copied by other cartographers. His maps set a high standard of production and accuracy and were often copied by other cartographers. During his term in office he was commissioned to carry out major coastal surveys. In 1764 he published the Petit Atlas Maritime in 5 volumes.
Mabel Gardiner Hubbard Bell, aeronautics financier, community leader, social reformer and advocate for the deaf (born 25 November 1857 in Cambridge, Massachusetts; died 3 January 1923 in Chevy Chase, Maryland). Bell actively supported and contributed to the work of her husband, inventor Alexander Graham Bell. Her financial investment in his work made her the first financier of the aviation industry in North America. She was a community leader in Baddeck, Nova Scotia, where the Bell family spent their summers. She was also a social reformer and supported innovation in education.
Alexander Graham Bell, teacher of the deaf, inventor, scientist (born 3 March 1847 in Edinburgh, Scotland; died 2 August 1922 near Baddeck, NS). Alexander Graham Bell is generally considered second only to Thomas Alva Edison among 19th- and 20th-century inventors. Although he is best known as the inventor of the first practical telephone, he also did innovative work in other fields, including aeronautics, hydrofoils and wireless communication (the “photophone”). Moreover, Bell himself considered his work with the deaf to be his most important contribution. Born in Scotland, he emigrated to Canada in 1870 with his parents. Bell married American Mabel Hubbard in 1877 and became a naturalized American citizen in 1882. From the mid-1880s, he and his family spent their summers near Baddeck on Cape Breton Island, where they built a large home, Beinn Bhreagh. From then on, Bell divided his time and his research between the United States and Canada. He died and was buried at Baddeck in 1922.
Sister Margaret Isabella Beaton (Sister St. Margaret of Scotland) was born on October 7, 1893 to Eoin Beaton and Annie MacDonald in Broad Cove, Inverness County, Cape Breton. She was baptized two days later, on October 9, at St. Margaret of Scotland Catholic Church in Broad Cove. She spent her early years at the local school before spending her teen years enrolled with the Sisters of the Congregation at the Inverness Convent and at the Mabou Convent boarding school. After finishing high school, she taught school in Inverness County for two years and spent a year in Sydney, Nova Scotia at the Holy Angels Convent, where she obtained her Grade B teaching license.
At this time, she decided to enter the Congrégation de Notre-Dame (C.N.D.) in Montreal, Quebec. Postulants were sent into communities to teach, and Sister was sent to the Diocese of Joliette and then to the École Jeanne-Le Ber in Quebec. She entered the profession on December 16, 1915 and her first assignment as a C.N.D. was as a teacher at the high school in Pictou, Nova Scotia. Throughout her time teaching, she never stopped her own studies and she obtained her Bachelor of Arts from Boston College in 1935, her Master of Arts from the University of Montreal in 1937, her Master of Library Sciences from the Catholic University in 1949, and finally her doctorate in English from the University of Montreal in 1958. She also took courses in Archival studies in Ottawa and from the University of Edinburgh in Edinburgh, Scotland.
In 1955, Sister returned to Cape Breton and the Holy Angels Convent. She joined the staff of Xavier Junior College in Sydney as a librarian. Through this role, she realized that many documents of historical and literary significance to Cape Breton Island were being lost due to neglect and the lack of an appropriate repository. In a pro-active response to this challenge Sr. Beaton began collecting Cape Breton related documents and artifacts with the objective of preserving materials of historic significance for future scholars.
In 1957 the first manuscript – The Minutes of the First Agricultural Meeting in Cape Breton – was aquired. Collecting, in the beginning, was sporadic and unplanned – more serendipitous in nature, but fruitful all the same. By 1966, Sister Margaret turned her attention to building Cape Bretoniana and the College of Cape Breton Archives on a full-time basis. Cape Bretoniana grew substantially during these years with several appeals to the local community for donations of archival material. As a result, there was the on-going need for additional space for the archives, first housed within the library then in the MacDonald Arts Building on George Street in Sydney, followed by a move to the MacLeod Building on Nepean Street in 1967 and then to the Logue Building at George and Pitt Streets in 1970.
In 1975, Cape Bretoniana was expanded to include two main divisions: the Archives and Institute Library, and the division of Ethnic Studies, Folklore and the Social and Cultural History of Cape Breton Island. In the same year the Archives was struck a blow with the sudden death of Sr. Margaret as a result of a car accident on June 12. After a funeral mass held at Sacred Heart Church in Sydney she was laid to rest on June 15, 1975.
Cape Bretoniana was renamed the Beaton Institute in honour of its foundress and as a pledge that the work of this outstanding woman would continue.
Mudoch Beaton lived on the Shore Road in Harbourview near Port Hood. He married Mary Christina MacDonell. He is remembered for his wit and talent as a storyteller.
Elizabeth Beaton grew up on a farm in Antigonish County. She was educated at St. Martha’s Hospital, St. F. X. University (BA Celtic Studies), Memorial University of Newfoundland (MA Folklore) and University of Manitoba (Ph.D. Interdisciplinary Studies). She served as a CUSO volunteer in Guyana from 1967-1969, and stayed on in Guyana until 1973. She taught courses in Folklore, Geography, and Community Studies. She spent 33 years at Cape Breton University, including as a Senior Researcher at the Beaton Institute. Her primary interests have always been the culture and traditions – and relevant societal milieus -- of Cape Breton Island. This has led her to study and write about immigration and ethnic relations; the steel industry; housing as a reflection of culture and status, agriculture and the livelihood of farmers especially in Inverness County. As a Senior Research Fellow with the Centre for Cape Breton Studies, her current area of study and writing is on the material culture of the gaspereau fishery as a farm income supplement. She is also active on a committee dedicated to bringing farmer immigrants to Cape Breton Island. Elizabeth now spends a great deal of her time gardening, and cheering on the excellent young scholars who are involved in bringing a deeper and wider understanding of Cape Breton peoples and their respective cultures.
Archibald Beaton was a resident of Mabou Mines, Nova Scotia.
The Beaton Institute, and its predecessor Cape Bretoniana, has served as the regional archives for Cape Breton Island for the past 59 years. The Beaton Institute collects and preserves the social, economic, political and cultural history of the Island and through this mandate supports and fosters research related to Cape Breton – its people, its industry, its history, and its rich cultural heritage.
Fifty years ago, prior to digital technology, the information landscape was quite different; however, it was not without its challenges. Mother St. Margaret of Scotland (Sister Margaret Beaton), in her role as Librarian at Xavier Junior College, recognized that many documents of historical and literary significance to Cape Breton Island were being lost due to neglect and the lack of an appropriate repository. In a pro-active response to this challenge Sr. Beaton began collecting Cape Breton related documents and artifacts with the objective of preserving materials of historic significance for future scholars.
It all began in 1957 with the acquisition of the first manuscript – The Minutes of the First Agricultural Meeting in Cape Breton. Today, the Beaton Institute is recognized in the archival community as having a rich regional collection.
This collecting, in the beginning, was sporadic and unplanned – more serendipitous in nature, but fruitful all the same. By 1966, Sister Margaret turned her attention to building Cape Bretoniana and the College of Cape Breton Archives on a full-time basis. Cape Bretoniana grew substantially during these years with several appeals to the local community for donations of archival material. As a result there was the on-going need for additional space for the archives, first housed within the library then in the MacDonald Arts Building on George Street in Sydney, followed by a move to the MacLeod Building on Nepean Street in 1967 and then to the Logue Building at George and Pitt Streets in 1970.
In 1975, Cape Bretoniana was expanded to include two main divisions: the Archives and Institute Library, and the division of Ethnic Studies, Folklore and the Social and Cultural History of Cape Breton Island. In the same year the Archives was struck a blow with the sudden death of Sr. Beaton as a result of a car accident. The direction of the Archives was taken on by Dr. Malcolm MacLellan as an interim measure until the appointment of Dr. Robert Morgan as the permanent director and archivist. The Archives was renamed, the Beaton Institute, in honour of its foundress and as a pledge that the work of this outstanding woman would continue.
In 1979, the Institute, along with the rest of the Sydney Campus, moved to its new location on the Grand Lake Road. The Institute was located in the Information and Communications Centre near the Library and Art Gallery. The expanded quarters and improved facilities were the culmination of many years of planning and made the Institute one of Canada’s important regional archives.
Today the Beaton Institute is housed in a 17,000 square foot complex within the Student, Culture and Heritage Centre at Cape Breton University. The modern facility houses a reading room, the vault, several specialized collections rooms, offices and work room. The foundation of the Beaton Institute is its collection. The manuscript collection is particularly strong in the industrial, labour, and political history of Cape Breton. The audio visual holdings include an oral history collection, a wealth of material relating to Cape Breton social life, songs and ballads. The Celtic Music Collection includes hundreds of recordings of Cape Breton’s best fiddlers and pianists playing tunes, which are in many cases, one of a kind. The photographic holdings include over 60,000 images dating from the mid-nineteenth century and dealing with every phase of life on the Island.
Perhaps the most outstanding feature of the Archives is its special collections of ethno cultural materials. The collection reflects the many cultural groups present in Cape Breton including the Mi’kmaq, African Nova Scotian, Jewish, Acadian, Ukrainian, Lithuanian, Polish and Italian communities. A great source of pride is the quality of Gaelic material including original manuscripts, tapes, a small reference library and a complete file of the Gaelic newspaper MacTalla, published for many years in Cape Breton.
It is through this collection that the Beaton Institute serves those who quest for knowledge – the student, the teacher, the filmmaker, the author, the genealogist, the community. The collection offers researchers a window through which to understand, compare, analyze and educate today by understanding and knowing our past. The goal of the archives is to collect and make available historically significant records in a manner that conveys the processes and contexts through which the record was created. The Beaton Institute has endeavored to preserve and make available those materials that have enduring value to our society. Today the Beaton Institute’s staff of five receives and responds to over 4000 enquiries a year from around the world.
Captain Henry Wolsey Bayfield (1795-1885) was born in Kingston Hull, England. At age 11 he entered the Royal Navy. He moved up in rank and served in the Mediterranean, off the coasts of France, Holland, and Spain, in the West Indies, and at Quebec and Halifax before joining the British flotilla on Lake Champlain in October 1814. He became acting lieutenant in Kingston, Upper Canada, on the sloop Star, a vessel employed in the Royal Navy’s surveying service on the Canadian lakes under the command of Captain William Fitz William Owen. Bayfield assisted Owen in the summer of 1816 in the survey of Lake Ontario and the upper St Lawrence from Kingston to the Galop Rapids at Edwardsburg Upper Canada. Bayfield soon became in charge of surveying. Bayfield was promoted commander in 1826. While in England he persuaded the Admiralty that a survey was required of the St Lawrence River and Gulf, to be connected with the chain of surveys from Lake Superior eastward. The Admiralty appointed Bayfield superintendent of the St Lawrence survey in 1827. One of Bayfield’s special concerns was to obtain measurements of the distances between the meridians of Quebec, Halifax, and St John’s. By 1848 Bayfield had surveyed the entire coastline of Prince Edward Island the Northumberland Strait coast of Nova Scotia, and the northeastern extremity of the Gaspé. In the next five years, he concentrated on a survey of Cape Breton Island begun in 1847, the Strait of Canso, Isle Madame, and the Bras d’Or Lake.
The first member of the Basker family immigrated to Boston, United States of America (USA) before the birth of Joseph Basker in 1792. Joseph Basker’s unnamed father was a solider with the 32nd Regiment and was stationed in Windsor, Nova Scotia, so the family settled there until the father’s death. Joseph Basker returned to the USA for a time before settling in the Gut of Canso, Nova Scotia with his mother. At the age of 22 he petitioned for a 200-acre lot along the south east branch of the Mabou River in Cape Breton and the family settled in what would become Mull River, Nova Scotia. The Baskers farmed in Mull River for over 150 years.
Charles Parnell Barrington was born in 1770 in Middlesex, England. He married Elizabeth Hayward Budd and the couple had eleven children: Margaret Sibella, Carter, Harriet, Victoria, Christina, Elizabeth Ann, Olivia Mary, John, Sidney William, Henry and Edwin John Carter. Barrington immigrated to Canada where he joined the militia and was stationed first in Quebec and then Charlottetown, P.E.I. He was finally stationed at Sydney, Nova Scotia, holding the position of Captain of the 7th Battalion of the 60th Rifles of Foot. He settled at Sydney Mines in 1817 and brought his family over from England. Barrington died in 1848. Many of the Barrington children and grandchildren remained in Cape Breton. Yorke Henry Ainsley Barrington, son of Edwin, and his son Yorke Cotrill Barrington, became heavily involved in the founding of the Cape Breton coal industry.