Fonds 256 - Bobby Porritt fonds

• Multiple media

8.2 m of textual material and other materials

This fonds consists of 754 photographs, 95 postcards, 23 audio reels and 2 audio cassettes, 29 maps and 8.2 meters of textual records created and accumulated by Robert "Bobby" Porritt from the 1920s until his death in 1984. The records include correspondence, Porritt's notes, accounting records, banking records, other business records, records pertaining to the Northwest Territories Legislative Council (consisting primarily of copies), memorabilia, Jock McMeekan's records, a few annual reports and newsletters, some posters and ephemera, newspaper clippings, maps and plans, sound recordings, and photographs. In particular, the records document Porritt's occupational and political activities, his personal interests and his relationships with many friends and family members.

The correspondence, in particular is an excellent record of the economic, social and political aspects of life in Hay River from the late 1940s to the early 1980s. Porritt appears to have maintained intense personal contacts with the majority of the people in the Hay River area, including considerable correspondence with aboriginal hunters and trappers, who had become friends of Porritt. Also well documented is the Fort Resolution community in the 1930s, through correspondence and business records of the Fort Resolution Lumber Company. Since Porritt was Member of the Legislative Council for Mackenzie South, the records include correspondence with various other members of Council (e.g. Commissioner Ben G. Sivertz and John Goodall) and members of parliament. These letters contain discussion about political and bureaucratic issues facing Council before the move of the territorial government to Yellowknife in 1967. Unusually active in local organizations, Porritt's papers contain correspondence on behalf of these organizations. His interest in all aspects of his community, the north, and the world in general, are revealed in the magazines, ephemera, posters and other types of items he collected. The photographs taken and collected by Porritt cover a wide variety of subjects and dates. Photographs of family members, friends, business colleagues, communities and special interests such as aircraft and marine transportation are predominating.

In 1986, the NWT Archives received some 70 linear meters of records of Bobby Porritt, which included newspapers and government publications. Although the records had survived a flood and subsequent repacking, virtually no original order was discernible. Arrangement of series is by type of record, with the correspondence arranged in somewhat more detail than most other series. The photographs were sorted according to several subject categories.