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Call Number: Mss 103, Pc 103, Tc 66 & Mf 24
Title: Simma Holt fonds.
Dates of Creation: 1910-2006.
Extent: 20 m of textual records and other material.
Biographical sketch: Simma Holt was born in Vegreville,
Alberta, March 27, 1922. Her father Louis Milner was born in Ukraine
and settled in Alberta in the early 1900s. Simma Holt attended the
University of Manitoba where she was inspired by John W. Dafoe to
pursue a career in journalism. During her university years she edited
the Manitoban, University of Manitoba student newspaper
and worked as a Manitoba Free Press correspondent. Upon graduation
in 1944 with a B.A. she immediately began working as a teletype
operator and reporter for the Canadian Press in Calgary.
She joined the Vancouver Sun in1944 and was general
news reporter, columnist, and a night editor to train cub reporters.
In 1976 she became a columnist for the Toronto Sun and
in 1986 a columnist for Ottawa Sun and Vancouver Business.
She also did freelance magazine writing for Reader's Digest,
Macleans, Fair Lady in South Africa, and many other
magazines. Simma Holt wrote four books: The Other Side of Mrs.
Diefenbaker (1983), Terror in the Name of God (1965),
Sex and the Teen Age Revolution (1967) and The Devil's
Butler (1971). In 1974 she was elected a Member of Parliament
for the Vancouver Kingsway riding. She remained in government from
1975 to 1979. She served on the Justice and Legal Affairs Standing
Committee, the Sub-Committee on Penitentiary Violence, and the Health
and Welfare Committee. She published a series of columns and news
stories which led to equality for women in law enforcement. She
also published stories on abuses happening to Indian women on Vancouver
streets. In 1964 she received a Woman of the Year Award in Canadian
Arts and Letters for Terror in the Name of God, and in
1985 Women of Distinction nominee, YWCA, Vancouver. She was also
a substitute host on leading Canadian open-line talk shows and frequent
guest on radio and television from Vancouver, Los Angeles, and New
York. Holt was made a Member of the Order of Canada on November
14, 1996 and was included in the Canadian News Hall of Fame on May
4, 1996.
Scope & content: The first accession is divided
into three series: personal, publications, and politics. The personal
series contains Holt's university essays. The publication series
contains material pertaining to Holt's four published books and
her newspaper career. Politics contains her correspondence as an
MP.
The second accession is divided into thirty-one series. They include
biographical information & journals, Leon Holt material, Milner
family, writing & research, unpublished material & manuscripts,
Holt autobiography material, Johnathan Pollard research material,
First Force manuscript, Council for the Damned manuscript, child
violence research, drug research, women's research, justice system
research, research material on Asia, Democratic Party research,
National Parole Board, Liberal Party material, miscellaneous research,
Holt articles, speeches & workshops, television projects &
courses taught, academic material, awards, House of Commons, correspondence,
lawsuits & complaints, writing by others, oversize material,
map cabinet material, photographs & tapes.
The third accession (A.07-14) is divide into five series and contains
material pertaining to a court case: Supreme Court of British Columbia
- Simma Holt v. Thomson aka Sonja d. Fletcher Coronation Real Estate
Services Ltd. d.b.a. Royal Lepage Coronation West Realty, and Ada
Van Leeuwen.
Custodial history: The fonds was donated by Simma
Holt in 1990, 1991, 2005, and 2007.
Restrictions: Some folders are restricted.
Accruals: No other accruals are expected.
Finding aids available:
Accessions
1990-91
A.05-53
A.07-14
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