2.31 m of textual records and other materials.

[Note: Includes 2989 photographs. -- 13 video cassettes. -- 22 audio cassettes.]

MSS 136, PC 143, TC 90

Fredelle Maynard (nee Bruser) was born in Foam Lake, Saskatchewan in 1922. She was raised in rural Manitoba and Saskatchewan until the age of nine when her family settled in Winnipeg, Manitoba. In 1943, Maynard earned her B.A. (English) from the University of Manitoba. She received her M.A. (English) from the University of Toronto in 1944, and her Ph.D. (English Literature) from Radcliffe College (Harvard University) in 1947. She married Max Maynard in 1948, and they had two daughters, Rona and Joyce. Maynard taught both in the public school system and in secondary schools in New Hampshire. Maynard began publishing magazine articles in the 1950s that dealt with issues such as health, children, education, marriage, and family. She became a noted expert on child care and was well-received as a public speaker. Maynard left her husband after the publication of her first book, Raisins and Almonds, and they subsequently divorced. Maynard also published Guiding Your Child to a More Creative Life during this time. In the mid1970s, Maynard moved to Toronto, Ontario, where she continued to publish both magazine articles and books. In 1985, she published The Child Care Crisis, and in 1988 her final book, The Tree of Life, was published. Maynard was also a popular host of two television shows on parenting. Maynard was diagnosed with brain cancer in 1989. She married her longtime companion, Sydney Bacon, that spring, and died on October 3, 1989.

The collection contains working copies of published essays, articles, stories, poems, manuscripts and personal and family correspondence. There are two copies of Purple and Gold (1937 1938), news clippings, travel diaries, a scrapbook of her articles, a video tape collection of Parents and Children, and miscellaneous audio tapes. The records date from 1915 to 1990. The 2001 accession consists of personal information, professional and personal correspondence, a published magazine article, unpublished material, a speech, miscellaneous material relating to Fredelle Maynard, and material relating to other family members of Fredelle Maynard. The accession also contains an extensive photograph collection comprising of 138 negatives, 17 slides, and 2826 photographs.

The records remained with the creator until her death in 1989. From 1989 to 1991 the records were in the custody of her daughter, Rona Maynard, at which point they were transferred to the Department of Archives and Special Collections at the University of Manitoba. A subsequent transfer took place in 1992. The 2001 accession (A.01-08) was transferred to the Archives & Special Collections by Rona Maynard (daughter) in 2001.

No further accruals are expected.

Finding aid available