Fonds Accession numbers: 2010.017, 2013.023 - Ford Webber fonds

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Title and statement of responsibility area

Title proper

Ford Webber fonds

General material designation

  • Textual record

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  • Source of title proper: Title based on contents of fonds.

Level of description

Fonds

Reference code

Accession numbers: 2010.017, 2013.023

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Class of material specific details area

Statement of scale (cartographic)

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Statement of scale (architectural)

Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)

Dates of creation area

Date(s)

Physical description area

Physical description

16 cm of textual records

Publisher's series area

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Archival description area

Name of creator

(1937-2008)

Biographical history

Ford Hanscom Webber was born on September 30, 1937 in Lake Charlotte, Halifax County, Nova Scotia to parents Edward James “Ned” Webber (1897-1963) and Marguerite Lillias “Babe” Grant (1907-1971). His father owned and operated Webber's Store in Lake Charlotte and as a child Ford helped out at the store while also attending the local one-room schoolhouse. At the age of fifteen, he left Lake Charlotte to attend the Halifax County Vocational High School, where he studied carpentry and stayed with his aunt Gertrude Stretch in Dartmouth. He graduated from vocational school at the age of eighteen and continued to attend night school for two years in Halifax. He then took a six-week finishing course in Sydney, graduating with full carpentry certification at the age of twenty-one.

Ford Webber spent his first summer after graduation as a carpenter in Halifax, before moving back to the Eastern Shore to help complete the construction of Robert Jamieson Memorial Consolidated High School in Oyster Pond. Thereafter, he was self-employed, working on a variety of construction projects on the Eastern Shore, including maintenance work for the County Schoolboard, pallet construction for Moirs, and constructing and repairing local bridges. During this time, Ford employed numerous workers. He married Joyce Anthony, daughter of Edward ‘Ted’ and Maud Anthony, and together they had two sons, Anthony and Timothy. He and Joyce later divorced and he married Marguerite ‘Peggy’ Sweet, daughter of Joan (Stevens) and Elliot Whyman Sweet. In 1964, Ford joined in a construction venture called Dolphin Industries, located in Musquodoboit Harbour and specializing in manufacturing as well as in concrete fabrication. One of the items produced were wooden sleds, which were shipped by rail and sold across Canada. Together with his mother, he had assumed management of Webber's Store after the death of his father in 1963, and continued running it until his mother’s death in 1971. The store was then operated by the company, E. J. Webber’s Store and owned jointly by the children of Ned and Babe. Ford retired from management of the store in 2004.

Throughout his lifetime, Ford’s father collected examples of changing technology and equipment in the hopes of someday creating a display or attraction for the visitors coming to Lake Charlotte. Ford shared his father’s interest and continued his father’s practice of preserving objects that others were throwing away, over time amassing a collection of artefacts and records. In 1994, along with other community members, he began to plan how this collection could be displayed. This led to the founding of the Lake Charlotte Area Heritage Society in 1995. The Society modified and expanded his proposal into Memory Lane Heritage Village, which opened in 2000 and was completed in 2003, with Ford playing an important role throughout. Ford Webber remained active in the Village and Society’s activities until his death on July 31, 2008.

Custodial history

Records were created and accumulated by Ford Webber and donated to the Eastern Shore Archives in 2008 and 2012 by his second wife, Marguerite ‘Peggy’ (Sweet) Webber.

Scope and content

Fonds consists of local news leaflets entitled, Webbers Shore News, published by Ford Webber, school books and scribblers, and other books belonging to Ford Webber from the 1940s.

Notes area

Physical condition

Some books in the books and guides series are missing covers and have loose pages.

Immediate source of acquisition

Records were donated to the Eastern Shore Archives by Ford Webber and Peggy (Sweet) Webber.

Arrangement

Published material that was not relevant to the mandate of the archives was weeded as well as exercise books that did not contain any relevant information.

Records in the Webbers Shore News series are arranged in reverse chronological order.

Language of material

  • English

Script of material

Location of originals

Availability of other formats

Restrictions on access

Open to researchers without restrictions.

Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication

Finding aids

Inventory with file list available.

Associated materials

Accruals

No further accruals are expected.

Accompanying material

Some books were catalogued as artefacts to be used in the Memory Lane school house. These consisted of a copy of The Adventures of Bob White by Thornton W. Burgess, and a copy of Edgar Allen Poe's, The Raven and The Bells.

Physical description

Includes 11 folders of textual records.

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Sources

“How Lake Charlotte Area Heritage Society created Memory Lane Heritage Village” / Gordon Hammond. Griffin [March 2003]. – Halifax, NS: Heritage Trust of Nova Scotia.

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