Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
General material designation
- Textual record
- Graphic material
Parallel title
Other title information
Title statements of responsibility
Title notes
- Source of title proper: Title based on contents of fonds.
Level of description
Repository
Reference code
Edition area
Edition statement
Edition statement of responsibility
Class of material specific details area
Statement of scale (cartographic)
Statement of projection (cartographic)
Statement of coordinates (cartographic)
Statement of scale (architectural)
Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
-
[ca. 1860-1940], [ca. 1965]- 2007 (Creation)
- Creator
- Ritcey, Robert Milton, 1923-2007
Physical description area
Physical description
7 cm of textual records, 19 photographs
Publisher's series area
Title proper of publisher's series
Parallel titles of publisher's series
Other title information of publisher's series
Statement of responsibility relating to publisher's series
Numbering within publisher's series
Note on publisher's series
Archival description area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Robert Milton Ritcey, Sr. was born on March 26, 1923 in Lower East Petpeswick, Halifax County, Nova Scotia, and was baptized in July 1924. In 1925, his parents, James Henry Ritcey (1902-1974) and Nora Catherine (Faulkner) Ritcey (1902-2000), emigrated to the United States in search of better economic opportunities, and left him in the care of his grandmother, Mary (Newman) Bayer (1874-1963) and her husband Alexander Stewart (1874-1938) in Lower East Petpeswick. In 1938, at the age of 15, Ritcey moved to Norwood, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, to live with his parents. In 1948, Ritcey married Jean Campbell Robertson (b. 1922), and had two children with her, Robert Milton Jr. and Donna Carol.
Ritcey graduated from Norwood High School in 1940, and was trained as an electrician at the Wentworth Institute, Boston, Massachusetts from 1940 to 1942. He also studied at the Lincoln Technical Institute in Massachusetts. From 1942 to 1943, Ritcey was employed at the Wentworth Institute as an electrician, and also taught electricity and electrical fundamentals to United States naval personnel. In 1943, Ritcey joined the United States Army and served as a Sergeant and Chief Radar Operator in the 526th Anti Aircraft Artillery Gun Battalion, in the American Theater of the Second World War. In 1946, Ritcey was honourably discharged from the Army and began working for Gove Electric, possibly in New Hampshire. In 1965 or before, he began working for Edward A. Sheehan & Sons, Inc. in Walpole, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, where he also lived. Ritcey retired in 1986.
Ritcey was greatly interested in his Nova Scotian roots and performed extensive genealogical research into his ancestry which he compiled along with a memoir entitled “The People”. He wrote a second memoir about growing up in East Petpeswick in the 1930s, entitled “The Place”, which is expected to be published by the Lake Charlotte Area Heritage Society in 2010. He also advocated for the preservation of Martinique Beach, near where he grew up in Lower East Petpeswick. Ritcey died in Walpole on October 31, 2007.
Custodial history
The majority of the records were kept by Robert M. Ritcey from the time they were created, and were transferred to the Eastern Shore Archives in a series of transfers between 2005 and 2007. Originals are probably held by Ritcey’s wife, Jean Robertson Ritcey. Copies of photographs were donated to the MHHS by Winifred Ross in memory of Robert M. Ritcey after his death in 2007, together with notes about the people in the photographs. This material was subsequently donated to the Easter Shore Archives by the MHHS as part of a larger donation of local history archival records in 2012 after the society’s mandate was refocused and no longer supported the collection of local history archival records.
Scope and content
Fonds consists of records of the activities of Robert M. Ritcey and includes research material and publications, genealogy, correspondence regarding Martinique Beach, and copies of old photographs of Ritcey family members.
Notes area
Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
Donated by Robert M. Ritcey in a series of transfers between 2005 and 2007, Musquodoboit Harbour Heritage Society 2012.
Arrangement
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.
General note
Records were originally accessioned with the number 2006.012, but were re-accessioned with the number 2010.004 at the time of cataloguing.
General note
Eastern Shore Archives photograph database contains scans of photographs that were loaned to the Archives by Robert M. Ritcey, with the originals having been returned to him after they were scanned.
General note
The following book is also available at the Eastern Shore Archives:
Ritcey, Robert M. The Place: Life on the Eastern Shore of Nova Scotia in the 1920s-1930s: A memoir by Robert Milton Ritcey (1923-2007). Lake Charlotte Area Heritage Society, 2016.
Conservation
Records in binders and envelopes were removed and housed in acid-free folders.
Physical description
19 photographs, 8 folders of textual records
Alternative identifier(s)
Standard number
Standard number
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
Genre access points
Control area
Sources
“Robert Milton Ritcey, Walpole, Mass”. Boston Herald [4 Nov. 2007]. 11 Jan. 2010 http://www.bostonherald.com/news/obituaries/death_notices/view.bg?articleid=1042319