Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
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- Graphic material
- Textual record
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Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
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1909 - 1970 (Creation)
- Creator
- Fillmore, Roscoe A.
Physical description area
Physical description
48 cm of textual records (3 boxes)
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Archival description area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Roscoe Fillmore was an horticulturalist, author and political activist. He was a principle organizer for the Socialist Party of Canada in the Maritimes before World War One and joined the Communist Party of Canada in the early 1920s. Born in Lumsden, New Brunswick, on 10 July 1887, in 1923 he spent time at an experimental farm in Kuzas, Siberia, working as an horticultural expert. He was president of the New Brunswick Fruit Growers' Association before losing his job as a large orchard manager in 1924 and moving his family (wife, Margaret, and children, Dick, Ruth, Rosa and Alexandra) to Centreville, Nova Scotia. He built a house and a nursery, and in 1938 became Head Gardener for the Dominion Atlantic Railway, where he was also responsible for gardening at the Grand Pré Memorial Park.
Fillmore was politically active in Centreville and a strong supporter of socialist causes. He wrote numerous political articles for magazines and, with Charles MacDonald, Frank Parry and Jim Sim, he helped to form the Centreville Socialists, a small group that met on Sundays at Sim's residence to discuss politics and government. When the Communist Party of Canada was banned in 1940, Fillmore helped refound the party as the Labour-Progressive Party of Canada. In the 1945 federal election he ran as the Farmer-Labour Candidate in the Digby-Annapolis-Kings riding. He received 362 (1.4%) of the 25,944 votes cast. The Centreville Socialists met regularly until 1951 when Jim Sim died.
After the Centreville Socialists broke up, Fillmore and Parry focused on developing Valley Nurseries. Fillmore developed new plant varieties suitable for Nova Scotia's climate. He also published four books on gardening, which were written without the obscure terminology found in many contemporaneous gardening books, and he became a popular speaker on radio and across Canada under the nickname "Mr. Green Thumbs." Fillmore renounced the Labour-Progressive Party of Canada in the 1950s, but continued to remain politically active until his death in 1968. Since 1978, semi-annual picnics have been held in his honour.
Custodial history
Records were donated to Dalhousie University Archives in accession (1977-052) in 1977 by Roscoe Fillmore's daughter, Rosa Skinner.
Scope and content
Fonds consists of fiction, non-fiction and poetry manuscripts, a notebook, leaflets and periodicals, newspaper clippings, and a hardcover copy of The Growing Question, a gardening book published by Fillmore in 1957. Materials relate to Fillmore's interests in horticulture and political activism.
Notes area
Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
Arrangement
Fonds is arranged into five series: Clippings, leaflets, and periodicals; Roscoe Alfred Fillmore's personal correspondence; Manuscripts; Personal papers of Roscoe Alfred Fillmore; and Photographs. Files within each series are listed alphabetically by title.
Language of material
- English
- Russian
Script of material
Language and script note
English. Some correspondence contains notes in Russian.
Location of originals
Availability of other formats
Restrictions on access
There are no access restrictions on these materials. All materials are open for research.
Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication
Materials do not circulate and must be used in the Dalhousie University Archives and Special Collections Reading Room. Materials may be under copyright. Contact departmental staff for guidance on reproduction.
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Name access points
- Canadian Workers Party. (Subject)
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Control area
Sources
Description comes from the Dalhousie University Archives Catalog. The complete, original description is available there.