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Ian McDonald collection
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Research for book - The Red Baron of IBEW Local 213

This series contains materials accumulated by Ian McDonald related to the writing of his book “The Red Baron of IBEW Local 213” written about his father, Les McDonald. Materials include digital sound recordings of interviews, research articles, notebooks, consent forms, a draft royalty agreement, a draft chapter and a press marketing questionnaire.

Ian McDonald collection

  • RBSC-ARC-1783
  • Collection
  • [1910?]-[before 2022]

The collection contains materials related to Ian McDonald's Master's thesis research on the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), Local 213 “Class conflict and political factionalism: a history of Local 213 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, 1901-1961," and related to the activities of his father, Les McDonald, a trade union activist who belonged to Local 213 but was eventually suspended for leading the Lenkurt strike of 1966. Les McDonald was also a multi-sport athlete, and is credited with introducing the triathlon into the Olympics; some materials in the collection relate to Les McDonald's involvement in various sport and environmental organizations, as well as some of his personal papers. In addition to what he received from his father, Ian McDonald was also given papers by former IBEW Local 213 business manager Art O’Keeffe and Barry Sharbo, a board member of the Canadian Union of Electrical Workers (UE), as well as Alfie Huston, the former President of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 213 from 1985-1988, which are included within the collection.

The collection is largely comprised of newspaper and photocopied journal articles, correspondence between members of IBEW Local 213, legal documentation, newsletters and other printed ephemera related to IBEW Local 213.

The collection also contains sound recordings of interviews with numerous figures in IBEW Local 213 created by Ian McDonald during his thesis research. McDonald's thesis, submitted for the completion of a Master of Arts in History at Simon Fraser University, can be found in the Summit database: http://summit.sfu.ca/item/6361.

The collection also contains background materials accumulated by McDonald while writing his book “The Red Baron of IBEW 213,” including digital sound recordings of interviews, research articles, notebooks, consent forms, a draft royalty agreement, a draft chapter and a press marketing questionnaire.

McDonald, Ian

[Spontaneity Went Out With Spartacus]

File contains an essay written by Ian McDonald on the Lenkurt strike and his father's role within the strike; the full title is "Spontaneity Went Out With Spartacus: IBEW Local 213, Les McDonald, and the Lenkurt Strike of 1966." Ian McDonald considers the essay to be a continuation of his work on his 1986 Master's thesis, which discussed the IBEW before the Lenkurt strike.

Thesis research

The series contains materials collected by Ian McDonald for the purposes of writing his Master’s thesis on the history of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 213, from 1901 to 1961. Materials within the series include collective agreements, newspaper and journal articles, court case summaries, interview transcriptions, census tables, meeting minutes, correspondence and dissertations; most materials are photocopies rather than original documents, however.

Also included are materials that pertain to the Lenkurt strike of 1966, which McDonald omitted from his original thesis to limit its scope. He took up the events surrounding the Lenkurt strike in a later essay, “Spontaneity Went Out with Spartacus: IBEW Local 213, Les McDonald, and the Lenkurt Strike of 1966,” which McDonald regards as a continuation of his Master’s research; the essay is also part of the series.

[Personal correspondence (1 of 2)]

File contains letters related to Les McDonald's personal life, including eulogies written for Bill Stewart and Herb Crabtree, correspondence from and related to his father, and a copy of Charles Boylan's "Learn From the Teacher By Negative Example" with a dedication to Les McDonald. Also contains "Some Recollections of Les McDonald," by David Yorke.

Court Cases

File contains full text decisions of B.C. Dist. Telegraph Co. v. IBEW Local 213 (1965); IBEW Local 28 v. IBEW and Gordon Freeman, IBEW President (1961) and IBEW Local 28 v. IBEW Local 24 (1963). Although the file was explicitly grouped with the Art O'Keeffe papers in the received order of the collection (i.e. through the physical arrangement and a file list), O'Keeffe himself could not have collected copies of the court cases in 2016.

[Personal correspondence (2 of 2)]

File contains letters related to Les McDonald's personal life, including eulogies written for Bill Stewart and Herb Crabtree, correspondence from and related to his father, and a copy of Charles Boylan's "Learn From the Teacher By Negative Example" with a dedication to Les McDonald. Also contains "Some Recollections of Les McDonald," by David Yorke.

Art O'Keeffe papers

The subseries contains materials collected by Art O’Keeffe, former business manager of the IBEW Local 213, including correspondence and legal documentation regarding his suspension from the union following the Lenkurt strike in 1966. Also contains newspaper clippings and court case summaries, some of which may have been added later by Ian McDonald.

O’Keeffe, Art, b. 1918

Collected papers

The series contains materials belonging to Ian McDonald’s father, Leslie (Les) McDonald, and other figures involved in IBEW Local 213. Materials relate predominantly to the activities of IBEW Local 213, though some papers also relate to Les McDonald’s involvement in various sports and community organizations, his writings and his personal correspondence.

Materials within the series include notebooks, postcards, letters, newsletters, newspaper articles and issues, legal documents and photographs. Relative to the ‘Thesis Research’ series, many more materials are original or copies made at the time the originals were created.

Les McDonald papers

The subseries contains materials collected by and about Les McDonald including notebooks on his union activities and his participation at the Community Party Education Camp in 1964, newspaper articles he wrote, documents related to the appeal of his suspension from IBEW Local 213, personal correspondence and photographs of IBEW Local 213 members engaging in a job action in 1965. In particular, there are a large number of postcards that he sent to his mentor, Bill Stewart, while McDonald was traveling in his bid to get the sport of triathlon into the Olympics. The subseries also contains an article Les McDonald wrote about his ascent of the North Arete in 1962 and a notebook related to the Yukon Alpine Centennial Climb conducted in 1973.

McDonald, Les, 1933-2017

[E. Tilford Fenton papers]

File contains Ian McDonald's archival research related to E. Tilford Fenton, member of IBEW 213 and executive board representative from 1912-13. Also contains a copy of an IBEW Pacific District Council Report from April 4, 1913.

[Postcards sent to Bill & Dora Stewart (2 of 3)]

File contains postcards sent by Les McDonald to Bill and Dora Stewart. The written contents of the postcards revolve around McDonald's travel with the International Olympic Committee to establish triathlon as an Olympic sport, though he discusses a wide range of topics and frequently offers sharp political commentary on the places he visits, the IOC, and current events.

[Postcards sent to Bill & Dora Stewart (3 of 3)]

File contains postcards sent by Les McDonald to Bill and Dora Stewart. The written contents of the postcards revolve around McDonald's travel with the International Olympic Committee to establish triathlon as an Olympic sport, though he discusses a wide range of topics and frequently offers sharp political commentary on the places he visits, the IOC, and current events.

[Postcards sent to Bill & Dora Stewart (1 of 3)]

File contains postcards sent by Les McDonald to Bill and Dora Stewart. The written contents of the postcards revolve around McDonald's travel with the International Olympic Committee to establish triathlon as an Olympic sport, though he discusses a wide range of topics and frequently offers sharp political commentary on the places he visits, the IOC, and current events.

Alfie Huston papers

The subseries contains materials collected by Alfie Huston, who served as the President of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 213 from 1985-1988. Materials include correspondence, newspaper clippings, convention reports, minutes, affidavits, court orders, settlement agreements, campaign materials, business office reports, newsletters, financial reports, discussion papers, safety bulletins, organizing committee resolutions, telegrams and membership lists.

IBEW Local 213 papers

The subseries contains materials related to the activities of IBEW Local 213 between 1949 and 1991, predominantly between1949 and the mid-1970s, including affidavits, reports, correspondence and newspapers. Documented within the subseries is the internal conflict between the IBEW’s American leadership and trade union activists within Local 213, and attempts to unite IBEW Locals in British Columbia through a provincial council. Also contains numerous issues of IBEW Local 213’s newspaper, the 213 Live Wire, between the mid-1950s and mid-1970s, grievance reports and ephemera from the 100th anniversary of the first annual convention of the IBEW of America, celebrated in 1991.

Local 213 - Contemporary Clippings

File contains later newspapers clippings related to IBEW Local 213 collected by Ian McDonald after the submission of his Master's thesis. Also contains George Gee's obituary and memorial service program.

[Charles (Charlie) Caron file]

File contains a photocopy of Charlie Caron's autobiography, describing his involvement in labour issues in Canada in the the 1930s primarily. Caron also provides a historical account of the activities of the Communist Party of Canada up to the 1970s.

Cypress Bowl Issue

File contains newspaper articles and memoranda related to the privatization of Cypress Bowl Park's cross-country ski trails.

[Lenkurt newspaper articles (2 of 2)]

File contains articles from various Vancouver-area newspapers documenting the events of the Lenkurt strike in 1966. Also contains an obituary for Jim Kinnaird and a retrospective article in the Pacific Tribune written in 1986.

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