File contains loose manuscript pages of largely handwritten poems, written in pencil or ink variously on writing paper, The Sydney Printing Company letterhead, and foolscap. There are also several typed poems and a page transcribed from Beamish Murdoch's History of Nova Scotia.
Item is a typed manuscript dedicated to His Worship, The Mayor / and Corporation of the City of Halifax / on the occasion of its Bicentenary Anniversary, 1949. The manuscript includes a poem by Charles Bruce: "Port of Halifax."
Item is a 1000 word article by Andrew Merkel deploring the lack of public transport in Lower Granville and the politics underpinning the problem. The manuscript contains no information about where or whether the article was published.
File contains a 1000 word article by Andrew Merkel about the history of schooner racing in Nova Scotia prior to the Bluenose, as well as a letter from Merkel to C.B. Cochrane, editor of King's College Record, offering the article for publication.
File contains letters of acknowledgement and congratulation from W.A. Buchanan, former president and director of the Canadian Press; A.R. Coffin; "Mike," chief accountant at The Canadian Press; Ben Deacon, manager of the Canadian National Railway System Press Bureau; Robert W.A. Dunn, Montreal Daily Star; Harold Fair, Reuters, New York; J.K. Grainger, vice president of Moncton Publishers Limited; G. Hambleton, Canadian Information Service; Clara L.K. Holmes, CPR; Freeman Jenkins, president of the United Mine Workers of America; C. LeCouteur, Sydney Post-Record; L.H. Mulland, Cable and Wireless Limited; "the Parson," Annapolis Royal; Sam Ross, Vancouver's CKWX; Donald R. Smith, managing editor of The Telegraph-Journal, Saint John, NB; Norma Smith, The Ottawa Journal; Bob Stanson, Archie and Bill Bartlett, Montreal Daily Star; and Walter S. Thompson, director of public relations at Canadian National Railway System.
File contains a letter of congratulation on Merkel's retirement and another forwarding a request from M.E. Nichols regarding Merkel's contribution to a history of The Canadian Press.
Item is a copy of issue number two of the Song Fishermens' Song Sheet, a poetry newsletter issued "every so often" and published by Andrew Merkel on behalf of the Song Fishermen. This issue contains verses by Virginia Lynne Tunstall, Evelyn Tufts, Noel Wilcox and Molly Beresford, as well as notes from Bliss Carmen and Stuart McCawley.
Item is a copy of issue number eight of the Song Fishermen's Song Sheet, a poetry newsletter issued "every so often" and published by Andrew Merkel on behalf of the Song Fishermen. This issue contains verses by John Daniel Logan, Annie Campbell Huestis, Noel H. Wilcox, Molly Beresford, Charles Bruce, Donald Cameron MacKay, Jerry Murphy, Virginia Clay Hamilton and Martha Ann Leslie; an obituary for John D. Logan; and various notes from and about other readers and contributors.
Item is a copy of issue number 14 of the Song Fishermen's Song Sheet, a poetry newsletter issued "every so often" and published by Andrew Merkel on behalf of the Song Fishermen. This issue contains an announcement of the winner of the MacAskill-inspired poetry contest and remarks by James Gillis on each entry, which included poems by Robert Leslie, Stuart McCawley (the winner), Joe Wallace, Andrew Merkel, Ethel H. Butler, Michael D, Currie, M. Campbell, Effie MacD Barnes, Katherine F. MacDonald, and Mollie Beresford.
Item is a four-page address about the Historical Association of Annapolis Royal's development of the site of the Habitation gardens and Harriet Richardson's efforts on their behalf. It was given by Andrew Merkel in Truro on November 28th, 1947.
File contains handwritten manuscripts of poems including "Amaranth"; "The Mystery of Love"; "Wot ye What Love is, I Will Not Leave You Comfortless"; "Ballad of Young Jesus and his Father"; "A Wandering Islemen's Song"; "A Good-night"; "Rainbow Haven"; and "A Flint Arrow."
Item is a 1000 word article by Andrew Merkel announcing the building of the first regional library in Nova Scotia and its importance to the county and its people. The manuscript contains no information about where or whether the article was published.
Item is a 1000 word article by Andrew Merkel reporting the development of historic gardens adjacent to the reconstructed Habitation in Lower Granville. The manuscript contains no information about where or whether the article was published.
Item is a 1000 word article by Andrew Merkel reporting on the arguments in favour and against the building of a causeway or upgrading the bridge spanning the Annapolis River at the point at which it is divided by Coat Island, between Annapolis Royal and Granville Ferry. The manuscript contains no information about where or whether the article was published.
File contains a 1000 word article by Andrew Merkel about the Digby scallop industry as well as am enclosure letter to R.J. Rankin at The Herald newspaper, for which the piece was written.
File contains a 1000 word article written by Andrew Merkel describing Christmas festivities from fifty years earlier and an enclosure letter to "Bib," R.J. Rankin, at The Herald newspaper.
Item is a partial manuscript written by Andrew Merkel describing how he came to live in Lower Granville after his retirement. The first page is missing and it's unclear whether there are more missing after page number six. The manuscript contains no information about where or whether the article was published.
File also includes three drafts of an address made by Charles Bruce at a dinner held on 11 May 1946 in honour of Andrew Merkel's retirement as Atlantic superintendent of The Canadian Press and a copy of the CP Informative Bulletin, which includes an account of the dinner and tributes to Merkel from editors at Halifax Herald and Halifax Chronicle.
File contains 15 issues of a periodical "issued every so often," edited and published by Andrew Merkel out of his Halifax office of the Canadian Press. In addition to publishing the poems of The Song Fishermen, a Halifax literary group that included Andrew Merkel, Kenneth Leslie, Charles G.D. Roberts, Molly Beresford, Bliss Carman, Charles Bruce, and Robert Norwood, it became a vehicle for members to keep in touch with each other, especially those who lived outside of Halifax. Issue numbers 1-4 and 10 were published as "The Song Fishermens' Song Book"; the possessive apostrophe was corrected in the remaining numbers. Number 12 is missing and number 13 took the form of a short book of poems published by Abenaki Press in tribute to Bliss Carman after this death.
Item is a copy of issue number two of the Song Fishermens' Song Sheet, a poetry newsletter issued "every so often" and published by Andrew Merkel on behalf of the Song Fishermen. This issue contains verses by Bob Leslie and Jerry Murphy, an announcement of poetry recitals by Bliss Carman, and a list of those receiving the song sheet.
Item is a copy of issue number six of the Song Fishermen's Song Sheet, a poetry newsletter issued "every so often" and published by Andrew Merkel on behalf of the Song Fishermen. This issue contains verses by Martha Ann, Mollie Beresford, W.K. Carew, Nathanial A. Benson, Stuart McCawley, Charles Bruce, Bob Leslie and Joe Wallace, and notes about the whereabouts and doings of some members.
Item is a copy of issue number six of the Song Fishermen's Song Sheet, a poetry newsletter issued "every so often" and published by Andrew Merkel on behalf of the Song Fishermen. This issue contains verses by W.B., Charles D.G. Roberts, Ellen Hemmeon, Ethel H. Butler and W.J. Carew, and a page of editorial notes and readers comments.
Item is a copy of issue number 11 of the Song Fishermen's Song Sheet, a poetry newsletter issued "every so often" and published by Andrew Merkel on behalf of the Song Fishermen. This issue contains verses by Seumas O'Brien, "Mike," Kenneth Leslie, Estelle Fox, Constance L. Coleman, C. MacRae, Nathaniel A. Benson, H.G. McGrath, Alexander Louis Fraser, Pauline B. Barrington, Frank Graham, Ethel Butler, and Bliss Carman; letters from Stuart McCawley and Ross Macaulay; and an announcement regarding the call for poems celebrating Angus McAskill.
Item is a copy of issue number 16 of the Song Fishermen's Song Sheet, a poetry newsletter issued "every so often" and published by Andrew Merkel on behalf of the Song Fishermen. This issue contains a letter from J.D. Gillis recounting his first visit to Halifax since 1916 in order to attend the Song Fishermen's picnic, and poems by R.V. Bannon, E. Chesley Allen, John Mosher, and Stuart McCawley.
Item is a copy of the 1944 abridged edition printed by Imperial Publishing Company. The copy has pencil annotations, which primarily indicate the striking out of passages.
File contains manuscripts of long poems by Robert Norwood, including "ISSA" and "Aldebaran"; the short stories "Little Essays in Common Sense," numbers 1 & 2; and a play titled "Jumbo." There is also a transcript of "A Prologue of Praise" by William E. Marshall, which was spoken by George Cutten at a lecture-recital given by Norwood in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, on 9 February 1922.
Item is a typed manuscript draft written in conjunction with or as preparation for Merkel's bicentenary anniversary committee's "Founding of Halifax" compilation.
Subseries consists of typewritten manuscripts of 1000 word articles by Andrew Merkel largely regarding events in Granville and the Annapolis Basin. Letters to R.J. Rankin at The Herald that accompany several of the manuscripts suggest that these articles were all submitted to (and published by) the Halifax newspaper.
Item is a 1000 word article by Andrew Merkel about the significance for tourism of paving the highway from Granville Ferry to Lower Granville. The manuscript contains no information about where or whether the article was published.
