Fonds MS-10-1 - Roscoe Alfred Fillmore fonds

Letter from Martin Luther King, Jr. to Roscoe Fillmore Resignation letter from Jack London to members of the Socialist Party Notebook kept during visit to Kuzbas Autonomous Industrial Colony in Kuzbas, Russia Visa to enter the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Roscoe Fillmore family photograph Photograph of Roscoe Fillmore and child Photograph of Roscoe Fillmore Photograph of Roscoe Fillmore Photograph of Roscoe Fillmore Photograph of Roscoe Fillmore Photograph of Roscoe Fillmore Photograph of Roscoe Fillmore in a vegetable garden Photograph of Roscoe Fillmore in a garden shed Portrait of Tim Buck by Yousuf Karsh Photograph of workers at the Kuzbas Autonomous Industrial Colony in Kuzbas, Russia Photograph of workers at the Kuzbas Autonomous Industrial Colony in Kuzbas, Russia Photograph of workers at the Kuzbas Autonomous Industrial Colony in Kuzbas, Russia

Title and statement of responsibility area

Title proper

Roscoe Alfred Fillmore fonds

General material designation

  • Graphic material
  • Textual record

Parallel title

Other title information

Title statements of responsibility

Title notes

Level of description

Fonds

Reference code

MS-10-1

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)

Physical description area

Physical description

48 cm of textual records (3 boxes)

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

(1887-1968)

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

Material was created and accumulated by the Fillmore family and donated to Dalhousie University Archives in 1977 (Accession 1977-052).

Scope and content

Fonds consists of fiction, non-fiction and poetry manuscripts, one 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

Language of material

  • English
  • Russian

Script of material

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 Archives and Special Collections Reading Room. Materials may be under copyright. Contact departmental staff for guidance on reproduction.

Finding aids

Generated finding aid

Associated materials

Related materials

Accruals

Further accruals are not expected.

Alternative identifier(s)

Standard number area

Standard number

Access points

Name access points

Accession area