The Battle of Queenston Heights
"Of all national assets, archives are the most precious. They are the gift of one generation to another and the extent of our care of them marks the extent of our civilization." — Arthur G. Doughty, Dominion Archivist, 1924
Happy Archives Awareness Week! An archival record can be anything - diary, photo, letter, email, text, video, blog - as long as the information within the records has historic value. Even a lock of hair with a tiny note. This hair belonged to Lieutenant Colonel John Macdonell, the aide-de-camp of Isaac Brock. Macdonell was fatally wounded at the Battle of Queenston Heights. He was moved to a nearby house and died shortly afterwards. Captain John Powell was with Macdonell in these last moments. After he passed, Powell wrote a letter to his sister Mary who knew Macdonell well. Powell clipped a lock of Macdonell's hair and included it with the letter.
The letter and lock of hair can be found in the Jarvis Family Fonds - http://dr.library.brocku.ca/handle/10464/10824.
