Mary Ellen Birtles was born January 24, 1859 at Yorkshire, England to Joseph Birtles Sr. (1824-1859) and Hephzibah Milnes (1823-1908). She immigrated with her family from Sheffield, England to Alexander, Manitoba in 1883. In 1886, she began working at Winnipeg General Hospital, where she received nurses' training from 1887 to 1889. Her nursing career took her to many new hospitals in the Canadian West. She worked at Medicine Hat General Hospital in Medicine Hat, Alberta (1890-1892); Brandon General Hospital in Brandon, Manitoba (1892-1894 and 1898-1919); and Calgary General Hospital in Calgary, Alberta (1894-1898). In 1935, Mary Ellen received the Order of the British Empire for her nursing service. She passed away in Alexander in 1943.

Joseph Birtles Jr. was born September 24, 1853 in Yorkshire, England to Joseph Birtles Sr. (1824-1908) and Hephzibah Milnes (1832-1908). He married Mary Bottom (1854-1904) on June 3, 1874 in Sheffield, England, where the first four of their seven children were born: Annie (1874-1960), Mary (1879-1961), Lucy (1880-1932), and Ada (1881-1936). In June 1883, they immigrated to Alexander, Manitoba. Joseph Jr., a trained butcher, opened a butcher shop there in 1887. He had three more children: William Alexander (1884-1926), John (1886-1977), and Frances Ellen Agnes (1897-1981). After his wife Mary died, Joseph Jr. married widow Hannah Fenwick (nee Duck) on November 27, 1906. Around that time, he briefly operated a second shop in Brandon at 608 Rosser Avenue. After he retired, he farmed in Alberta, residing with his wife in Winnipeg during the winter months. Joseph Jr. died on July 2, 1932 in Winnipeg and is buried in Alexander Cemetery. His son John continued the business in Alexander until 1957.

Husband and wife Arnold E. McLean (1913-2000) and Bessie I. McLean (nee Brown) (1915-2011) were farmers in Strathclair, Manitoba. Arnold Elmor McLean was the youngest son of Ann Elizabeth "Lizzy" John (1889-1936) and Thomas William McLean (1885-1967) and the third generation of early farming families in the area. Bessie Irene Brown was born in Basswood, Manitoba to Florence and Edward Brown. One of nine children, she was sent to work for various families including the McLean family. In 1942, Arnold and Bessie enlisted with the Royal Canadian Air Force; the following year, they married in uniform in Rivers, Manitoba. During the war, Arnold served as an aircraft electrician overseas, returning to help out with the harvest. Bessie was a nurse's aide in Dauphin and Rivers and worked with the United Church Mission Hospital in Eriksdale. After the war, the couple bought acreage in Strathclair and farmed while raising a family. Arnold was a charter member of the Strathclair Consumers' Co-op and helped build Carleton Lodge. He was also a life member of the Royal Canadian Legion and Strathclair Curling Club. Bessie worked at Strathclair & District Review and wrote a book about the history of Strathclair, titled "Our Story to 1970." She also wrote the histories of Strathclair Agricultural Society, Strathclair United Church, Marney United Church, and Carleton Lodge. Bessie was an active member of the Canadian Legion and Legion Auxiliary as well as Strathclair United Church and other organizations. Arnold died in Shoal Lake on October 19, 2000; Bessie followed on April 9, 2011.

The Brandon Women's Civic Association was formed on October 19, 1943 in Brandon, Manitoba by a group of eight women interested in civic affairs. Dorothy McArton was appointed its first chair, and Anne Macdougall, its secretary-treasurer. Their first initiative was to nominate women candidates to serve as school board trustees, starting with Dr. Jennie Mason "Jane" Turnbull (1895-1966) in 1943. Marion (Hales) Doig (1902-1961), daughter of Brandon Normal School Principal B.J. Hales, was nominated in 1947 and served from 1948 to 1956. The association also worked toward establishing a home for women seniors, a free, modern library, and a local branch of the National Council of Women. Members included Sarah Persis Darrach (1886-1974), D.E.P. Myrtle Mummery (1894-1966), Marjorie B. McKenzie (1903-1969), Kathleen "Kaye" (Moreland) Rowe (1910-1995), Marjorie Trotter (1903-2000), Mrs. F.C. Cowan, Mrs. George Watson, Christine McLeod, Lillian Sigurdson, Helen A. Christie (1900-1968), Sarah "Sue" Freedman (1905-1985), Mary "Madge" (Young) Clement (1878-1961), Grace E. (Moon) Spratling, Mary Korniat/Corniat, Margaret Nagel, Hortense Wood, Hilda F. (Baker) Whillier, and Della Robertson. There is no record of the association's operation after 1952.

The Brandon Sun was established in 1882 by Will J. White. After White’s departure, the newspaper was operated by a board of directors until 1903, when J.B. Whitehead purchased the majority of its shares. He assumed full control of the paper in 1911 and ran it until his son, Ernest Christie Whitehead, took over in 1937. The Whitehead family owned and managed the Brandon Sun until 1987 when it was sold to Thomson Newspapers. As of 2001, the paper has been owned by FP Canadian Newspapers.

The Brandon Council of Women was a chapter of the National Council of Women. It was a non-partisan, non-sectarian organization. The original Brandon Council of Women was established in 1895 by Jessie (Turnbull) McEwen and disbanded in 1927. In 1952, the council was reorganized by Mrs. R.G. Ritchie, Kaye Rowe, Marion (Hales) Doig, and Hortense Wood. The documents in this fonds pertain to the re-established Brandon Council of Women. It worked as a unified body for approximately 50 other committee groups and represented approximately 2,600 women. These groups included women’s church groups, charity groups, clubs, and associations. They aimed to focus primarily on social, legal, and political issues concerning Canadian women at civic, provincial, and national levels. The council worked as a federation of representatives from different groups and contained subcommittees on education, health, social welfare and housing, laws, trades and professions, arts, music and film, recreation, and citizenship. They were concerned with children’s education, public literacy, and the preservation of local history. Along with its many social outreach projects, volunteering, and charity work, the Council of Women also sponsored women’s involvement in politics, such as members of public office, school board representatives, and judges. The known presidents of the council are as follows: Evelyn L.E. (Wallis) Wood (1953-1954), Effie I. (Weir) McPhail (1955-1957), Kathleen (McNaught) Thordarson (1958--), Edythe Wood (1963-1964), G.H. "Nane" MacNeill (1964-1966), Eileen McFadden (1968-1969), and Margaret Workman (1970--) The organization remained active until c. 1973.

The Brandon Liberal-Conservative Association emerged in Brandon, Manitoba in the mid-1880s. Thomas Mayne Daly served as President and was elected to Parliament in 1887, representing the citizens of Selkirk. For a few years in the 1940s, the association's function changed as the Conservative Party of Manitoba entered into a coalition with the Liberal Party. Meetings were held in conjunction with the Manitoba Liberal Association. Two smaller groups--the Ladies' Conservative Association and the Young Conservatives Club--were directly associated with the Conservative Association and regularly sent delegates to meetings of the larger association. In October 1943, following the election of Manitoba Progressive John Bracken as leader of the federal Conservative party, the official name of the party and association changed to the Progressive Conservative Association. The Association existed until 2003 when the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance merged with the Progressive Conservative Party to form the Conservative Party of Canada. Prominent members included Thomas Mayne Daly, David Beaubier, George Dinsdale, Mayor Stephen Adolph Magnacca, Walter Dinsdale, and W. Leland Clark. Rick Borotsik was the last person to represent Brandon as a Progressive Conservative.

Beecham Trotter (1860-1934) was one of Brandon's original colonists. He was the son of William Trotter, who immigrated to Pittsburgh Township, Ontario from Leitrim, Ireland in 1835. Beecham worked as a shoesmith and telegraph worker for the Canadian Pacific Railway before leaving Ontario in 1882. He spent his first winter on the prairies in Regina and came to Brandon in 1883, opening a livery stable called "Trotter and Trotter" on 10th Street with his cousin Alexander Trotter (1855-1931). Apart from horse dealing, Beecham served as city alderman (1914) and board member of Brandon General Hospital (1913-14). He was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (I.O.O.F.) No. 6 for 50 years, and he also supported First United Church. Beecham was the author of "A Horseman and the West," which recounts the early days of settler life in Manitoba. He also frequently wrote articles about Brandon's history for the Brandon Daily Sun. Beecham and his wife Mary Scott (1865-1948) had son Beauchamp Wilbert (1893-1942) and daughter Marjorie Alexandra (1903-2000). The Trotters made their home at "Tintern," 326 6th Street. Beecham passed away in 1934 and is buried in Brandon Municipal Cemetery.

Dr. Freund served as co-president of the Canadian Oral History Association and co- editor of the Oral History Forum d’histoire orale (2006-14); as a member on the International Oral History Association Council (2006-10); on the Oral History Association’s International Committee (2006-8) and Book Award Committee (2012). Before coming to the University of Winnipeg in 2002, Dr. Freund was a post-doctoral fellow at the German Historical Institute/ American Institute for Contemporary German Studies (The Johns Hopkins University), Washington, DC and at Columbia University’s Oral History Research Office, where he later worked as program associate (2001). Dr. Freund studied at the University of Hamburg, Simon Fraser University (M.A. 1994) and the University of Bremen (Ph.D. 2000).

In Canada, Women's Institutes began as rural gatherings supporting education, community services, and the needs of rural girls and women. The first one formed in what is now Stoney Creek, Ontario in 1897. The first institute in Manitoba was established in Morris in 1910. Within a short time, provincial groups united to create the Federated Women's Institutes of Canada and began drawing in urban women. Kirkham's Bridge Women's Institute formed in 1950 in the municipality of Riverdale northwest of Brandon. Its name derives from the site where a steel truss bridge was built in 1906 over Little Saskatchewan River. (The bridge was moved to a new site in 1981.) Meeting at the home of Mrs. Albert Chapman, the institute's 15 members elected as officers Mrs. R.E. Leeson, Mrs. Edna E. Chapman, Mrs. Charles Evans, Mrs. A. Guild, and Mrs. H. Clammers. Monthly meetings featured speeches, lectures, demonstrations, and musical performances by members and outside guests. Lunches and teas were part of the regular program. The institute supported local and international aid projects; in 1950, it sponsored a fundraising concert and held a clothing drive for European communities recovering post-war. The institute compiled a community history book, "From Generations to Generations," in 1956, and added to it in 1987. Membership rapidly declined as more women joined the paid work force, resulting in less time for community work. The Kirkham's Bridge Women's Institute fell dormant in 1992, however a cairn it erected in 1970 near the site of Kirkham's Bridge pays tribute to its long history in the community.