Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
Hamilton Family fonds
General material designation
- Multiple media
Parallel title
T.G. Hamilton fonds
Other title information
Title statements of responsibility
Title notes
Level of description
Fonds
Reference code
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)
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1919-1986 (Creation)
Physical description area
Physical description
2.5 m of textual records and other material.
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
Biographical history
Dr. T.G. (Thomas Glendenning) Hamilton was born in Agincourt, Ontario in 1873. In 1883, his family moved west to Saskatchewan and was among the first pioneer families to settle in Saskatoon. After his father died in 1891, his mother moved the family to Winnipeg where young T.G. Hamilton attended Manitoba College. He graduated from medical school in 1903, completed his internship at the Winnipeg General Hospital in 1904, and commenced practice in the district of Elmwood within Winnipeg in 1905. In 1915, he was President of the Manitoba Medical Association. Hamilton also served on the Public School Board for nine years, one year as chairman. He was also elected a member of the provincial legislature in 1914-1915. In 1918, Hamilton investigated paranormal activity briefly, but began in earnest in 1920 after the death of his three year old twin son Arthur. His aim was the investigation of paranormal phenomena such as rappings, psychokinesis, ectoplasms, and materializations under scientific conditions that would minimize any possibility of error. His work became known in the United Kingdom, Europe, and the United States. Between 1926 and 1935, he presented eighty-six lectures and wrote numerous articles that were published in Canada and abroad. Dr. Hamilton's wife, Lillian, carried on his paranormal experimentations following his death in 1935.
Custodial history
The fonds was donated to University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections by T.G. and Lillian's daughter, Margaret Hamilton Bach, and her daughters in several instalments between 1979 and 1986. A further acession was donated in 2012 by Dorothy Reynolds Bach, Margaret Hamilton Bach's Daughter, with Walter Meyer zu Erpen, President of the Survival Research Institute of Canada, acting as the transfering agent.
Scope and content
The fonds is primarily related to Dr. T.G. and Lillian Hamilton's investigations of psychic phenomena spanning the years 1918 to 1945. The subject matter of the records includes rappings, clairvoyance, trance states and trance charts, telekinesis, wax molds, bell-ringing, transcripts and visions, as well as teleplasmic manifestations. The records are in the following various formats: scrapbooks, seance attendance records and registers, affidavits, automatic writings, correspondence, speeches and lectures, newsclippings, journal articles, books, photographs, glass plate negatives and positives, prints, slides, tapes, manuscripts, and promotional materials related to major publications. All positive prints taken from the photographic negatives have been retained with the written records of the experiments which they illustrate. Almost all the glass plate negatives were photographed for archival purposes, and the black and white glossy print collection is also available. A library of related books and journals which accompanied the collection has been separately catalogued and is available. An acession from 2012, donated by Margaret Hamilton Bach's Daughter, Dorothy Reynolds Bach, contains a photo of Lillian May Hamilton, ca. late 1940s, several photographs taken in the 1930s that ended up in the book "Intention and Survival", and various reviews of that book and "Is Survival a Fact?" Also included is Lillian May Hamilton's personal copy of "Intention and Survival".
Notes area
Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
Arrangement
Language of material
- English
Script of material
Location of originals
Availability of other formats
Restrictions on access
There are no restrictions on this material.
Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication
Finding aids
Printed finding aids are available in the Archives reading room and on-line finding aids are available at the links below: http://www.umanitoba.ca/libraries/units/archives/collections/complete_holdings/ead/html/Hamilton.shtml >MSS 14 (A.79-21, A.79-41, A.79-52, A.79-56, A.79-65, A.80-08, A.80-25, A.81-09, A.86-56) http://www.umanitoba.ca/libraries/units/archives/collections/complete_holdings/ead/html/Hamiltonpc.shtml >PC 12 (A.79-21, A.79-41, A.79-52, A.79-56, A.79-65, A.80-08, A.80-25, A.81-09, A.86-56) http://www.umanitoba.ca/libraries/units/archives/collections/complete_holdings/ead/html/Hamiltontc.shtml >TC 70 (A.79-21, A.79-41, A.79-52, A.79-56, A.79-65, A.80-08, A.80-25, A.81-09, A.86-56). http://www.umanitoba.ca/libraries/units/archives/collections/complete_holdings/ead/html/hamilton_12.shtml">PC 12 (A12-109)
Finding aid
Associated materials
This description is also available in:
Français: https://umlarchives.lib.umanitoba.ca/fonds-famille-hamilton
Deutsch: https://umlarchives.lib.umanitoba.ca/nachlass-der-familie-hamilton
日本語: https://umlarchives.lib.umanitoba.ca/j0gyw
Polski: https://umlarchives.lib.umanitoba.ca/zasoby-rodziny-hamiltonow
Digitized Material:
http://umanitoba.ca/libraries/units/archives/digital/hamilton/index.html
http://umanitoba.ca/libraries/units/archives/digital/hamilton/photo_compilation.html
Compilation of photographs set to original music (also on http://www.youtube.com/umarchives >UMA-TV)
For more information on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's visit to Winnipeg in 1923 and his participation in T.G. Hamilton's experimentations, see Michael W. Homer's article in Manitoba History titled Arthur Conan Doyle's Adventures in Winnipeg: http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/mb_history/25/doyleinwinnipeg.shtml
Accruals
Alternative identifier(s)
Standard number area
Standard number
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Hamilton, Lillian (Subject)