Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
Mackie family fonds
General material designation
- textual record
- graphic material
- sound recording
- multiple media
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- Source of title proper: Title based on the contents of the fonds.
Level of description
Fonds
Reference code
Edition area
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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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1871-1974 (Creation)
- Creator
- Mackie family (Augustine Mackie, 1879-1965)
Physical description area
Physical description
1.7 m of textual records, 116 photographs, 1 audio disc
Publisher's series area
Title proper of publisher's series
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Archival description area
Name of creator
Biographical history
The Rev. Augustine Clark Mackie (1879-1965) and his brother Hugh (1882-1971) emigrated from England to Vernon, B.C. in October 1913 with the intention of establishing an independent school for boys. Vernon had been recommended to them by a nephew, Gordon Mackie, who recognized that a private school, conducted along the lines of an English public school, would be well supported by the British immigrants who had settled in the Okanagan Valley. A.C. Mackie, generally known as Austen, opened the Vernon Preparatory School (VPS) in January 1914. Hugh Mackie, who had practiced as a solicitor in Wales before emigrating to Canada, decided to move to Calgary, where he opened a law office; however, he returned to Vernon a few years later, to join his brother and the VPS teaching staff. The Mackie's operated the school until 1945, during which time VPS acquired the reputation as being one of the leading boarding schools in Western Canada. The school continued under different management until 1972.
Austen Mackie - classicist, pedagogue, and divine - was the kind of gentleman euphemistically known as a "muscular Christian." While devoted to contemporary ideals of "godliness and good-learning," he was also an ardent sportsman who delighted in hunting, hiking and other outdoor pursuits. Shooting and freshwater fishing were among his keenest pleasures. He was perhaps best known, however, for stalking rattlesnakes. He became an expert in the haunts and habits of the reptiles which infested the semi-arid hills near VPS, and he devoted a considerable amount of time and energy to killing them.
Custodial history
Scope and content
The fonds consists of notebooks, diaries, a passport, records of rattlesnake expeditions, a memoir "Fin, Feather and Scale" of the Mackie brothers, a diary kept by Christianne Grace Mackie and correspondence on Mackie family genealogy, photographs, and a published sound recording of the Vernon Preparatory School Choir.
Notes area
Physical condition
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Language of material
Script of material
Location of originals
Availability of other formats
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Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication
Finding aids
Series descriptions available.
Associated materials
Accruals
General note
Archives code(s): MS-1164; MS-2304
General note
Accession number(s): 79-184; SD0012; 198012-013; 82-050; 198508-013 ; 86-162
Conservation
Sound recording originals may be in cool or cold storage. Contact staff for specific details.
Alternative identifier(s)
Standard number area
Standard number
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Vernon Preparatory School (Subject)
- Mackie family (Augustine Mackie, 1879-1965) (Subject)