University of Guelph Library
Culinary Archival Collections and Fonds
Throughout its history, the University of Guelph has been at the forefront of foodways education and research. In addition to extensive book holdings, The Library's culinary resources include archival and special collections and fonds that are especially important to students and scholars. Through the generous efforts of donors and small purchases, the library is building a "smorgasbord" of information about important individuals and events; domestic sciences; food customs, choices and habits; nutrition; social and economic history, and technological progress. Preserving, recording, and digitizing materials is progressing and anyone can help us through gifts in kind or cash gifts. What better way to ensure that materials are preserved and passed on so that future scholars can explore how culinary practices shape (and are shaped by) our culture over time.
Our culinary offerings in Archival and Special Collections are open to any member of the public. We are located on the lower level of the McLaughlin Library. Please check our hours to plan a visit. If you are from out of town, here is a campus map.
The following major holdings are collections and fonds that Guelph is proud to share with visitors and researchers.
Helen Gagen Magee
Helen
Gagen Magee was a food writer born in
Toronto on 12 May 12 1908. Her maiden name was Gagenschatz, which she
shortened to Gagen. Gagen's career as a home economist and journalist
spanned six decades. During the 1940s, she began to write for Canadian
Home Journal under the alias "Joan Philips" and also wrote a cookbook
for the war effort, entitled Eat to Work to Win. A
second book--Your
Wedding: A Guide for Canadian Brides-to-Be--was published in
1963. That was the same year Gagen began work as a food editor at
the Toronto Telegram where she met her future husband, Ralph
Magee. From 1976 to 1987, Gagen wrote "The Shopping
Basket," a column for the Globe and Mail dealing
with food history and trends. She then wrote anonymous
restaurant reviews for Toronto Life and was inducted into the with
the Ontario Home Economists in Business
(OHEIB) Hall of Fame in 1989 which has an extensive career biography. She passed
away at the age of 89 due to congestive heart failure on 23 March 1998.
The Helen Gagen collection features manuscripts, recipes, pamphlets, typescripts, magazine articles, newspaper articles, Telegram and Shopping Basket articles, photographs, menus, speeches, scrapbooks, cookbooks, books, correspondence, telegrams, and postcards. The entire collection can be browsed online at this catalogue link and sorted according to date, title, or author. It is a substantial collection, and offers an excellent look into the life of Helen Gagen and the evolution of home economics in Ontario.
Margo Oliver Morgan
Margo Oliver was born in Winnipeg in 1923. She graduated in Home Economics at the University of Manitoba
in 1950. After a year of graduate work at the University of Minnesota,
she went to work for General Mills in the Betty Crocker kitchens in
Minneapolis. General Mills later expanded into Canada and specifically recruited her to become "Betty Crocker." She spent four years travelling the country appearing on radio
and television. She then became food editor of "Weekend Magazine" and "Today" from
1959 to 1982 for the Montreal Standard until 1982. Margo Oliver produced several
best selling works: The Good Food Cookbook, Weekend Magazine Cookbook, Most Treasured Recipes, and Cookbook for Seniors. She was inducted into the Ontario Home Economists in Business Hall of Fame in 1993. Margo Oliver passed away, aged 87, on 4 June 2010.
The Margo Oliver fonds (XM1 MS A146) consist of nine boxes of articles and clippings from the "Weekend Magazine" dating from 1959 to 1982; it was donated to the library by the author in 2007.
Edna Staebler
Born 15 January 15 1906 in Kitchener, Edna (Cress)
Staebler spent most of her life in the Kitchener-Waterloo region
and remained a resident there until her death on 12 September 2006. She attended the University of Toronto, graduating in 1929 with her
Bachelor of Arts and went on to become a teacher. 
Staebler did not start writing professionally until her forties. A Maclean's magazine story about old order Mennonites won the Canadian
Women's Press Club award in 1950. Staebler had spent the previous
year living with a Mennonite family in Woolwich Township, where her
Mennonite great-great-great-grandfather had been the first permanent
settler. It was her experience with the tasty food of the old order
Mennonites that led Staebler to write Canada's best selling Food That Really Schmecks (1968). This grew to become
a trilogy with More Food That Really Schmecks (1979), and Schmecks
Appeal (1987). She received numerous honours in recognition of her outstanding
accomplishments, including a Doctor of Letters from Wilfrid Laurier
University (1984) and the Order of Canada in 1996.
The Edna Staebler collection (XR1 MS A700) was received through a series of personal deposits beginning in 1994-95 until 2005. It includes articles, correspondence, diaries, travel journals, research material, photographs, newspaper clippings, galleys, publicity and promotional materials, books, posters, a painting, map, film, and manuscripts written by Edna Staebler. Staebler's literary papers include correspondence with her many friends such as Pierre Berton and W.O. Mitchell. The printed publications and archival items in her collection may be viewed at this catalogue link and then sorted by date, title, etc.
Nick Schweizer
Nick Schwiezer immigrated to Canada in 1954 and started employment with the Old Mill Restaurant in Toronto. 
Previously he had worked in several hotels throughout Austria after apprenticing at the Hotel Karntnerhof. He also learned the art of butter carving as an apprentice chef in Southern Austria when he arrived from Russia after WWII. In 1955, he began working at the Royal York Hotel in various capacities including Assistant Banquet Chef, Chef of Buffet in the Imperial Room, and Chef Garde Manager. His specialty was the decoration and presentation of restaurant dishes. Over the years, Nick received several awards and medals, as well as plaques and ribbons. He was a member of Team Canada during the Culinary Olympics in 1972 and 1976, winning a combined total of forty gold medals. He was the team manager in the 1980 Culinary Olympics, winning 2 gold, 2 silver, and 1 bronze medal. He also won several gold medals and awards in the 1984 Culinary Olympics. In 1982, he was awarded the honour of "Master of Culinary Arts" by the Toronto Escoffier Society. As a sculptor, his works of art consisted of figures carved from lamb suet which decorated buffet tables. He retired in 1989 and donated his collection to the library in 2007.
The Nick Schwiezer collection (XM1 MS A150) consists of correspondence, magazine articles and newspaper clippings, certificates and awards, trophies and statues, medals and plaques, sculptures made from suet, photograph albums and scrapbooks (dismantled), and biographical material. Photographs include pictures of Nick Schweizer, early family photos, food presentations, buffet displays, food sculptures and sculpting, medal winners and food displays at various competitions and Culinary Olympics, group photos, chefs, kitchens, banquets, and his retirement.
Margaret Fraser
Margaret Fraser grew up in Saskatchewan and received a home economics degree at the University of Saskatchewan. She worked in hospital dietetics in Toronto and later worked in the test kitchen at Shirriffs where she created recipes and learned about food photography. M. Fraser concentrated on food styling and later was the associate food editor of "Canadian Living" magazine and associate editor of "Canadian Living’s Food" magazine. Her recipes also appear in "Time-Life’s" cookbook series. In the early '80s, she freelanced for Canadian Living Magazine as food stylist, becoming a contributing food writer, then Associate Food Editor and finally Associate Editor of Canadian Living's FOOD Magazine. She coedited The Total Fibre Book (Grosvenor House, 1987), as well as editing five Canadian Living Cookbooks: Microwave (1988), Barbecue (1989), Rush Hour (1989), Light & Healthy (1991), and Canadian Living's Family Cookbook (1995). She was inducted into the the Ontario Home Economists Business Hall of Fame Award in 2002.
The collection (XM1 MS A142) was received in 2005. It consists of correspondence, publicity, research materials and recipes (1900-1994), brand name product histories, reviews and articles related to her book "A Century of Canadian Home Cooking"; photographs; magazine articles, newspaper clippings, workshops and conferences on food styling; recipes clipped from magazines; information related to "Canada’s Food Guide to Healthy Eating"; press release, publicity, newspaper article related to her book "The Total Fibre Book."
Marie Nightingale
Marie Nightingale is Nova Scotia’s best-known food editor and writer. Nightingale has also published numerous cookbooks including Out of Nova Scotia Gardens (1997), Marie Nightingale’s Favourite Recipes (1993), and Out of Old Nova Scotia Kitchens (1971), which is Nova Scotia’s most popular and best-selling cookbook. In 2004, her book Cooking with Friends (2003) was nominated for the Cuisine Canada Book Award. Nightingale’s accomplished career as a food writer and editor includes twenty years as food columnist for the Halifax newspaper The Chronicle Herald and she was the founding food editor for Saltscapes magazine. In 1994 Nightingale received the Edna Award from Cuisine Canada for her contribution to the promotion of regional cuisine.
The Marie Nightingale fonds (XM1 MS A150) holds magazine articles, scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, publicity and promotional material, book publications, and research and proof material relating to Canadian food writer and author Marie Nightingale.
Jean Fewster (a.k.a. Marie Fraser)
Jean Fewster received a BHSc in 1946 from the University of Saskatchewan. Her graduate studies include an MS (Home Economics, Journalism) in 1966 and a PhD in 1969 (Communications) both from the University of Wisconsin. From 1951-64, Jean was Director of Home Economics, Dairy Foods Service Bureau, Dairy Farmers of Canada in Toronto. This post carried her pen name "Marie Fraser." She developed and directed their consumer information and education program. Jean later spent some twenty years abroad working with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations at its headquarters in Rome. In 2005, the International Development Fund within the Canadian Home Economics Foundation, was renamed the Engberg-Fewster International Development Fund. Jean Fewster was inducted into the Ontario Home Economists in Business Hall of Fame in 1997.
Jean Fewster collection (XM1 MS A140) consists of two scrapbooks (1 loose-leaf), correspondence, photographs, recipes, various dairy convention programs, radio script, Dairy Farmers of Canada press releases, calendars with Dairy Foods Service Bureau events and trips, newspaper clippings, magazine articles, food editor memos, biographical material and awards. A PDF finding aid (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader) is available.