AlthoughWestern Producer national correspondent Barry Wilson sometimes says he feels old, he’s not old enough to have met all 22 of Canada’s prime ministers. Nevertheless, he has original signatures from all 22, plus an array of prime ministerial political memorabilia, that he has amassed over the years.
On Nov. 29, Carleton University in Ottawa unveiled the Barry Wilson Collection, comprising the material Wilson has gathered. Wilson has degrees in political science, journalism and Canadian studies from Carleton, so it’s fitting that his alma mater is host to his collection.
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Wilson says he always intended to gift his collection but he had two criteria. It had to be taken as a whole, “because the collection is far greater than the sum of its parts,” and it had to be made accessible to the public.
Carleton has complied, says Wilson, and he is delighted. The university has committed to scanning each item in the collection and making it available online, through its library. Each piece will be accompanied by an audio narrative, recorded by Wilson, that explains its significance and its place in the collection.
It will be accessible to the world, via the internet, as early as this spring.
Back in 1964, the 14-year-old Wilson didn’t realize that his signed letter from Lester B. Pearson would form the first item in a collection he would compile over the next 50-some years. At the time, a new Canadian flag was being proposed. Wilson sewed his idea for a national flag and sent it to Ottawa.
Although the red maple leaf on a green field never saw the light of day, he did get a signed letter from Pearson. The collection had its start.
Much later came the acquisition of a John A. Macdonald bust that survived the Parliament Building fire in 1916 and a 1891 campaign poster in which the Conservatives objected to a U.S. free trade agreement .
One of his favourite items is a Canadian Press photograph featuring five prime ministers, which he arranged to be signed by each: Joe Clark, Jean Chretien, John Turner, Kim Campbell and Pierre Trudeau.
I’ve had the privilege of seeing most of the collection, and it is impressive. Through his generosity and that of Carleton, you will be able to see it too. When you do, maybe you’ll congratulate Wilson for adding to the record of Canadian history.
Read more about the collection in Barb’s blog at www.producer.com.
