| StorageSite | UCL Institute of Education |
| Description | 51 letters and one postcard, all written to his wife Edith after Fred Clarke had just moved to Montreal, dating from September 1929 to May 1930 (see also FC/4/32, FC/4/36, and FC/4/37). In the correspondence he describes the new country he finds himself in, his activities, his new job as a Professor at McGill University, his new friends and colleagues, and making preparations for his wife ('Gig') and the children to go over there to join him. These letters finish when Clarke travels back to England in 1930 to spend the Summer with his family.
Although much of Clarke's writing is about his day-to-day experiences (the weather, food, clothing, people he meets), he occasionally offers glimpses of his views on wider subjects. For example, in his letter of 29 March 1930, he includes some of his thoughts about culture, race, equality, democracy, and women's rights. Clarke often talks about how fond he is of the culture and the people in Montreal, and regularly mentions his friends Nell and Harry, and their children. He also often mentions how much he disliked his recent experience working in South Africa, and how he worries that 'white South Africa' will meet growing calls for freedom from the Black population with force (e.g. letter dated 15 May 1930). The letter dated 1 May 1930 details Fred's trip to Columbia University, New York City, where he is very impressed by the beauty of the city, and its skyscrapers.
The envolopes have been numbered at some point in the past, however the sequence repeats itself (starting again around January 1930), and so there are two instances of most numbers.
Clarke often forwarded letters that he'd received in Montreal on to Edith, so that she could also read them:
- The envelope stamped 4 November 1929 (numbered '16') includes a letter from his colleague, J.J. Maxwell.
- The envelope stamped 30 December 1929 (numbered '32') includes a letter from his colleague, Burger,
- The envelope stamped 7 January 1930 (numbered '34') includes a letter from his colleague in South Africa, G. Cillie.
- The envelope stamped 13 May 1930 (numbered '32') includes a letter from his colleague at Columbia University, M.E. Sadler.
The following envelopes also included letters from Clarke to his children:
- The envelope stamped 7 November 1929 (numbered '17') includes a letter to his daughter Betty.
- The envelope stamped 15 April 1830 (numbered '22') includes a letter to his daughter Magda, along with brief messages to all his other children about their school reports.
- The envelope stamped 12 May 1930 (numbered '30') includes a letter to his daughter Anna.
This file also contains one postcard of Notre Dame Cathedral, Montreal. |