The Hamilton Files

The material on this web site originates from the work of Walter Falk who spent 7 years researching Dr Hamilton's collection and placed a large proportion of it on a website http://www.thehamiltonfiles.info

The original material is at The University of Manitoba archives and special collections, from where the following information came:

Scope and Contents of the Papers

Although more than ninety percent of the collection is related to Dr. T.G. and Lillian Hamilton's investigations of psychic phenomena. The collection is of interest not only to the psychic researcher. Anyone interested in social characteristics of Winnipeg during the Post-World War I and Depression periods will find these records of local historical events a rich resource.

Medical and political historians may also find these records worth investigation. They cover the period from 1915 to 1935, an important period of medical discovery and of social legislation in Manitoba. The materials documenting Dr. Hamilton's medical and political careers complement the records of the Winnipeg General Hospital held by the Provincial Archives of Manitoba and the Legislative Scrapbooks of the Manitoba Legislative Building.

The records relating to psychic experimentation span the years 1918 to 1945. The highly-controlled experiments conducted by the Hamilton Group are important in that they form a solid bridge between late nineteenth and early twentieth century research and the developments of the last twenty-five years.

The subject matter of the records includes "rappings", clairvoyance, trance states and trance charts, telekinesis, wax molds, bell-ringing, trance scripts and visions, as well as teleplasmic manifestations.

The records are in various formats--scrapbooks, seance attendance records and registers, affidavits, automatic writings, correspondence, speeches and lectures, newspaper clippings, journal articles, books, photographic records, glass plate negatives and positives, prints, slides, tapes, manuscripts and promotional materials related to major publications. The records have been arranged chronologically in order to show the progressive development of the group, the mediums and Dr. Hamilton's relationships with persons of similar interests.

These personal contacts are worthy of special note. People of all walks of life and from all levels of intellectual attainment are represented. The mementos and correspondence include the signatures of such international figures as Alexander Fleming, Sir Oliver Lodge, Lady Arthur Conan Doyle, The Rt. Hon. William Lyon Mackenzie King, Theodore Besterman, Nandor Fodor, Dr. Bruce Chown and Dr. R.G. Crandon.

All loose photographic media have been cross-referenced numerically according to the experiment they represent. These photos are held as PC 12. The photographs are entirely concerned with seances, experiments, teleplasms, levitations and other related activities and were taken by a battery of cameras specially placed and triggered for use during the various seances conducted in the Hamilton home at 185 Henderson Highway in Winnipeg.

Obituary notices are to be found in Alumni Bulletins, journal articles and correspondence.

Organization of the Papers

This collection is organized into 14 series

Hamiltons - Personal

Hamiltons - Professional

Hamiltons - Correspondence

Newspaper Clippings

Seance Registers

Seance Directories

Affidavits

Special Records Relating to the Mediums

Pyschic Experimentation - General

Sittings - General

Notes

Outside Publications

Photograph Collection (PC 12)

Tape Collection (TC 70)

Arrangement of the Papers

MSS 14 underwent two important changes between 1994 and 1995. In the summer of 1994, the collection was re-boxed, reducing the size of the collection to a dozen boxes and rendering old box numbers 1-19 obsolete. In the fall of 1994, and on into 1995, the collection was combined with A.86-56 (Margaret Hamilton Bach). The result of this integration was a new MSS 14, comprised of nineteen boxes, and revamped from the old collection. Many new letters were added to the correspondence section, but otherwise this section is largely unchanged. Much of the significant change involves the order of the psychic experimentation--section two of the collection. More attention has been given to this component of the collection with the registers, directories, affidavits and notes from sittings all held as individual sub-series and arranged chronologically. This new order mirrors (as closely as possible ) the photographic collection, PC 12.

Restrictions on Use

There are virtually no restrictions on the use of this collection, save the donor's wish that she retain "the right of first publication" of large substantive parts of the holdings. No part of the collection is restricted, although researchers are to use the positive prints duplicated from the original glass-plate negatives rather than the originals. Copyright is owned by the University of Manitoba, and all users of the collection are responsible for abiding by Canadian copyright law.

:
University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections
Winnipeg, Manitoba

Creator:
Thomas Glendenning Hamilton
Lillian Hamilton
Margaret Hamilton Bach

Title:
Hamilton Family fonds

Dates:
1919-1986

Quantity:
2.5 m of textual records and graphic materials (19 boxes)