This website is arranged to facilitate greater access to Dr. Crake’s fonds for the researcher and to provide contextual information that would assist the uninitiated to understand his legacy and his historical importance in the context of Mount Allison University and the Town of Sackville. The papers reside at Mount Allison University principally because of Crake’s long teaching career at the institution between 1946 and 1976.
The arrangement of this website provides introductory information about Dr. Crake by supplying biographical details, family photographs, and records and objects taken from his papers which help to illuminate his life and create an outline of his activities and various involvements.
The other component of this website is strictly archival and relates to the process of arrangement and description of all the records that appear in his personal papers). This process is based on a multi-level approach that moves from the whole to its component parts. This begins at the fonds level which is defined as follows.
The whole of the documents, regardless of form or medium, automatically and organically created and/or accumulated and used by a particular individual, family or corporate body in the course of that creator's activities and functions.
From the fonds level, the records are then divided and arranged into series or files which reflect functions and activities in which the creator of the fonds was involved. This allows the researcher greater access to and a further understanding of the component parts of the respective groupings in order that the researcher can decide whether the materials relate to their interests and needs.
The website provides descriptions for one accession and includes a copy of a transcription of an interview conducted with Dr. Crake from another group of papers. Traditionally, accessions are groups of materials that are donated and received by an archives at the same time. The accession numbers can be used to locate and retrieve the actual documents.
The aim of this website is to provide evidence of Dr. Crake’s legacy to researchers in a clear and concise manner. The arrangement of the records attempts to reflect this while at the same time incorporating the principles which guide the archival profession. Should further clarification of any of these or related points be required, researchers should consult directly with the Mount Allison University Archives.