Series S00515 - Personal correspondence and other material

3.91 m of textual material
15 photographs
1 object

Series consists of records collected by the creator under the heading "personal papers (speeches, reports, letters, etc.)." It is a melding of the personal and professional domains of Simpson's life, reflecting the fact that he did not keep these strictly separate. The series contains predominantly correspondence, most of it incoming letters, greeting cards and invitations, received from friends, professional and academic acquaintances, community and non-profit groups and business firms. Besides personal matters, the letters relate to conferences, writing, employment references and business matters. A large number of richly descriptive letters written to his wife, Marion, describes Simpson's work in Africa in the 1960s for Canadian University Service Overseas (CUSO) and his many trips to Southeast Asia and Indonesia for the International Development Research Centre (IDRC). These trips involved meetings, conferences and site visits to schools. There are also files of outgoing letters from the University of Western Ontario's Althouse Faculty of Education, Office of International Education and Centre for International Business Studies; and records relating to Kanchar, Salasan, the Banff Centre and Triple i. Topics featured in the series include Canadian black history, the development of the Cross-Cultural Learner Centre, and consideration of development projects in Africa. Besides correspondence, the series contains many speeches, speech materials and some presentation materials. Most of these are from Simpson's innovation work in the 1990s, while others date from as early as the 1960s and include speeches delivered to community groups, associations, and the congregation of the Metropolitan United Church in London. Over the years Simpson assembled a vast global network of contacts, which is evidenced by the many business cards and contact files in the series. There are also a number of resumes sent to him by students and professionals. Other record types include day planners, clippings, articles, papers, reports, memoranda, personal essays and reflections, resource material for Kenya projects and for writing, newsletters and essays related to church and missionary activities, curricula vitae, passports, research notes from Simpson's thesis in the late 1960s, and speeches. Finally, the series contains some family material from the 1980s when Simpson and his wife represented their sons David and Craig as they received athletic university scholarships and were drafted into the NHL. Don was also involved with David in his investment corporation, Sonar; with daughter Janice and her consulting company, Cosult International; and in planning the Craig Simpson Celebrity Classic in 1989. There are fifteen miscellaneous photographs in the series, which are images of individuals, friends' Christmas family portraits, a headshot of Simpson for a 1980s biography, and one group shot of the team at the Banff Centre for Management.