Louise Manny

1890-1970

Louise Manny was born 21 February 1890 in the western Maine town of Gilead and moved to Newcastle, New Brunswick, with her family at the age of three. Manny received her early education in Newcastle at St. Mary’s Convent and Harkin’s Academy, later attending Halifax Ladies' College and Ursuline Convent in Quebec City. She earned her BA at McGill University. After university, she taught briefly at Halifax Ladies' College and then returned to Newcastle. Her earliest writing was in her weekly newspaper column, “Scenes From an Earlier Day,” which looked at the early history of central New Brunswick and the Miramichi region. She also hosted a weekly radio programme on local station CKMR for twenty years. Manny collaborated with Lord Beaverbrook, one of their projects being the 1946 restoration of Wilson’s Point on the Miramichi River, close to Newcastle. Around the same time, Lord Beaverbrook gave Manny some recording equipment and asked her to begin collecting local folk songs. She compiled three collections of recorded songs: Beaverbrook Collection, Dr. Manny Collection, and North Shore Collection.  Manny was also responsible for establishing the Miramichi Folksong Festival, which was founded in 1958. Manny was director of the festival from 1958 until 1969. She completed a series of three volumes chronicling New Brunswick’s shipbuilding history. Her other book, Songs of the Miramichi, is a collection of the region’s folksongs. In 1966, she was honoured by the American Association for State and Local History for her work as a historian and folklorist. She received the “Woman of the Century” medal from the National Council of Jewish Women of Canada in 1967. Additionally, the province of New Brunswick named a mountain in Northumberland County “Manny Mountain” after her. She was awarded two honorary degrees in 1961, one from St. Thomas College in Chatham and the other from the University of New Brunswick. She died in Newcastle on 17 August 1970.

Predominant New Brunswick Residences:

Newcastle

Archival Material

• Louise Manny collection
  ⌄
  Location

  Provincial Archives of New Brunswick

  Retrieval Number

  MC2487

  Date Range of Material

  1763-1970

  Extent

  4.8 metres of textual records

  Scope and Content Note

  This collection includes Louise Manny's writings, recordings, and research notes as well as her personal and business records together with material she collected over her lifetime. There are church records, including Miramichi marriages and deaths, biographies, and land petitions. Among the collected records of specific individuals are the Bacon-Wilkinson papers, 1822-1881; Samuel Russell, 1866-1868; Rev. N. McKay journal, 1862; J.G.G. Layton fire insurance certificate; Chatham registry officer's book, [ca. 1934]; and R. Corry Clark, spoolwood merchant, 1895-1954. Also included are Clark Skillings and Company journal, 1899-190, and Chatham harbour master's record of vessels, 1877-1892.

• Louise Manny fonds
  ⌄
  Location

  New Brunswick Museum Archives

  Website/Catalogue Record

  View Archival Record

  Retrieval Number

  3727

  Date Range of Material

  1829-1969

  Extent

  3.1 m of textual records

  Scope and Content Note

  The Louise Manny Collection includes letters, documents, newspapers, ephemeral items and Manny's working files. Her files contain over 3500 letters but, unfortunately, Manny did not preserve all of her correspondence - many letters were cut up for scrap-paper. The correspondence between Manny and the New Brunswick Museum has been supplemented with photocopies from the Museum files. The photocopies of original letters and other items marked "private collection" are from the Clara MacLean Collection now in the custody of Joan Burchill.