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1894-1973, predominant 1914-1961 (Creation)
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Physical description
1.3 m textual material 1 scrapbook 7 photographs Some items are fragile due to acidity. Scrapbook has some tape or glue damage.
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Archival description area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Celia B. File (1887-1973) was born Celia Vandervoort, daughter of Charles Wilbur Vandervoort (1864-1943) of Napanee, Ontario and his first wife, Frances Roblin.
At one time, her father was Sheriff of Lennox and Addington. Celia graduated as a teacher in 1905, but positions were scarce. She accepted a job teaching on Tyendinaga Mohawk Reserve, near Deseronto, Ontario. She was deeply interested and involved in Mohawk history and issues. In 1908, she married Herbert Clifton File (1883-1963), a local farmer.
In 1926, Celia File started at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, where she earned a Bachelor’s Degree. At the urging of Duncan McArthur, she did not go to the College of Education as she intended but instead earned a Masters in Canadian history, which was a rare achievement for women of her generation. She was subsequently hired by Napanee Collegiate during the Depression. When she asked the Ontario Teachers’ Federation for support with an appeal, she was branded as a trouble-causer. A period of illness was used as an excuse to fire her. Financial necessity forced her to leave her husband in Napanee and accept an appointment at Oil Springs, Ontario, then in Alveston, Ontario and finally in Thamesville, Ontario, where she became a principal.
During her time in Oil Springs, a fire destroyed all her papers, including the manuscript for a book on Molly Brant. She never found the energy to re-write the book. On the closing of the Thamesville School, Celia File returned to Napanee where her husband had found work at a canning factory. Retirement was never free of financial problems, but she did enjoy her favourite hobby, gardening. She was able to earn extra income when the Napanee Beaver hired her to write a gardening column.
Celia File was hired by the Belleville Intelligencer because of her contacts on the Tyendinaga Reserve. As well as writing, Celia File volunteered with the [Mental Health Society] with the Lennox and Addington County Hospital Building Committee, joined the Lennox and Addington Historical Society, and did genealogical research on both the File and Vandervoort families. Celia File enjoyed a life-long friendship with Bernice Loft Winslow (1902- ), the poet of the Mohawks. She was also an acquaintance of artists C.W. Jefferys and Orval Madden and of the writer, Wallace Havelock Robb. When she and Herbert celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary, the Robbs were guests of honour. Mrs. File lived to become a well-known and respected citizen of Napanee. She died in 1973.
Custodial history
Scope and content
The collection consists of the personal papers of Celia File from first teaching days through post-secondary education, later years of teaching and into her retirement. Included are a small amount of personal correspondence and family mementos. A slim file contains a few letters from her brother, Wilber C. Vandervoort (1893-1915) who died at Sanctuary Wood. Later correspondence includes letters from Bernice Loft Winslow (1902- ). There is a collection of ephemera representing her interests, including the Lennox Horticultural Society, Navy League, Napanee Collegiate Players, Lennox and Addington Association for [Mental Health] and the Lennox and Addington County Hospital. Also in this fonds is some genealogical research into the File and Vandervoort families and a large number of essays written by Celia File’s Napanee students, mostly on history topics. Fonds is comprised of the following series: Early days and Vandervoort family memorabilia Queen's University, Class of 1929 Teaching and superannuation, 1929-1954 Family research, File and Vandervoort families Correspondence,1923-1973 Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte, Mental health research and reporter's steno pads, Hobbies and associations Scrapbook of Frances Roblin Vandervoort (died 1894) and History essays by students at Napanee Collegiate, 1939-1940.
Some files closed for privacy restriction, please contact the archivist for more information.
Notes area
Physical condition
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Estate of Celia File, 1973
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Open
Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication
Permission of the Lennox and Addington Historical Society is required for commercial use. Author copyrights may exist for some of the manuscripts in the collection.
Finding aids
Detailed inventory prepared in 1985.
Associated materials
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None expected
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- Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte (Subject)
- Lennox and Addington County General Hospital (Subject)
- Lennox and Addington Association for the Mentally Retarded (Subject)
- Navy League (Subject)
- Napanee Collegiate Players (Subject)
- Vandervoort (family) (Subject)
- File (family) (Subject)