Series consists of 29 diaries, dated reading journals and day planners created and preserved by Watson during her adult life. These Material contain fragments of her creative writing; drawings in graphite, coloured pencil and ink; reading notes and language exercises; collected ephemera; recordings of her daily activities and financial transactions; and reflections on her experiences, emotions, relationships and surroundings.
In general Watson kept confessional and reflective diaries from 1954 (1955?) to about 1957. When she moved to Toronto in 1956 to pursue her doctoral studies, Watson began to keep what can be best described as Reading Journals: dated notes pertaining to books she was reading interspersed with short diary entries regarding her correspondence, her observations of her surroundings and her academic experiences. After she moved to Edmonton to teach at the University of Alberta, and upon her retirement in Nanaimo, Watson's recorded thoughts become more infrequent. In her later life, Watson appears to have purchased commercial Day Planners to record her daily activities and financial translations.
It is apparent that Watson kept journals during her early teaching career in Cariboo Country in British Columbia. However, it seems she destroyed these at a later period.
Sub-Series consists of handwritten letter drafts and typed copies of Watson's outgoing letters, including letters of recommendation, correspondence with thesis students, letters to friends and family and letters to her husband Wilfred Watson. The Sub-Series has been arranged alphabetically by primary correspondent, and then chronologically.
Detailed file-level descriptions are available upon request.
Files include:
2006 01 88 Anderson, Paula Grace
2006 01 89 Angus, Anne
2006 01 90 Blott, Anne
2006 01 91 [Bowering], Angela
2006 01 92 Bruce, Elizabeth
2006 01 93 Gershater, [Jeanne]
2006 01 94 Marken, Ronald
2006 01 95 Masten, Cathy
2006 01 96 McLuhan, Elizabeth
2006 01 97 McLuhan, Marshall
2006 01 98 Meeker, Dr. Joseph and Robert J. Thaler
2006 01 99 Mitchell, Norah
2006 01 100 New York Herald-Tribune, The
2006 01 101 Sharpe, David
2006 01 102 Shemeluck, Myrna
2006 01 103 Singleton, Marvin
2006 01 104 Tiessen, Hildegard
2006 01 105 Watson, Wilfred
2006 01 106 [Watt], Sandra
2006 01 107 Unknown recipients