Finding Aid
First accrual
Series 1
Sanity: Peace Oriented News and Comment. -- 1965-1967. -- 10.5 cm of textual records. – Title based on content of series.
The series contains letters received and copies of letters sent relating to an article that appeared in the January 1967 edition of Sanity; it announced a program to aid Americans avoiding the Vietnam draft, who wished to find sanctuary in Canada. Due to the number of requests that came into the Sanity office from prospective United States draftees, Hans Sinn prepared the Fact Sheet on Immigration to Canada to be sent out to interested parties.
Among the records in this series are several editions of Sanity: June 1965, September 1965, February 1966 to May 1966, January 1967 to February 1967, November 1967, and April 1967 to June 1967. There are various international publications all dating from 1967: Liberation, New Patriot, New Zeft Notes, The Peacemakers, WRL, WIN, Zivil and newsclippings. All are strongly aligned with the peace and anti-war efforts which grew with the increased United States involvement in the Vietnam War.
Several mailing lists are encompassed within this series, including the list of subscribers and institutions that receive the Sanity publication.
The publication Zivil (May 1967) published in Frankfurt, and some newsclippings found in Series 1, are printed in the German language. The abbreviation TINV stands for Training Institute for Nonviolence.
Box 1
Sanity: Peace Oriented News and Comment
F.1 Mailing lists of institutions and individuals who received the Sanity publication
F.2 Correspondence with prospective draftees wishing to come to Canada, 1966-1967
F.3 Immigration procedures and the Fact Sheet on Immigration to Canada, 1967
F.4 Newsclippings on the topic of the war resistance movement, 1967
F.5 International peace related publications, 1967
F.6 International peace related publications, 1967
F.7 International peace related publications, 1967
F.8 Sanity: Peace Oriented News and Comment, 1965-1967
F.9 Sanity: Peace Oriented News and Comment, 1965-1967
Series 2
Training Institute for Nonviolence, Grindstone Island. -- 1963-1968. -- 22.5 cm of textual records. -- 5 black and white photographic prints: 8.75 cm x 12.5 cm; 3 black and white photographic prints: 12.5 cm x 17.5 cm; 3 colour photographic prints: 8.75 cm x 12.5 cm; 1 exposure, black and white negative.– Title based on content of series.
The series contains annually produced reports and summaries of the Training Institute for Nonviolence which provide a year-by-year overview of the institution’s activities, objectives and agendas. There are also student evaluations of the training program and several notebooks containing observations made by the participants.It includes the business correspondence of both Hans Sinn and Murray Thomson. Letters received by Thomson, and copies of letters sent by him, identify the participants, staff and consultants who attended the summer sessions at Grindstone Island. There is also correspondence relating to a proposed research project in non-military national defence and correspondence relayed between Sinn and Thomson concerning potential participants of the Training Institute for Nonviolence. Several letters are in response to an article Sinn wrote for Peace News, describing the exercise in civilian defence known as the “Grindstone Experiment of 1965.”
There are also photographs, newsclippings and circulars relating to the Training Institute for Nonviolence. Materials gathered for the creation of a brochure contain a single black and white negative of the former Kingsmill summer home.
Box 1
F.10 An overview of the Training Institute for Nonviolence, Grindstone Island, 1963-1967
F.11 Reports and agendas, 1963
F.12 Murray Thomson’s correspondence with applicants for the Training Institute of Nonviolence, 1963
F.13 Training Institute for Nonviolence, program notes, 1963
F.14: Reports and Summaries, 1964
F.15 Murray Thomson’s correspondence with applicants for the Training Institute of Nonviolence, 1964
F.16 Murray Thomson’s correspondence with consultants and staff, 1964
F.17 Objectives and agenda, 1965
F.18 Murray Thomson’s correspondence with potential resource leaders, 1965
F.19 Correspondence with participants and leaders, 1965
F.20 Grindstone Experiment, 1965
Box 2
F.1 Grindstone Experiment, 1965
F.2 Correspondence addressed to Murray Thomson requesting a copy of the report on the Grindstone Experiment or information on the Grindstone Institute, 1965
F.3 Program notes, 1966
F.4 Training evaluations and participant notes, 1966
F.5 Murray Thomson’s correspondence with the planning committee for the Training Institute for Nonviolence and with consultants in regard to a three year research project in non-military national defence
F.6 Objectives and agenda, 1967
F.7 Murray Thomson’s correspondence with applicants for the Training Institute for Nonviolence, 1967
F.8 Correspondence addressed to Murray Thomson regarding applicants unable to attend the Training Institute for Nonviolence and letters sent by Murray Thomson requesting payment of fees and awarding scholarships, 1967
F.9 Participant evaluations, 1967
F.10 Draft proposal outlining activities and daily events, 1968
F.11 Correspondence relayed between Hans Sinn and Murray Thomson regarding preparations for the Training Institute of Nonviolence. Copies of letters received by Hans Sinn; copies of letters sent by Sinn regarding interest in filming a peace workshop and letters concerning the content proposal for a promotional flyer, 1968
F.12 Photographs and newsclippings
F.13 Promotional flyer
F.14 Participant notebooks [196-?]
F.15 Participant notebooks [196-?]
Note: The September 1965 edition of Sanity, available in Series 1, includes a description of the 1965 session at the Training Institute for Nonviolence; the article is centred on a discussion of the mock invasion carried out during the exercise in nonviolent civilian defence.
Series 3
Grindstone Co-operative. -- 1976-1983. -- 11.75 cm of textual records. – Title based on content of series.
This series is composed of the records of the Grindstone Co-operative founded in May of 1976 as a non-profit co-operative educational organization under the Co-operative Corporation Act of Ontario. A document reveals that the co-operative later obtained charitable organization status. Among the records are financial statements and administrative papers, such as the minutes of the Board of Directors meetings and the by-laws issued by the co-operative. There are details of a 1977-1978 expansion project which saw the conversion of a boathouse into a meeting facility; included are two small architectural drawings.
Correspondence in this series consists of a letter written by Hans and Marion Sinn announcing their resignation from the administration of the co-operative. A second letter addressed to the Sinns acknowledges their contribution to the creation of the published work Making Waves: The Grindstone Story.
The series also contains circulars produced by the co-operative outlining their programs and a copy of Making Waves: The Grindstone Story. This publication tells how the Kingsmill home came to be used by the Quakers for peace education and what lead to Canada’s only co-operatively owned and operated education centre for social change.
Box 3
F.1 Certificate of Incorporation, 1976
F.2 Grindstone Co-operative by-laws, 1977
F.3 Administrative papers, 1978
F.4 Financial statements, 1978
F.5 Expansion project including two architectural drawings, 1977-1978
F.6 Administrative papers, 1979
F.7 Board Member report, 1979
F.8 Administrative papers, 1980
F.9 Administrative papers, 1981
F.10 Board Member report, 1981
F.11 Board Member report, 1982
F.12 Administrative papers, 1983
F.13 Correspondence sent and received by Hans and Marion Sinn, 1983
F.14 Making Waves: The Grindstone Story, 1983
F.15 Circulars announcing programmes offered at the Grindstone Island Centre, 1977-1983
F.16 Circulars announcing programmes offered at the Grindstone Island Centre, 1977-1983
F.17 Miscellaneous papers found loose among Series III, 1977-1983
Second Accrual
F.18 Published materials: Grindstone Reports, 1965-1969 (8 items); Grindstone Notes, 1977-1978 (1 binder); published report on the 6th Annual Quaker-Unesco seminar, 1968.
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