Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
Acadia Gas Engines Limited fonds
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Fonds
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Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
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Physical description area
Physical description
3 m of textual records and other material
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Archival description area
Name of creator
Administrative history
Founded in 1908 by W.T. Ritcey, Acadia Gas Engines Company Limited of Bridgewater, N.S., was Canada's largest manufacturer of marine engines. Originally incorporated under the Nova Scotia Companies Act in 1908 as Acadia Gas Engines Company Limited, the firm was reorganized in May 1917 and its name changed to Acadia Gas Engines Limited. The company opened a branch office and warehouse in St. John's, Nfld. in 1915. In its early years, the company's principal business was the manufacture of internal combustion engines for the use of fishermen in Atlantic Canada, as well as the production of winches for the hoisting of sails, cargo, and anchors on schooners. The firm went on to manufacture a variety of two-cycle and four-cycle engines and accessories for vessels, such as driving gears, heaving outfits, pumping outfits, and mill friction drives. By 1919 it had set up and incorporated a branch company, Acadia Stationary Engines Limited, to manufacture general purpose stationary engines. The firm later became marketers of British Leyland diesel engines and acted as selling agents for Chevrolet and Smith-Form trucks. Its other branch company, the Acadia Motor Car and Truck Company, was formed ca. 1920. In June 1966, Acadia Gas Engines was acquired by the Grimsby Group of Canada, Halifax, N.S., of the parent company Great Grimsby Coal, Salt and Tanning Co. Ltd., based in the United Kingdom.
Custodial history
Scope and content
Fonds consists of records created and accumulated by Acadia Gas Engines of Bridgewater, N.S. and its associated companies, Acadia Stationary Engines Limited and Acadia Motor Car and Truck Company. Includes minutes of directors and shareholders meetings, 1908-1921; business correspondence, 1920-1952; appraisal reports on machinery and equipment, 1922-1927; original and microfilmed scrapbooks containing newspaper clippings, memoranda, notices, advertisements, photographs, and ephemera, 1922-1966; sales reports; financial statements, 1909-1947; patent documents; company catalogues, product literature and price lists; 1920-1951; and other related material. Fonds also contains technical drawings (working drawings and blueprints), 1928-1971, illustrating various marine engine models, parts for vessels including hydraulic pumps, hoists, and gears, Chevrolet automobile engines, and a file of architectural building plans. Includes drawings by Hercules Motor Corporation, Leyland Motor Company, Canadian Department of Defense, and others. Photographs contained in the fonds, ca. 1912-1962, include views of various engine models and parts, interior and exterior views of the Bridgewater building and facilities, exhibition displays including the Nova Scotia Fisheries Exhibition, a small number of images of W.T. Ritcey and other officers, the Ritcey residence, and advertising slides mostly of the Acadia logo.
Notes area
Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
Scrapbooks loaned for microfilming by the firm in 1975 and donated with additional records in 1982. Material also donated by G.K. Feindel, curator of the DesBrisay Museum, Bridgewater, N.S. in 1979.
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Finding aids
Box list available for textual records.
Associated materials
Accruals
General note
Printing plates were donated with the fonds and subsequently transferred to the Nova Scotia Museum and the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic.
General note
Material given Accession number 1979-171.
Physical description
Includes ca. 400 technical drawings and architectural drawings, 708 photographs (375 prints, 290 negatives, 43 glass slides), and 3 photograph albums.