Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
General material designation
Parallel title
Other title information
Title statements of responsibility
Title notes
Level of description
Repository
Reference code
Edition area
Edition statement
Edition statement of responsibility
Class of material specific details area
Statement of scale (cartographic)
Statement of projection (cartographic)
Statement of coordinates (cartographic)
Statement of scale (architectural)
Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
-
1851-1991 (Creation)
- Creator
- Wetmore, Donald, 1907-1992
Physical description area
Physical description
- 2.4 m of textual records
- 143 photographs
- 1 videocassette
Publisher's series area
Title proper of publisher's series
Parallel titles of publisher's series
Other title information of publisher's series
Statement of responsibility relating to publisher's series
Numbering within publisher's series
Note on publisher's series
Archival description area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Donald Dawson Wetmore, CM, author, playwright and educator was born 23 January 1907 in Truro, N.S., the son of Abram Douglas and Christina (Stevenson) Wetmore. He was educated in Truro and received BA and MA degrees from Acadia University and the University of West Virginia. He undertook theatre training in New York and Montreal, and during World War II he organized stage productions for servicemen through the YMCA in Debert, N.S. and St. John's, Nfld. After the war he became a longtime employee of the Nova Scotia Department of Education. He was drama advisor for the continuing education division, from 1946-1966, and then supervisor of the cultural services section of the adult education division, 1966-1971. Through this latter position he was an integral (and often founding) member of many key drama and performing arts organizations in Nova Scotia, including the Theatre Arts Guild, Nova Scotia Drama League, Nova Scotia Arts Council, Nova Scotia Committee of the Dominion Drama Festival, and Canadian Authors Association. He also served on the National Board for the Dominion Drama Festival from 1964-1972. As a playwright he is known for such works as The Londonderry Heirs and Dashing Through the Years, radio dramas such as Lamb in the Lea and Highland Heart in Nova Scotia, and folk operas such as The Broken Ring and Scottish Landing. He edited Loyalists in Nova Scotia: Biographies of Loyalist Settlers, a collection of essays by members of the Canadian Authors' Association, and wrote for The Canadian Author and Bookman and other periodicals. In 1972 he was awarded the Order of Canada (CM) in recognition for his contributions to community theatre in Nova Scotia, and in 1973 received the Diplome d'Honneur from the Canadian Conference of the Arts. He died in 1992.
Custodial history
Scope and content
Consists of records relating to Wetmore's responsibilities as drama advisor and arts supervisor with the Nova Scotia government from the 1940s-1970s, his role in the various community theatre organizations in Nova Scotia which he helped found, and his participation in theatrical events as a director, dramatist, and administrator, and as an instructor and adjudicator of speech and drama festivals. Includes correspondence, records of various drama and arts groups including minutes of meetings, financial statements, circulars, reports, notes and related materials, and many of Wetmore's own literary works such as scripts for plays, radio broadcasts, book reviews, articles and speeches. A separate section consists of subject files that concern theatre-related materials, activity reports for the Department of Education, and records of the Centennial Commission for which Wetmore acted as local entertainment chair. There are also several scrapbooks and newspaper clippings compiled by Wetmore on drama, theatre and the performing arts in North America, predominantly in Nova Scotia, 1927-1983. A few files contain biographical data, personal correspondence, a diary and family photographs and related documents.
Notes area
Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
Records 2003-062 were donated to Dalhousie University Archives by Donald Wetmore in 1972 and subsequently transferred to the Nova Scotia Archives in 2003. MG 1 volumes 3388-3392 were donated by Wetmore in 1991 and 1993.
Arrangement
Language of material
Script of material
Location of originals
Availability of other formats
Restrictions on access
Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication
Finding aids
Associated materials
The Dalhousie University Archives holds records of many of the performing arts groups mentioned in the Wetmore materials such as the Theatre Arts Guild (MS-3-4), Nova Scotia Drama League (MS-3-5), and Dramatists' Co-op of Nova Scotia (MS-3-29).