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South Peace Regional Archives
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Bert & Miriam Tieman fonds
Bert & Miriam Tieman fonds. -- 1939-1985. -- 8 cm of textual records, 146 photographs, 35 artistic drawings, 624 postcards.
Biographical Sketch
Bernard John Tieman was born in Delfts, Holland in 1898. At the age of 21 he immigrated to High River, Alberta. The year was 1920 and the trip was made by ship. On board he met Miriam Hutchinson, who had been born in England in 1898 and was also immigrating to Canada. The couple were married in Calgary in 1926.
In 1927, the Tiemans came to the Peace Country. They filed on NE 31-74-7 north of Buffalo Lake, and farmed there until 1946, when they moved to Grande Prairie. Miriam Tieman was a long-time member of the Alberta Women’s Institute, and became involved with the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire soon after their arrival in Buffalo Lake. In Grande Prairie, she assisted the first teacher at the Peace School of Hope when it opened in 1955. Bert worked as a carpenter.
The Tieman’s were very active in the community. They attended Christ Church Anglican, where Bert handcrafted the pews, the tables and the Bishop’s Chair in the old church. They served as volunteers for the Peace School of Hope, where Bert taught woodworking and served on the board, while Miriam’s group of the Women’s Institute sewed all the curtains and quilts. Barrydale House, the dorm for handicapped children which opened in 1960, was named after Barry Ferguson and Dale McQuaig, two handicapped boys from outside of Grande Prairie who had lived with the Tieman’s a number of years. Swan Industries, a woodworking shop for the handicapped which Bert also supported, opened in 1973. Bert & Miriam were also involved with the Drama Festival, Bert as actor and stage manager, and Miriam in the cast or designing and sewing costumes. Later, Bert served as president of the Museum Board for some years. It was due to his persistance that Tieman Road was opened as an access to the museum.
In 1952, Bert was elected to Town Council, a position he maintained for 11 years. He was a councilman when Grande Prairie became a city in 1958.
Bert’s many interests included woodworking crafts, theatre and art. He was also an amateur paleontologist, with a self-taught knowledge of fossils. His greatest discovery was a fossilized pike fish, which after examination by University of Alberta professor Dr. Mark Wilson, was given the name “Esox Tiemani.”
Bert & Miriam’s only child died as an infant. Miriam passed away in Nov. 21, 1979. Bert passed away on September 20, 1984. Because they had no family in Canada, the Tieman Estate was willed to the Grande Prairie Museum.
Custodial History
Records were bequeathed to the Grande Prairie Museum along with the entirety of the Tieman estate. Grande Prairie Regional Archives assumed responsibility for the archival portion in 2000.
Scope and Content
The fonds consists of some personal papers of Bert and Miriam Tieman; a folder of unframed pencil sketches and paintings; a large photograph and postcard collection, including personal photographs of the Tiemans and their homes; and documents relating to their hobbies and their volunteer work with the South Peace Operatic Society, the Grande Prairie & District Association of the Mentally Handicapped, the Town of Grande Prairie when Bert was Alderman, and the Grande Prairie Museum. Also included is a handwritten "Handbook for Wireless Telegraph Operators" c. 1920.
Table of Contents
| Series 039.01 | Personal Papers and Photographs |
| Series 039.02 | Personal Hobbies |
| Series 039.03 | Grande Prairie Association for the Mentally Handicapped |
| Series 039.04 | Grande Prairie Museum |
| Series 039.01 | Personal Papers and Photographs. -- 1931-1985. -- 0.2 cm of textual records, 246 photographs.The series consists of records relating to Bert & Miriam’s personal lives, including a 1911 certificate for first communion for Bert in Delft, Holland; the 1946 building permit for their Grande Prairie home and its final appraisal in 1985; memorial documents; miscellaneous bills and receipts; news clippings; travel documents and diary; and photographs which cover the period of the Tieman’s lives in Canada. The photographs are as diverse as the interests of the Tieman’s: family and friends, travel, Peace School of Hope, Christ Church Anglican, Grande Prairie Museum and Theatre Productions. There is also a 1995 wedding album from Gwendolen Susan Jane Matthewman and Harold Leigh Hart at North Featherstone Parish Church in Pontefract, Yorkshire. The wedding is assumed to be that of either a nephew/niece of Miriam Tieman. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Series 039.02 | Personal Hobbies. -- 1915-1985. -- 4 cm of textual records, 35 artistic drawings, 624 postcards.Bert & Miriam Tieman had many interests. They enjoyed travelling and collected a series of postcards from the Peace Country and abroad. Bert’s woodworking hobby was an extension of his carpentry career. He was also an amateur archaeologist of some note; his name is included on a 1985 list of palaeontologists working in Alberta, put out by the Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller. Art was another of Bert’s interests, both as a collector and an artist. Several pieces from his collection were donated to the Prairie Art Gallery, as recorded in the photograph collection. The hand-written telegrapher’s manual was produced about 1920, the same time as Bert & Miriam came to Canada. It contains mostly ship to shore information used for communications rather than war-time activity and mentions the Prince of Wales Ship.The series consists of records relating to Bert & Miriam’s personal lives, including a 1911 certificate for first communion for Bert in Delft, Holland; the 1946 building permit for their Grande Prairie home and its final appraisal in 1985; memorial documents; miscellaneous bills and receipts; news clippings; travel documents and diary; and photographs which cover the period of the Tieman’s lives in Canada. The photographs are as diverse as the interests of the Tieman’s: family and friends, travel, Peace School of Hope, Christ Church Anglican, Grande Prairie Museum and Theatre Productions. There is also a 1995 wedding album from Gwendolen Susan Jane Matthewman and Harold Leigh Hart at North Featherstone Parish Church in Pontefract, Yorkshire. The wedding is assumed to be that of either a nephew/niece of Miriam Tieman. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Series 039.03 | Grande Prairie Association for the Mentally Handicapped. -- 1956-1974. -- 1 cm of textual records.The series consists of papers relating to the building of Barrydale House and the Sheltered Workshop. Also included are financial statements, regulations, a list of children recommended for the new dorm, and correspondence relating to the projects. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Series 039.04 | Grande Prairie Museum. -- 1984-1985. -- 1 cm of textual records.The series consists of a file of correspondence regarding the opening of Tieman Road, the museum’s access from Richmond Avenue, and correspondence and legal documents relating to the donation of the Tieman estate to the Grande Prairie Museum. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||