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Scope and Content |
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Fonds consists of records created by Ferranti-Packard Limited, and its predecessors. Included in the fonds are textual records and lists, repair and maintenance files relating to transformer specifications, various trade publications, in-house handbooks and reference guides, staff recreation and Union files, as well as commemorative and historical pamphlets. Also included are financial records, including audited accounts, statements, wage books and stock order books. Corporate files of Ferranti, Packard, Ferranti-Packard Limited, and subsidiary companies are included, as are stock records, Ferranti subject files and Value Improvement Proposals. As well, on seven microfilm reels are inter-office memos, correspondence, pricing charts and guides, price quotes and tender bids to various customers and potential buyers. These seven reels were produced in 1954 by the Federal Restrictive Trade Practices Commission, Department of Justice, Ottawa, as part of an investigation into alleged
price fixing in the transformer manufacturing industry in Canada. Fonds also includes technical drawings and blueprints of various prototypes and products, as well as 30 microfilm reels of numbered drawings. The fonds also contains photographs, which include prints, glass plate, cellulose nitrate and safety film negatives of plant operations, manufactured products such as transformers, plant sites, meters, automobiles and computers, portraits of staff members, a panorama depicting the employees of the Power Transformer Division of Ferranti-Packard Limited with the largest auto-transformer manufactured by the Division and shipped on November 13th, 1972 to Clover Bar Generation Station in Edmonton, Alberta, of worker activities and sales promotions. The photograph series are arranged numerically, alphanumerically and by subject, with several of the series having chronological indexes. As well, the fonds contains videotaped interviews of former workers, which were conducted in
1987 and 1988 by John Vardalas. Personnel interviewed consisted of engineers and plant workers, including Bill Cook, Tim Cooper, Ray Dillard, Tom Edmonson, Carl Grey, Barry Hercus, Joe Hermans, Wardie Hetherington, Tito Messonda, Frank Squires, Robert Veitch, Jack Webb, Al White, and two men by the names of Roy and Stan, whose last names are not known. The discussions dealt with changes in Ferranti-Packard's operations as a result of World War Two, the merger between Ferranti and Packard, market forces, and organized workforces, as well as more specific issues such as the use of PCBs, and their attendant health concerns in the manufacture of transformers. Other sound and moving image materials in this fonds include four audio reels consisting of recordings from a 1956 Packard Electric sales conference, and which deal with sales and marketing strategies and management concerns prior to the merger with Ferranti Electric Company in 1958. As well, there are 21assorted training films
(1930-1975) produced by the Ferranti Film Unit in England, dealing with numerous technical production aspects as well as product specifications. In addition, three of the films deal with the Ferranti-Packard factories in Ontario, and there are several promotional films included, along with a film biography of Sebastian Ziani de Ferranti entitled, "A World Transformed."
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