Meet the namesakes of U of M buildings

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/11/2017 (3249 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If you visit the University of Manitoba, you’ll find many buildings are named after people.

When the Isbister Building opened in 1961, I was in my graduating year in the School of Commerce which at that time came under the Faculty of Arts. The School was moved into this location. Who was Isbister? The following information is readily available online and in various publications.

Alexander Kennedy Isbister was born at Cumberland House in 1822 in what is now Saskatchewan. He was Métis. He was educated in the Orkney Islands of Scotland and the Red River Colony after which he went to work for the Hudson’s Bay Company, but resigned because of the treatment he received as a Métis. He continued his education in Great Britain and became a teacher, published many books, and always during 41 years away from Red River kept in contact with people there. He never married.

On his death in 1883, he left close to 5,000 books to the University of Manitoba as a basis for an educational library (an 1898 fire destroyed most of them) and the bulk of his estate to establish university scholarships for “meritorious students and scholars in the various places of education in the Province for both sexes … where the highest education is given without any distinction of race, creed or nationality.”

I was fortunate enough to receive two Isbister Scholarships while in Commerce.

The Fletcher Argue Building’s name also has an interesting story. The University of Manitoba, Archives and Special Collections, Building Histories gives the following account of the man who lived from 1877 to 1962:

“Robert Fletcher Argue, the namesake of the Fletcher Argue Building, began his academic career at Wesley College, now known as the University of Winnipeg, as a professor and Dean of Residence. He left his posting to fight overseas during the First World War and to teach at ‘Khaki College.’ When he returned to Wesley College he got in an argument with the administration and resigned. The University of Manitoba appointed Fletcher Argue as a lecturer and [he] later became the Dean of Junior Men. In this position, Fletcher Argue represented the rights of younger students. He was a staunch supporter of returning veterans and assisted them in finding accommodations.”

Another website states “Khaki University (initially Khaki College) was a Canadian educational institution set up and managed by the general staff of the Canadian Army in Britain from 1917-19 during the First World War and again in 1945-46 in the Second World War.”

There are many more building names that can be explored, such as the Elizabeth Dafoe Library, to add to our understanding of the people who shaped our academic world.

Jeannette Timmerman is a community correspondent for Richmond West.