Administrative History:
The Dalse Welfare Club was started in 1929 by a group of young friends 16 to 18 years of age who were interested at that time in sports, social gatherings and education. They were called at that time “The Dalse Boys,” and the letters D-A-L-S-E stood for “Dramatics, Athletics, Literature, Social and Education.”

The Dalse Boys made their mark in this fashion until the outbreak of the Second World War, when some of the members joined the armed forces and went overseas. With a depleted membership, those who were left in 1942 held an emergency meeting where it was decided the Dalse Boys would become a Service Club and the name changed to read: “The Dalse Welfare Club,” with its slogan of “Help Unto Others,” as it is today. With the new name came a new interpretation of D-A-L-S-E: D for Devotion, A for Altruism, L for Love of Mankind, S for Service to Community, and E for Effectiveness.

Biographical Sketch:
Raymond Arthur Davies was a journalist, an author and a public speaker. As a freelance journalist, he covered the Spanish Civil War and as a Moscow correspondent covered World War II. At the end of the war, he helped Jewish survivors immigrate to Canada. He died in 1985.

Scope and Content:
Telegraphic reports from U.S.S.R. during wartime and conditions of Jewish population there. Correspondence about speaking tour under auspices of Canadian Jewish Congress. Biographical press clippings about his imprisonment for fraud and about his speaking tour. Portraits and printing plates of R.A. Davies.

Notes:
General Note: Mostly originals, press clippings.

Biographical Sketch:
Born in 1866, Sir Mortimer B. Davis was an industrialist and a philanthropist. He was a founder and president of Imperial Tobacco Ltd.; a founder of YMHA of Montreal and Mt. Sinai Sanatorium in Ste-Agathe. He left a large legacy to the Montreal Jewish General Hospital, which now bears his name. He died in 1928.

Scope and Content:
Correspondence relating to settling of estate. Biographical press clippings.

Notes:
Restrictions: 1 correspondence file.
General Note: Originals, press clippings.

Biographical Sketch:
Joseph: Claimed Labrador for England in 1677. When he saved the life of King William III 20 years later, the king granted Labrador to de la Penha. Isaac: 1865-1935, descendant of Joseph, was assistant hazzan at Montreal’s Spanish and Portuguese synagogue for 27 years. (A “hazzan” or his assistant leads the singing of the service and the reading of the Torah). Daniel, of North Carolina, another descendant of Joseph, attempted to reclaim Labrador in 1983.

Scope and Content:
Photocopies of Newfoundland government files about the claim to Labrador. Biographical press clippings about Rev. Isaac de la Penha of Montreal and Daniel de la Penha. Two handwritten signed letters from Rev. H.P. Mendes to Rev. de la Penha.

Biographical Sketch:
Eldest son of Alexander Abraham de Sola, Meldola de Sola was born in 1853 and educated under his father’s guidance. He succeeded him as minister of the Spanish and Portuguese Congregation, where he continued as spiritual leader until his death, in 1919. He was the first Jewish minister of Canadian birth; an outspoken opponent of Reform Judaism; a prolific pamphleteer and contributor of learned articles to magazines and newspapers.

Scope and Content:
Scrapbook of synagogue clippings and programs. Articles on Jewish school question, sermons, Zionism, religion, Zion Cadet Corps. Obituaries of members of prominent Montreal Jewish families including Josephs. Ships’ passenger lists. Pamphlets on Zionism, sermon on Zionism 1909.

Notes:
Related Materials: Other de Sola family members, Mosely collection of Clarence de Sola family.

Biographical Sketch:
Born in 1825, Alexander Abraham de Sola was the rabbi of the Spanish and Portuguese Congregation Montreal from 1847 until his death; appointed lecturer in Hebrew and Rabbinical Literature at McGill University in 1848 and raised to professor of Hebrew and Oriental Languages five years later; first Jew to be awarded the honourary degrees LL.D. from McGill University in 1858; author of numerous articles on Jewish history, religion, natural history, science. He died in 1882.

Scope and Content:
Correspondence, sermons, translation, McGill exams, addresses. Published articles on religious matters. The Sanatory Institutions of the Hebrews, Part I, 1861, part of which appeared in Canadian Medical Journal, vol. 1 #12, Montreal, 1852.

Notes:
Alpha-Numeric Designations: MC 13.
Related Materials: Books in Archives Library, Shearith Israel records.

Biographical Sketch:
Born in 1858, Clarence Isaac de Sola was a contractor and a diplomat. A Zionist, he was the third son of Rev. Alexander Abraham de Sola and a leader of the social and communal life of Canadian Jewry. He was a founder and long-time president of the Federation of Zionist Societies of Canada and the author of numerous articles on Jewish history. He died in 1920.

Scope and Content:
Photocopies of biographical press clippings and on Zionism. Family tree. Assorted files regarding other family members. Several religious books.

Notes:
Related Materials: Clarence de Sola family fonds received in 1998 from the Mosely family.
General Note: Mostly originals, copies.

Biographical Sketch:
Born in Montreal on August 15, 1858, Clarence de Sola was the third son of the renowned Victorian rabbi Rev. Alexander Abraham de Sola of the Shearith Israel synagogue of Montreal. He married Belle Maud Goldsmith of Cleveland in 1901. He was a contractor and served in the consular service as well as a leader of the social and communal life of Canadian Jewry, a founder and long-time president of the Federation Societies of Canada; and the author of numerous articles on Jewish history. He died in May 1920. His father, Abraham de Sola, was the first Jewish professor to teach Hebrew at McGill University, was rabbi of the Shearith Israel, Montreal's oldest congregation from 1848 until his death. Meldola gained widespread recognition as the cantor at the Shearith Israel.

Custodial History:
The documents are on permanent loan from Ms. Gillian Mosely, in May 1998. (The documents were placed on permanent loan in May, 1998). These items belonged to Lady Jessica Mellor, who had the diaries microfilmed for the National Archives of Canada. Gillian Mosely, her niece, took care of her and received these items upon her death.

Biographical Sketch:
Born in 1882, Pauline Donalda was an operatic soprano, voice teacher, former chairman of the Jewish Music Forum in Montreal; founder of the Montreal Opera Guild. She received the Order of Canada. She died in 1970.

Scope and Content:
Biographical press clippings. Typescript: Memoirs of Pauline Donalda by R. Brotman. Typescript: Bravo Donalda by R. Brotman. Typescript: Pauline Donalda 1882-1970 by Brotman, Potvin, Waller.

Notes:
Restrictions: 1 correspondence file.
Related Materials: Ruth Brotman.
General Note: Originals, press clippings.

Administrative History:
Drummond Photo was founded in 1947. The company was pioneered by Sylvia and Syd Feldman in a studio at the Drummond Building, 1117 Ste. Catherine Street, in downtown Montreal. The location of the studio provided the company name. Two years later, the Feldmans shifted down the street to 1419 Drummond, and in 1951 they moved uptown to 5194 Cote-des-Neiges. Their nephew Ruby Shulman joined Drummond Photo in 1956, as they moved once again, to Van Horne Avenue. In 1991 Ruby Shulman merged Drummond Photo with photographer Jacquôt of Photo Jacquôt to form Drummond Jacquôt Inc. The company moved to 305 Decarie North in 1992, and, to Dorval in Nov. 1, 1997. Over the years, Drummond Photo has been known throughout the Montreal Jewish community as specialists in depicting Jewish life-cycle events (such as weddings and Bar Mitzvahs), and for taking photographs commissioned by Jewish community agencies. In 1967 the company was chosen by the NFB (National Film Board) as the subject of a short film on various Canadian professions. In 1978 AJCS (Allied Jewish Community Services) presented them with an award “in acknowledgement and recognition of 30 years of service to the AJCS and its predecessor organizations.”

Custodial History:
In preparation for a move on Nov. 1, 1997, Drummond Jaquot Inc. donated all their existing old photo negatives, as well as the right to reproduce them, to Canadian Jewish Congress National Archives. Negatives older than 1960 were not available, as they had been damaged in a flood in the 1980s and subsequently discarded.

Administrative History:
Dufferin School, the oldest Protestant school in Montreal, had a 90% Jewish enrolment by the early 1900s. In 1913 its alumni founded the Dufferin School Graduates Society, the first Jewish graduates society in Canada. Its aims were to guide students in career choices, suggest curriculum changes best adapted to the students’ needs, keep statistics, and keep track of graduates and have them support the school. The society ran lectures, recitals and dances, raised money for various causes, sponsored graduation day receptions, and granted scholarships to keep Jewish students who otherwise could not afford it in school.

Their other events included civic night (where resolutions were passed and the reforms sent to the city council) and mock parliaments. There was also a Junior Dufferin School Graduates Society, for students aged 13 to 17, to provide vocational guidance.

Biographical Sketch:
Artist specializing in caricatures.

Custodial Hhistory:
Alexei Dymov donated this collection in Oct. 25, 2004.

Scope and Content:
Copies. 1 cd of images and documents.

Notes:
Alpha-Numeric Designations: P04/01-47.