durhamregion.com 6 The Citizen December 21, 2017 Five months with former Whitby mayor Des Newman As 2017 draws to a close, I've been reflecting on the five months I spent in the basement of the Whitby Chamber of Commerce with former mayor Desmond Newman. Maybe I should explain. Earlier this year, we were notified that the building in which the Whitby Chamber of Commerce is located is slated for demolition. This was brought to our attention because there was a sizeable amount of archival material in the basement of the 68-year-old building at 128 Brock St. S. Quite a bit of this material had little or no historical value, but from among the weeds, we rescued a few gems. The most significant boxes in the basement were the records of Mr. Newman, created during his tenure as mayor of Whitby from 1966 to 1975. I reached out to him, hoping he would sign a deed of gift to officially transfer the records to the archives at the Whitby Public Library. After receiving my letter, he called me to set up a meeting at the chamber of commerce to view the material. What could we possibly need to meet about? I went to the first meeting feeling a little nervous, not knowing what to expect. We ventured into the basement, which can only be described as a damp pit, looked at the boxes and talked. The thing about Mr. Newman is that he is very direct and he expects the same of you in return. He wanted to know which, if any, of his records would be of interest to the archives. In order to figure this out, we decided to meet in the basement for two hours every other Wednesday from July to November. Our goal was to create a basic inventory for all the boxes. As we did, Mr. Newman spoke of the various committees, organizations and conferences he was involved with and provided context for every record in the collection. Our conversations moved from his past experiences as a politician to current politics, our families and the aerospace industry. We found correspondence, countless reports, plans and other items that are typically created and used over the course of a nine-year term in public office. We also found a plethora of material from special moments of Mr. Newman's career: records from the Tri-Level Conference in 1972, at which he represented Canadian mayors to discuss urban challenges with representatives of the municipal, provincial and federal governments; and records that tell of his involvement in the planning for and creation of the Regional Municipality of Durham in 1973. As he recalled both of these career milestones, he shone and it was obvious he felt he had contributed to a greater cause. By November, I was disappointed that our sessions were ending. I had looked forward to our meetings and enjoyed learning from him. I appreciated the time that Mr. Newman devoted to me and the archives, in an effort to create a fulsome description of the material for future researchers. It is a rare opportunity to sit down with an archival donor and hear about his or her life story and the provenance of the records. The only thing I regret about my time with Mr. Newman, and maybe it should be a resolution for 2018, is that I didn't have a recording device. In the end, though, his accomplishments will live on in his records. -- Sarah Ferencz is the archivist at the Whitby Public Library. Contact her at archives@whitbylibrary.on.ca Sarah Ferencz Whitby Public Library archivist Submitted by Whitby ArchiveS WHITBY -- Boxes of former Whitby mayor Desmond Newman's records in the basement of the Whitby Chamber of Commerce. The thing about Mr. Newman is that he is very direct and he expects the same of you in return. He wanted to know which, if any, of his records would be of interest to the archives. -- Sarah Ferencz " OpiniOn