The Macleod Letters comprise just one of the little-known treasures of Calgary's Glenbow Museum.
In March 1996, the Glenbow Archives received a priceless donation.
Toby Lawrence, a great-grandson of Colonel James Farquharson Macleod, brought an armful of large envelopes into the Glenbow Archives, and asked if the museum would like to have the contents.
The envelopes held 231 letters written by Colonel J.F. Macleod, the famous Mounted Policeman, Judge, and Member of the Northwest Assembly, to his wife Mary Isabella Drever Macleod.
They cover twenty years of his life in Western Canada, from the days of the legendary 1874 March West of the newly formed North-West Mounted Police, to just a month before his untimely death by Bright's disease, in 1894.
The letters are rich in historical detail, with vivid descriptions of events, people, and places of the time. They include the signing of the Treaties, the arrival of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and the hanging of Louis Riel.
But they are much more than that, for they are also love letters to his wife. They are passionate, filled with emotion, and give wonderful insight into Victorian love, marriage, and family life.
You can read the letters transcribed on The Glenbow's website - and see the originals in the Colonel's own hand - by visiting the web address listed on the right and following the links.
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