- The precursor to the United Grain Growers was formed in 1901 in Indian Head, Saskatchewan, by a group of farmers who came together to discuss common problems related to grain farming. The "Grain Growers" concept spread quickly to Alberta and Manitoba and in 1917 the movement amalgamated its commercial interests in the three Prairie Provinces to form United Grain Growers Ltd. The infrastructure of the company included grain elevators, terminals, and a farm supply network. UGG bought or built an extensive series of country elevators across the West from 1912 to the 1960s. Grain terminal facilities were also constructed and included facilities at Thunder Bay, New Westminister and Vancouver. Through their elevator system the UGG sold supplies such as coal, twine, chemicals and fertilizer to their farm customers. On November 1, 2001, it merged with Agricore (formed by the consolidation of the Manitoba and Alberta Wheat Pools) to form a new company, Agricore United. In 2007, Agricore United merged with Saskatchewan Wheat Pool to form Viterra. The digitized material from the United Grain Growers fonds consists of nearly 1800 pages of histories pertaining to the United Grain Growers grain elevators in towns throughout Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
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Archives & Special Collections
Archives & Special Collections is a department of the Libraries and is located in Room 330 on the third floor of the Elizabeth Dafoe Library. Since its establishment in 1978, the Archives' mission has been to acquire, catalogue and preserve university records and special research collections which further the educational aims of the University of Manitoba, and to promote and provide wide access to them. The Archives' wide-ranging collection mandate includes the acquisition of the records of the University of Manitoba, Canadian Prairie Literary Manuscripts, the Archives of the Agricultural Experience and rare books in the areas of western Canadiana, early Arctic exploration, early Native language syllabics, spiritualism, church history and philosophy, and agriculture among others.