Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
General material designation
- Graphic material
- Textual record
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- Source of title proper: Title based on the content of the fonds.
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Edition area
Edition statement
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Class of material specific details area
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Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
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[19--] ; 1936-1971 (Creation)
- Creator
- Palmer, Alan Douglas
Physical description area
Physical description
1.17 m of textual records
323 photographs
Publisher's series area
Title proper of publisher's series
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Archival description area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Alan Douglas Palmer was born in Montreal May 18, 1913, and died March 28, 1971. He started his journalistic career in the 1920s, covering sports for the Canadian Press agency and a number of suburban weeklies. In World War II he served with the Canadian Army for five years, ending his military service as a reporter for The Maple Leaf, the army newspaper. After the war he joined the Montreal Herald as a police reporter before becoming one of its featured columnists with Man About Town. His beat was Montreal when it was known for its tolerance for after-hours joie de vivre. In 1949 he went to Florida to cover the police beat for the Key West Citizen, as well as to report on the Keys for Associated Press and the Florida Daily Newspaper Association. In 1952 he returned to the Montreal Herald as a police reporter, as well as covering the booming night club beat in a daily column called Cabaret Circuit. When the Montreal Herald stopped publishing in 1957 he moved to The Gazette, where he covered the police beat. He had a special interest in the case of Louis Bercowitz, an individual with alleged underworld ties who was in prison for manslaughter. Al Palmer wrote a widely-read column about Montreal called Our Town. He wrote two books, Montreal Confidential and a novel called Sugar-Puss.
Custodial history
Shirley O'Neil Marchessault kept Al Palmer's documents from the time of his death in 1971 until 1993, when she donated them to the Concordia University Archives. The fonds was transferred from Concordia University's Records Management and Archives Department to Concordia University Libraries' Special Collections March 15-17, 2016 and April 6, 2016.
Scope and content
The Al Palmer Fonds provides information on Montreal and other cities, as gathered by Al Palmer through his journalistic career between 1940 and 1971.
The fonds includes thematic files on people and topics that Al Palmer covered in his columns and police chronicles. It contains notes, copies of court records, clippings, programs, brochures, and photographs.
Notes area
Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
Shirley O'Neil Marchessault
Arrangement
Language of material
- English
- French
Script of material
Language and script note
Most of the documents are in English. Some documents are in French.
Location of originals
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Finding aids
Box listing is available.
Finding aid
Associated materials
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Rights
Copyright belongs to the creator(s).