Fonds BF 22 - Dennis Gruending fonds

This fonds consists of records created, accumulated and used by Dennis Gruending, in his career as a writer and researcher, journalist, radio host and producer, television reporter, graduate student, federal political candidate and New Democratic Party Member of Parliament for the Saskatoon-Rosetown-Biggar constituency. Much of the material in the fonds relates to his work in Saskatchewan, as well as his graduate studies and career in Ottawa, Ontario.

Contents include research notes, general correspondence, transcripts, interview question sheets, sound recordings of interviews, photographs, manuscript drafts, speeches, radio broadcasts, editor and reviewer correspondence, video and audio footage of talks, interviews and appearances by Gruending on radio and television shows. Records principally relate to Gruending's books: Gringo: Poems and Journals from Latin America (Coteau Books, 1983); Emmett Hall: Establishment Radical (Macmillan of Canada, 1985 ed.); Promises to Keep: A Political Biography of Allan Blakeney (Western Producer Prairie Books, 1990); The Middle of Nowhere: Rediscovering Saskatchewan (Fifth House, 1996); Great Canadian Speeches (Fitzhenry and Whiteside, 2004); Truth to Power: The Journalism of a Benedictine Monk (Kingsley Publishing, 2010); Pulpit and Politics: Competing Religious Ideologies in Canadian Public Life (Kingsley, 2011); and Speeches that Changed Canada (Fitzhenry and Whiteside, 2018).

Also included is material related to Gruending's work with CBC radio and television, his freelance journalism in Saskatchewan, and a range of other research, writing and communications projects he has undertaken for various public officials and organizations.

The records described in 1992 consist of seven series: Emmett Hall: Establishment Radical; Promises to Keep: A Political Biography of Allan Blakeney; Speeches and Workshops; Organizations; Writing; Radio and Television Journalism; Miscellaneous. An Addendum series including CBC radio material, speeches and workshop material and poetry readings was added in 1993. Five further series were added in 2021: Graduate Studies; Political Activities; Additional Publications; Other Employment and Projects; and Photographs.

The sound recordings and photographs described in 2002 and 2003 relate to the earlier material in the fonds. A list and transcripts to interviews conducted for Promises to Keep has been added at File II.54.