Husband and wife Henry Gerrie Ward and Janet “Jean” Elizabeth Ward (nee Hanley) were married on August 5, 1940 in Drumheller, Alberta, and were residents of Edmonton, Alberta.

Jean Hanley was born on June 2, 1915, in Wapella, Saskatchewan to parents Alexander Peter “A.P.” Hanley and Mary Patricia McGregor, and moved with them to Drumheller, Alberta as a young child. In 1936, she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Alberta, and then re-enrolled in the school to receive her teacher’s certificate. Immediately after leaving the university, she taught at Wetaskiwin High School (Wetaskiwin, Alberta), and then the Llanarthy School for Girls in Edmonton. Jean was a member of Pi Beta Phi women’s fraternity during university, and later joined their alumnae group in Edmonton. Jean was a teacher, potter, and member of the Canadian Guild of Potters and the Alberta Potter’s Association.

Jean’s father "A.P." was born Joseph Peter Alexander Hanley on June 6, 1885, in Montreal, QC, to parents Alexander Hanley and Annie Urquhart. After moving his family to Drumheller, he owned and operated Hanley’s Hardware, served as Mayor, was a member of the Drumheller Hospital Board and the Board of Stewards and Trustees of Knox United Church, and was a Freemason. He passed away on May 19, 1973 in Drumheller. Jean’s mother was born on November 12, 1879, in Dundalk, Ontario and passed away on December 20, 1969, in Drumheller. She was a music teacher. Jean’s parents were married in Cranbrook, BC on September 8, 1914.

Henry Ward was born in Edmonton on June 15, 1913, to Muriel Louise Gerrie and Edward Henry Ward (died 1948). He was the nephew of Samuel Archibald Dickson, a founder of the Edmonton Rotary Club and a leader in the campaign to establish Fort Edmonton Park. As a teenager in the 1930s, Henry worked at Edmonton’s Gyro Park. In 1937, Henry graduated from the University of Alberta with a dual bachelor’s degree in arts and education, and taught in Edmonton from 1942 to1974. He first served as Assistant Principal of Victoria and Strathcona Composite High Schools, then Principal of Bonnie Doon Composite High School, before transferring to the Edmonton Public School Board’s (EPSB) central office to work as Director of Personnel. Henry later worked as a sessional instructor in education administration at the University of Alberta.

In addition to his career in education, Henry was active in many professional, community and historical groups, often in lead positions, including: the Alberta High School Principals’ Association (president); the EPSB High School Enrichment Committee (chair); the Alberta Department of Education High School Curriculum Committee (member); the Rotary Club of Edmonton (president, director); the Pigeon Lake Yacht Club (commodore); the Historical Society of Alberta (president); the Edmonton Historical Advisory Board (chair, member); the Old Strathcona Foundation (director); and, the Fort Edmonton Historical Foundation (director). Henry also served as the Canadian Executive Service Organization (CESO) Commissioner for the Alexander First Nation (Cree: Kipohtakaw), and acted on a number of committees regarding the Strathcona Village and the City of Edmonton Archives. Near the end of his life, Henry also worked with ceramics and pottery.

Henry G. Ward died of a heart attack on August 30, 1976, in Golden, British Columbia. Jean Ward died in 2001. The couple had two sons, William Peter Ward, born February 11, 1943, and John Edward Henry Ward, born May 3, 1946.

The fonds is arranged into the following series:
PR0253.0001 Henry G. Ward Personal and Professional Records
PR0253.0002 Jean Ward Personal and Professional Records
PR0253.0003 House Construction Records
PR0253.0004 Ward Family Records

The fonds consists of records reflecting both the public and private lives of the Wards as children, friends, spouses, parents, students, teachers, potters and promoters of heritage. The records include personal photographs, university diplomas and report cards, personal and professional correspondence including letters of reference, household finances, sketches and arts magazines, immunization reports and medical insurance plans, a marriage certificate, obituaries and memorial booklets, and newspaper clippings.

The fonds also includes a significant number of records created by Henry Ward related to both his own and Jean`s genealogy and family histories. In particular, these records detail the contributions of Jean`s parents A.P. and Mary Hanley to the town of Drumheller, Alberta, and Henry`s uncle Samuel A. Dickson`s contributions to the Rotary Club of Edmonton and Fort Edmonton Park. Types of records include diaries, birth and marriage certificates, obituaries, family trees, genealogical research and related correspondence, and transcribed oral history interviews.

Lastly, the fonds includes contracts, plans, photographs, magazine articles and other records relating to the design and construction of the Ward home by Jean Wallbridge and Mary Imrie, the first partnership of women architects in Canada.