William C. Borrett
Nova Scotia radio pioneer and author
William Coates Borrett was an author, radio broadcasting pioneer, and member of the Canadian Expeditionary Force in World War I. On June 7, 1917, he married at the age of 23 to 28-year-old Muriel Hazel Bauld in Halifax, Nova Scotia. His marriage certificate lists him as a member of the Church of England and his occupation as a military officer. He founded Nova Scotia's first radio station, CHNS-FM on May 12, 1926, which was broadcast from the Carleton Hotel in Halifax. For more than 18 years his station aired a series called "Tales Told Under the Old Town Clock" which featured stories about Nova Scotia's history. In 1942, he published these stories through Ryerson Press under the same name. On August 14, 1950, at a reception to mark 201 years since the founding of Halifax, Borrett was awarded a medallion for his historical books and radio program that preserved Nova Scotia and Halifax history.
“William C. Borrett” enters the record as nova Scotia radio pioneer and author. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what William, Borrett and Nova can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“William C. Borrett” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, William, Borrett and Nova provides the most credible route into that argument.
Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 7, 2026. The first chronological checks are 1917, 1926, 1942 and 1950.
Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “William C. Borrett”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow William C. Borrett primary sources, William C. Borrett archive and William research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “William C. Borrett”?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
- Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “William C. Borrett” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.