Fonds - Goldwin Smith fonds

Identity area

Reference code

Title

Goldwin Smith fonds

Date(s)

  • 1857-1910 (Creation)

Level of description

Fonds

Extent and medium

15 cm of textual records

Context area

Name of creator

(1823-1910)

Biographical history

Goldwin Smith (1823-1910) was a prominent journalist, academic and liberal reformer who spent the latter part of his life in Toronto. Born in Reading, England, he was educated at Eton College and Oxford University, and was the Regius Professor of History at Oxford from 1858 to 1866. Smith began to publish widely on history and political reform. He moved to the United States in 1868, and taught briefly at Cornell University, to which he retained a connection for the rest of his life. He moved to Toronto in 1871, and married Harriet Elizabeth Mann (née Dixon) the widow of William Henry Boulton, in 1875. Smith thus became master of the Grange house and estate in central Toronto, and became a pillar of Toronto society. His journalistic career included a brief employment at the Globe, after which he joined independent publishing ventures including the Canadian Monthly and National Review and the Evening Telegram. He then published his own journal, the Bystander, sporadically between 1879 and 1890. Smith also published widely in other local and international news journals. He took part in important civic and educational reform initiatives, including serving on the new board of the University of Toronto. The Grange remained his wife's property and was willed by her to the city of Toronto to serve as a public art gallery, later becoming the first home of the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Archival history

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Content and structure area

Scope and content

Fonds consists of the contents of an autograph album, primarily consisting of letters received by Goldwin Smith from various correspondents throughout North America and Europe. The fonds also includes a few intact pages of the album with autographs.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

Open

Conditions governing reproduction

Language of material

    Script of material

      Language and script notes

      Physical characteristics and technical requirements

      Finding aids

      An index is available for this fonds.

      Allied materials area

      Existence and location of originals

      Existence and location of copies

      Copies of items in this fonds are interspersed in Cornell University's microfilm copy (not held by the Art Gallery of Ontario), which is arranged according to date.

      Related units of description

      The Archives of the Grange (in the collection of the Art Gallery of Ontario) include two Goldwin Smith family photograph albums, Smith's childhood scrapbook, and the Grange's "Pantry Book" which includes details of social engagements at the house.

      Related descriptions

      Notes area

      Note

      The album was disassembled in 1971 by Cornell University Archives, to which it was loaned for microfilming and preservation.

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      Dates of creation revision deletion

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          Accession area