Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1857-1910 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
15 cm of textual records
Context area
Name of creator
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.
Repository
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.
Notes area
Note
The album was disassembled in 1971 by Cornell University Archives, to which it was loaned for microfilming and preservation.