Archival Resources

This is a list of the archival resources at McMaster University, Queen’s University Archives, and the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library at University of Toronto, which contain primary sources for the study of Canadian publishing history. Materials from many of these fonds and collections have been used on this website.
William Ready Division of Archives and Research Collections, McMaster University
Nelson Ball fonds – 1951-2004, 6.8 m of textual records and graphic material – small press, Weed Flower Press
J.W. Bengough fonds – 1880-1936, 1.9 m of textual records, graphic material, and realia – illustration, magazine publishing, job printing and publishing
Book Society of Canada fonds – 1936-1987, 24 m of textual records and graphic material – educational publishing
Bradley-Garretson Company Limited fonds – 1914-1915, 6 items – agency publishing
Gerard Brender à Brandis fonds – 1964-2002, 20 cm of textual records, 1.61 m of graphic material, and other material – illustration and private press, including the Branstead Press
Canadian Fiction Magazine fonds – 1971-1997, 5.76 m of textual records, 310 photographs, and other material – magazine publishing
Canadian Liberation Movement – 1951-1977, 8.5 m of textual records and sound recordings – NC Press
Clarke Irwin fonds – 1930-1984, 32 m of textual records and graphic material
John Robert Colombo fonds – 1938-1983, 14.5 m of textual records, sound recordings and graphic material – Hawkshead Press
Copp Clark fonds – 1856-1993, 10.8 m of textual records and 29 photographs – text book publishing
Curvd H&z Press fonds – 1979-1999, 62.5 cm of textual records – vanity and poetry press
Dodd Mead fonds – 1894-1976, 50 cm of textual records – Canadian authors’ files
Arnold Edinborough fonds – 1946-1990, 14.2 m of textual records, graphic material, and sound recordings – magazine publishing
Editors’ Association of Canada fonds – 1969-2000, 7.2 m of textual records, sound recordings, and photographs – editing
Garamond Press Ltd. – 1962-2002. – 3.75 m of textual records
C.H. (Marty) Gervais fonds – [193-]-2006, 6.6 m of textual records, 109 audio cassettes, and 504 photographs – Black Moss Press
Guernica Editions fonds – 1978-1993, 4.2 m of textual records and graphic material – ethnic press, French and Italian publishing
Key Porter Books fonds –1945-2004, 25 m of textual records and graphic material
Locks’ Press fonds – 1924-2008; predominant 1979-2000. – 9.3 m of textual records, graphic material and objects.
John MacFarlane fonds – 1960-1992, 2.3 m of textual records and graphic material – magazine publishing
Macmillan Canada fonds – 1897-1996, 111.6 m of textual records and graphic material
Roy MacSkimming fonds – 1970-2006; predominant 1998-2003. – 2 m of textual records, graphic material and sound recordings.
McClelland & Stewart fonds – 1934-2005, 415.8 m of textual records and graphic material
Jack McClelland fonds – 1904-2004, 26.37 m of textual records, graphic material, and realia – publisher and agent
Richard Outram and Barbara Howard collection – 1970-2005. – 12.5 cm of textual records and graphic material. – private press, The Gauntlet Press
Ontario Publishing Partnership collection – 1870-1878, 27 certificates
Peter Martin Associates fonds – 1965-1982, 5.7 m of textual records, art work and photographs
Peter Stevens fonds – 1950-2001, 4.6 m of textual records and photographs – Sesame Press
Saturday Night Magazine fonds – 1927-2001, 22.1 m of textual records, graphic and electronic material
Writers’ Union of Canada fonds – 1971-1994, 36.9 m of textual records and other material
Writing Magazine fonds – 1980-1982, 75 cm of textual records, graphic material and sound recordings – magazine publishing
Canadian authors’ fonds - including Pierre Berton, Austin Clarke, Matt Cohen, John Robert Colombo, Marian Engel, Sylvia Fraser, E. Pauline Johnson, Margaret Laurence, Farley Mowat, Susan Musgrave, Peter Newman, John Terpstra, Bernard Freeman Trotter.
Queen’s University Archives (including authors’ fonds)
Frank F. Appleton fonds – 1900-1958, 0.6 m of textual records and 9 photographs – Toronto publisher
Bliss Carman fonds -- [ca. 1880]-1929, 10 m of textual records, ca. 1000 photographs
Joan Finningan fonds -- 1939-2007, 15 m of textual records, ca. 750 photographs
Wayne Grady fonds -- [ca. 1960]-2001, 6 m of textual records
Ralph Gustafson fonds -- 1930-1996, 7 m of multiple media
Helen Humphreys fonds- - 1974-2005, 3.54 m of textual records, 1 videocassette : VHS
Henry Pearson Gundy fonds – 1935-1988, 4.5 m of textual records and 33 photographs – scholar on Canadian publishing
Letters of Nellie Letitia McClung – 1937, 10 pp of textual records – letters about writing and publishing
Mika Publishing Company Collection – 1818-1995, 0.5 m – relating to early Kingston newspapers
Oberon Press fonds – 1966-1993, 69 m of textual records and ca. 30 photographs
Al Purdy fonds -- 1945-1999, 35 m of multiple media
Edith and Lorne Pierce collection – [ca. 1920]-1961, 10.5 m of textual records – editor of Ryerson Press. Correspondence and other materials from 1920-1960 relating to numerous Canadian literary figures, including William Wilfred Campbell, William Kirby, Sir Charles G. D. Roberts, Marjorie Pickthall, Raymond Knister, Duncan Campbell Scott, Archibald Lampman, Camille Roy, Stephen Leacock, Marius Barbeau,Audrey Alexandra Brown, Earle Birney, Katherine Hale, A. J. Pratt and Al Purdy. Some papers of artists J.E. H. Macdonald, A. Y. Jackson, C.W. Jeffreys and Thoreau Macdonald are included.
Quarry Press fonds – 1981-2004, 15.35 m of textual records, ca. 250 photographs and 4 audio cassettes
Diane Schoemperlen fonds -- 1971-2006, 13.9 m of multiple media
Marilyn Simonds fonds -- [ca. 1960]-2000, 7 m of textual records
George Woodcock fonds – [ca. 1928]-1995, 29.26 m of textual records and other material – correspondence with publishing houses
Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto
Barbarian Press fonds – 1987- ongoing, 86 boxes – private press
Bookseller and Stationer – complete run of important trade journal, 1884-1967
Barry Callaghan fonds - Exile records, 1972-1995. 56 boxes - drafts with notes, revisions, instructions to the printer, drawings.
Canadian Printer and Publisher – complete run of this influential trade journal, 1892-1989
Champlain Society - 1905-ongoing. 126+ boxes - Administrative records and correspondence, typescripts, and works not published.
Coach House Press fonds – 1967-ongoing – 150 boxes - financial, administrative and editorial records
Contact Press fonds – 1960-1966, 2 boxes
Cooper & Beatty fonds – 1921-1987, 196 boxes – typographic design and art
Hunter Rose fonds – 1874-1977, 17 boxes and items – early Canadian publishing company
Hugh Kane fonds – 1955-1981, 10 boxes – editor at McClelland & Stewart and Macmillan Canada
Karen Mulhallen fonds – 1988-ongoing, 142 boxes – editor at Somerville House and as editor-in-chief of Descant.
Richard Outram fonds –1955-2003. 37 boxes and 4 items. – private press, the Gauntlet Press
Richard Teleky fonds – 1976-2006, 44 boxes – author and editor of The Oxford Book of French-Canadian Short Stories.
Toronto Newspaper Guild - 1948-1972. 145 boxes and items - Case files, manuals, minutes of meetings.
University of Toronto Press fonds (University of Toronto Archives) – 1897-1987
Canadian authors fonds - approximately 75 separate fonds, from Ralph Allen through David Young, chiefly twentieth century, but some nineteenth-century authors including Mazo de la Roche, Grey Owl, Archibald Lampman, Stephen Leacock, J. Macdonald Oxley, Rhoda Ann Page, W.W.E. Ross, Duncan Campbell Scott, Robert Service, Samuel Alexander White
Carl Dair archives (Robertson Davies Library, Massey College) – Canadian graphic designer.