Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1933-1972 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
68 boxes and items
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Alan Hepburn Jarvis was born in Brantford, Ont., on July 26, 1915. He graduated from the University of Toronto in 1938 with a combined degree in Philosophy and Psychology. After his graduation, he went to Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, specializing in aesthetics. During and after the war, he largely worked in England in a variety of jobs. He returned to Canada in 1955 to become the Director of the National Gallery in Ottawa. He resigned in 1959 and shortly thereafter became editor of Canadian Arts Magazine (later ArtsCanada). In 1961, he became National Director of the Canadian Conference of the Arts. For the last 10 years of his life, he freelanced as a writer, sculptor and arts consultant. He died in 1972.
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Gift of the Alan Jarvis estate, 1973.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
The collection covers the personal and professional life of Jarvis. It contains general and business correspondence, typescripts, magazine articles, minutes of meetings, newspaper clippings and photographs. Much of the early correspondence consists of letters Jarvis wrote home to his family while he was at Oxford (1938-39) and while he was working in Britain (1942-55).
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Material may be requested in person at the Fisher Library Reference Desk, or in advance using our online stack retrieval request form: https://aeon.library.utoronto.ca
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
- English