![Robert Harold Blackburn (oral history) [audio part 1]](/uploads/r/university-of-toronto-archives-and-records-management-services/3/0/c/30c176b5fb1ebaa1cc954670a05c9613c53e7c610f1222432e02adfb842821a4/Speaker_Icon_click_small.jpg){kind=icon}
Identity area
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Title
Date(s)
- July-Oct 1986 (Creation)
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Extent and medium
13 reel-to-reel tapes (387 mins.)
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Robert Harold Blackburn was born in Vegreville, Alberta on February 3, 1919. He graduated from the University of Alberta in 1941 with an M.A. and then enrolled at the Library School at the University of Toronto in 1941. He graduated with a Bachelor of Library Science degree in 1942. After service in the Royal Canadian Airforce, he worked for a year a the Calgary Public Library. He returned to the University of Toronto as Associate Librarian in 1947. In 1948 he received a M.S. degree from Columbia University. He was appointed University Librarian in 1954, succeeding W. Stewart Wallace. He retired as Librarian Emeritus in 1982.
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Content and structure area
Scope and content
Oral history interview with Dr. Robert Harold Blackburn conducted by Valerie Schatzker. Covers the period 1919-1986, focussing on the years 1947-1981. Topics covered include family background, primary and secondary education, studies at the University of Alberta, library education at the University of Toronto and Columbia University, the University of Toronto Library, administration, architecture and buildings, planning, acquisitions, co-operation with other research libraries, staff and the development of automated systems, the Senate, Board of Governors, the Library Oral History Project, William Stewart Wallace, and Sigmund Samuel.
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Accruals
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Open