Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1902-2007 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
5 boxes (.85 metres)
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
E. Maud Graham (1876-1949) was born and raised in Owen Sound, Ontario. She graduated from the University of Toronto in 1896, attended Bryn Mawr College, 1896-97, and from there went to Ontario Normal College in Hamilton. Graham worked as a governess and a teacher, eventually serving as principal of the Girl’s High School in Quebec City in 1907. In 1902, Graham was selected to travel to South Africa with 39 other Canadian teachers in order to teach the children of Boar refugees from the South African War of 1899-1902. Graham wrote articles from South Africa for the Montreal Daily Witness, and later developed these articles into her memoir about her experiences: A Canadian Girl in South Africa (1905). In 1908, Graham married Frederick Gourlay Millar (1876-1972), a fellow teacher from Wiarton, Ontario. Millar also attended the University of Toronto, graduating in 1898, and also did post-graduate studies at the University of Marburg in Hesse, Germany. Millar taught at Hamilton Collegiate Institute and was classical master at Boy’s High School in Quebec City. Millar taught in Brantford, Ontario and in Hamilton from 1924-1944, where he became principal of Hamilton’s first High School of Commerce in 1928. Graham and Millar had three children, including Helen Millar (Becker) and Graham Millar.
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Gift of Michael Dawson, 2019
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Materials include E. Maude Graham’s photo album from her travels in South Africa, a scrapbook she kept with items from the 1880s to the 1930s, and her autograph book, 1882-1891. Also included is correspondence belonging to Frederick G. Millar. Notable is a group of love letters Millar wrote to Graham in 1908, and a collection of letters he wrote to Helen Millar Becker in her family, who lived in Rochester, NY. There are several university notebooks belonging to Graham and Millar, and a copy of Graham’s 1905 book. Finally, the papers include some family histories written by E. Maude Millar and Helen Millar Becker, and a copy of the 2015 reissue of Graham’s book, with introduction and notes by Michael Dawson, Catherine Gidney, and Susanne M. Klausen.
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.