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Harold Gordon Skilling fonds
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Harold Gordon Skilling fonds

  • UTA 1778
  • Fonds
  • 1828-2001

Personal records of Gordon Skilling, Professor of Political Science and a specialist in East European (especially Czech) studies. Fonds consists of 18 accessions:

B1983-0013: Records of conferences and meetings attended; drafts of and correspondence regarding articles written; correspondence relating to the writing of "Communism, National and International" and "Governments of Communist East Europe"; personal files (1961-1979) and correspondence (1974-1983); lecture notes as visiting professor, Columbia University, 1952 (9 boxes, 1952-1983).

B1984-0044: Lecture notes on international politics and international organization, University of Wisconsin and Dartmouth College (1941-1959); files for courses on Soviet politics at Dartmouth College and the University of Toronto; lecture notes for courses on Eastern Europe and comparative communism at the University of Toronto; lecture notes by Hazard at Columbia University (1949-1950). (20 boxes, 1941-1984).

B1985-0029: Addresses, radio scripts, correspondence, lecture notes; files on the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (1980-1981); files relating to the publication of "Interest Groups in Soviet Politics" (1971). (6 boxes, 1937-1982).

B1987-0064: Correspondence, articles, reports, and related material on East European studies at the University of Toronto and elsewhere, including a study of the U.S. Helsinki Watch project prepared by the Ford Foundation (4 boxes, 1977-1986)

B1987-0083: Addresses; correspondence with students, 1970-1986, and on the Chair of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Toronto, 1980; course outlines in political science, 1960-1980 (2 boxes, 1958-1986).

B1988-0007: Records documenting Skilling's expertise relating to East European studies with particular emphasis on Czechoslovakia [Czech Republic] and his role in the the Centre for Russian and East European Studies. Contains addresses and speeches; manuscripts and publications including related correspondence and reviews (books included are "Czechoslovakia's Interrupted Revolution", "Charter 77 and Human Rights in Czechoslovakia", and "The Czech Renaissance in the Nineteenth Century"); lecture notes; subject files, mainly of associations; sound recording, video and photographs; University of Toronto administrative files including the Centre for Russian and East European Studies, the Department of Political Economy, Committee on International Studies as well as the Centre for International Studies (3 boxes, 1945-1986)

B1989-0030: Addresses, articles, correspondence, minutes of meetings and financial files documenting Gordon Skilling's activities as a specialist in East European studies, with particular emphasis on Czechoslovakia [Czech Republic] (4 boxes, 1965-1989).

B1989-0045: Bibliography on communism in Czechoslovakia and the history of the Czech Communist Party, 1918-1958; files pertaining to Gordon Skilling's publications, "Charter 77 Documents", "Socialist Opposition in Czechoslovakia" (proposed), and "Samidzat and Independent Society in Central and Eastern Europe" (1988), including correspondence with Jan Kavan (5 boxes, ca. 1958-1988).

B1991-0037: Manuscripts, correspondence, addresses, lectures, conference files, subject files, greeting cards and index cards documenting Gordon Skilling's teaching and research interests in East European affairs, with particular reference to events in Czechoslovakia [Czech Republic] (6 boxes, 1949-1991).

B1993-0028: Diaries, notebooks, personal and research correspondence, manuscripts, articles, press clippings and photoprints relating to Dr. Skillings trips to Eastern Europe, his personal life and his research and writings. Included is research material for: "Samizdat and Independent Society in Central and Eastern Europe" (20 boxes, 1934-1988).

B1994-0011: Correspondence, addresses, lecture notes, minutes of meetings, memoranda, reports, manuscripts, publications, notes and press clippings documenting Professor Skilling's interest in Eastern Europe, particularly Czechoslovakia [Czech Republic], and his association with the Commission on Security and Co-operation in Europe and the Royal Society of Canada. Also includes consultant files, foreign language clippings and collected papers on Czechoslovak [Czech] history and politics (7 boxes, 1927-1993).

B1999-0017: Personal records of Gordon Skilling, relating primarily to the Czech Republic, including professional and private correspondence with colleagues and friends, including Vilem Precan (1969-1996); drafts of his "Memoirs of a Canadian" and articles, with covering correspondence; addresses; conference papers, photographs (13 boxes, 1969-1997).

B2000-0027: Personal records of H.G. Skilling, relating primarily to his interest in Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic. Includes early correspondence with his wife Sally, correspondence with friends and associates in Czechoslovakia, grant applications, itineraries, subject files relating to human rights groups, publishers and the medal that he received from the Royal Society. The records also include a printout of Skilling's autobiography entitled "The Education of a Canadian: My Life as a Scholar and Activist" (5 boxes, 1936-1999).

B2001-0017: Records documenting the history of the family of Harold Gordon Skilling, including his wife, Sara (Sally) and his own life and career. Sous-fonds I: Skilling family. Documents Gordon's father, William Watt, his uncle, Ernest (a Shriner), and his brothers Donald and William, who fought in World War I (Donald was killed in action). Sous-fonds II: Sara (Sally) Bright Skilling. Her education in the United States, her travels with Gordon in eastern Europe in the 1960s and her skill in entertaining. Sous-fonds III: Harold Gordon Skilling. Focuses on his research and writing of books on T. G. Masaryk and Alice Masaryk, on his travels, especially in Eastern Europe, and on the seminars he held in his residence during the last years of his life. These records consist primarily of correspondence (personal and professional, including with Vilem Precan (1993-2000) and Vaclav Havel), diaries, drafts of books and articles, reviews, addresses, index cards, scrap books, and photo albums (64 boxes, 1828-2001).

B2002-0020: Bibliographic references and research notes on index cards, with some accompanying notes, compiled by Professor Gordon Skilling for his book, 'Czecholslovakia's Interrupted Revolution', along with three boxes of other notes and references relating to Samizdat and dissent, Charter '77, Czechoslovak history and Czech-German relations (14 boxes, n.d. - ca. 1985)

B2002-0024: Personal records of H. Gordon Skilling, consisting of: Masaryk medal awarded by the Czechoslovak Association of Canada, 1985; certificate, case and medallion relating to honorary degree awarded by Charles University, Prague, 1990; Komensky medal awarded by Komensky University, Bratislava, 1990; certificate and medal for the Order of the White Lion, Third Class, Czechoslovakia's highest honour for non-citizens, awarded by President Vaclav Havel on Professor Skilling's 80th birthday, 28 February 1992 (3 boxes and 1 folder, 1985-1992).

B2009-0032: Correspondence, research notes, manuscripts etc. of Prof. Gordon Skillling relating to his career as professor of political science. Includes files for Josef Pekar, Czech politics, etc. (1 box, 1985-1987).

B2012-0005: Further personal records of Gordon Skilling, Professor of Political Science and a specialist in East European (especially Czechoslovak) studies, consisting of research notes for and drafts of his doctoral thesis, 'The German-Czech national conflict in Bohemia, 1779-1873', with subsequent revisions; correspondence with scholars in East European studies, publishers, and editors. Also address books, 88th birthday greetings, slides and photographs, and medals. (12 boxes and medals, 1917-1997).

Skilling, H. Gordon (Harold Gordon)

Skilling 1984 accession

Lecture notes on international politics and international organization, University of Wisconsin and Dartmouth College (1941-1959); files for courses on Soviet politics at Dartmouth College and the University of Toronto; lecture notes for courses on Eastern Europe and comparative communism at the University of Toronto; lecture notes by Hazard at Columbia University (1949-1950)

Skilling 1988 accession

Records documenting Skilling's expertise relating to East European studies with particular emphasis on Czechoslovakia and his role in the the Centre for Russian and East European Studies. Contains addresses and speeches; manuscripts and publications including related correspondence and reviews (books included are "Czechoslovakia's Interruped Revolution", "Charter 77 and Human Rights in Czechoslovakia", and "The Czech Renaissance in the Nineteenth Century"); lecture notes; subject files, mainly of associations; sound recording, video and photographs; University of Toronto administrative files including the Centre for Russian and East European Studies, the Department of Polical Economy, Committee on International Studies as well as the Centre for International Studies.

Photographs

Photos documenting Cyril Ruttkay's injuries following a hit-and-run accident; participants in the 429th Conference of the Bellagio Study and Conference Centre "Canada and the European Security Experience", July 1980.

Skilling 2001 accession

Records documenting the history of the family of Harold Gordon Skilling, including his father, William Watt Skilling; his uncle, Ernest John Skilling; his brothers, William John, Andrew Douglas and Edward Donald; and his wife, Sara (Sally) Bright Skilling.

Sous-fonds I: Skilling family. The emphasis is on William Watt, a shoemaker who emigrated from England to Canada in 1907; on Ernest, who was a very active member of the Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine; on Donald, who was killed in action during World War I, and on his brother, William, who was wounded but survived.

Sous-fonds II: Sara (Sally) Bright Skilling. The records focus on Sally’s education in the United States, her travels with Gordon in Eastern Europe in the 1960s, and on her love of entertaining. They document the crucial support, intellectual and otherwise, that she provided to Gordon as he pursued his career.

Sous-fonds III: Harold Gordon Skilling. The documentation here is primarily on Gordon’s education and early career and his later years as an expert on Russian and East European politics and on Czechoslovakia, in particular. An extensive combination of correspondence, journals, lectures, writings and photographs reveal much about Skilling’s ideas and his relationships with the principal figures in recent Czech history.

Skilling family sous-fonds

This sous-fonds documents the activities of various members of the Skilling family, principally Gordon’s father, William Watt Skilling, and brothers, Andrew Douglas and Edward Donald Skilling; his uncle, Ernest John Skilling, and his (Ernest’s) mother, Emma Louise Skilling. Included is correspondence, biographical and other notes, programmes for wedding anniversaries, obituaries, a will, photographs, a photograph album, and a box of mementos of military service during World War I.

The photo album was assembled by Ernest John Skilling and begins with a trip he made to the western United States in 1926 to a Shriner’s convention. The trip back across Canada by train includes images of ‘Hindus [in] British Columbia’, of the Royal North West Mounted Police, First Nations individuals in regalia, the Rocky Mountains, the prairies, northern Ontario and Lake Superior. The album concludes with photos taken during a tour of Kentucky, Alabama, and Tennessee by the 48th Highlanders; photos of the Canadian Expeditionary Force cemetery in France and Donald Skilling’s grave, taken on a family visit to the site in 1919; and of African men and women engaged in domestic work and hunting activities (these images are associated with the missionary work of Reverend Albert Wilkinson). Many of the photo prints in the album have detailed information written on the backs thereof.

The box of military service mementos belonged to Gordon’s brother, Private Edward Donald Skilling, #157689, 1st Battalion, Canadian Infantry, Canadian Expeditionary Force, who was killed on his first day in action at the front on 4 May, 1917. It contains the following items: a Queen’s Own Rifles pin (Donald spent 6 months with the QOR before the war as a bugler in its bugle band); his ‘dog tag’ (1st Battalion); a shoulder badge – ‘Canada’ [CEF]; two hat badges, one marked ‘Canada’ and the other ‘111, Canada’ [111th Battalion] (probably a souvenir); two brass buttons (tunic and cuff); a piece of soldier’s ration; a hollow candle of the type used in dugouts in the trenches; a .303 calibre bullet and a shell fragment; two medals – the British War Medal and the Victory Medal (Inter-Allied War Medal), each inscribed on the rim: ‘157689 Pte. E. D. Skilling 1-Can. Inf.’, and a silver cross presented to Donald’s parents in his memory by the Minister of Militia and Defence.

Sara [Sally] Bright Skilling sous-fonds

This sous-fonds documents various aspects of Sally Bright’s life, especially the period before she met and married Gordon Skilling and then her travels with him to Eastern Europe in the 1960s.

It begins with biographical information about Sally, the Bright family tree, and individual members of the family. There follows files documenting her education at George School (1927-1931) and Barnard College (1931-1935), and her immediate
activities, thereafter, including her marriage to Gordon Skilling. Also present are her passports; identity cards, ration books, stamps, tokens, and correspondence from World War II; later correspondence with Gordon and members of her family; files relating to social and political activities at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and Dartmouth College, and at the University of Toronto.

Sally’s love of entertaining is documented in her ‘entertaining’ books, which document guests and the meals served them from August of 1962 to September of 1988 when she suffered a stroke. Photocopies of these books have been retained (the originals reside with the family).

The last portion of this sous-fonds contains Sally’s diaries and correspondence relating to her and Gordon’s trips to eastern Europe between 1962 and 1969, other correspondence with family and friends, letters and a selection of cards received on her 70th birthday in 1983, a diary from 1987, and four entertainment books Sally compiled between 1962 to 1989. In these she recorded the guests and menus for the many events that took place at their residence. She and Gordon loved entertaining, and the care and skill with which she prepared for groups of varying sizes is reflected in these volumes.

Skilling, Sara (Sally) Bright

Harold Gordon Skilling sous-fonds

This sous-fonds documents the life and career of Gordon Skilling, especially his family, his formative years as a student, and his later years as an internationally recognized expert on Russia, Eastern Europe and, especially, Czechoslovakia. Researchers seeking to fill the obvious gaps in this accession should refer to the earlier accessions in the Skilling fonds in the University Archives that were donated by Professor Skilling over a period of almost two decades, beginning in 1983.

Family scrapbooks

This series contains three scrapbooks that were assembled by Gordon Skilling to document the history of his family.

The first, titled ‘Dad Skilling (W. W. Skilling) and his father, John Skilling’, documents the history of the family from 1828 until 1927. It includes poems,
correspondence, photographs, telegrams; birth, baptismal and citizenship certificates, and wills documenting the history of the family from the time William Watt Skilling’s grandfather left Leith in Scotland about 1828, through his move to London and, subsequently, the family’s emigration to Canada in 1907 and eventually to Toronto. It ends with correspondence and documents relating to deaths in 1917 of John Skilling and Gordon’s brother, Donald, killed in action at the age of 19, and subsequent correspondence relating to John’s estate.

The second and third scrapbooks were compiled later in life by Gordon Skilling as a memorial to Donald; they also contain material relating to his brother, William, who was seriously wounded in battle but recovered. The second scrapbook contains photographs of Donald’s childhood and youth, and as a member of the 81st Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force; letters and postcards home while training in England and later from France, along with a diary (1916), a copy of the CEF’s Regimental Songs, 1914-1915, press clippings and memorabilia. There are also some letters from William and, finally, telegrams and letters to family from military authorities on Donald’s death.

The third scrapbook contains letters to Donald from his brother, Will, and his comrades, the nurse, commanding officer and chaplain and official letters concerning his grave, personal affects and estate. There are also letters of sympathy from relatives and friends. There are also a number of photographs, including ones of the temporary marker at his gravesite at Aubigny and later photographs of the permanent marker during taken during a family visit in 1919.

Graphic records

The photographs in this series document the life of Professor Gordon Skilling and members of his family over most of the 20th century. Included are images to Eastern Europe and specifically Czechoslovakia taken during Skilling's trips over six decades. These are mainly contained in albums and show many of Skilling's colleagues in Eastern Europe, including Vilem Precan and Vaclav Havel, along with many organized meetings and events.
Notebooks with entries about lists of slides taken on trips to England and Europe between 1961 and 1973 are filed in /050(23).

Researchers may wish to look at these albums in conjunction with the journals in series 5 and 7 in Sous-fonds 3.

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