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Prof. McNaught was appointed Assistant Professor of history in 1947 at United College (now University of Winnipeg). a college funded by the United Church of Canada. The majority of files in this series document his role in the“Harry Crowe Case” of 1958. Prof. Harry Crowe was a member of the History Department at United College and shared Prof. McNaught’s social democratic views. In April, 1958 the principal of United College, Rev. Wilfrid C. Lockhart, was anonymously sent a letter written by Prof. Crowe to Professor W.A. Packer critical of the College’s administration and the role of the ministers in public administration. Between April and September of that year, the matter escalated culminating in the firing of Prof. Crowe by the Board of Regents in July, 1958. In the fall, three members of the faculty, including Prof. McNaught, threatened to resign over the firing of Prof. Crowe. As a result, the Board accepted their letters of protest as letters of resignation. This resignation from United College led to his eventual appointment at the University of Toronto. Included are correspondence, newspaper and magazine articles, and copies of public statements and one file relating to his research on J. S. Woodsworth for his doctoral dissertation.

Prof. McNaught began his scholarly publishing with articles and eventually a book based on his Ph.D. dissertation on J. S. Woodsworth entitled A prophet in politics (1959). During his career he published 6 books , numerous chapters in books, articles both for scholarly and popular periodicals (columns in the Toronto Star, Globe and Mail), and about 60 articles for Saturday Night as contributing editor from 1958-1968. He was on the editorial board for the Christian Outlook (1961-1966) and Canadian Forum (1968-1979) from which he resigned because of its denunciation of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.