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Archival description
Ursula Martius Franklin fonds
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Ursula Martius Franklin fonds

  • UTA 1287
  • Fonds
  • 1934-2014 [predominant 1945-2014]

Fonds consists of records documenting the personal, professional, and public life of Dr. Ursula Franklin, physicist, engineer, materials scientists, pacifist and feminist. Records document Dr. Franklin’s early life and career, later employment by the University of Toronto, awards and honorary degrees, teaching, research process and output, publishing activities, travel, service on national scientific boards, work with the CBC, peace work with the Quakers and Voice of Women, as well as other advocacy and activism.

A series of chronological files documents Dr. Franklin’s speeches, talks and attendance at a variety of academic and community events. Fonds also includes a significant amount of correspondence with colleagues, family, friends, fellow activists and ordinary citizens, as well as electronic copies of more than 575 pages of surveillance of Dr. Franklin by the RCMP. One series also documents a wide range of matters at the University of Toronto relating to Massey College, Museum Studies, the SLOWPOKE Reactor, and other matters. Yet another series documents Dr. Franklin’s involvement with the Ursula Franklin Academy.

Records include day planners, notebooks, correspondence, publications, news clippings, reports, drafts, research data and notes, background material, photographs, sound and moving image recordings and some copies of government documents and records.

See series and subseries descriptions for more detail.

Franklin, Ursula Martius

Honorary degrees

Subseries consists of records relating to honorary degrees awarded to Dr. Franklin. Records include correspondence, programmes, congratulatory letters, notes for convocation addresses, photographs, and oversized diplomas. Subseries also includes correspondence regarding declined degrees.

Book collection at UTM

This small series consists of records relating to the collection of books on feminism and women’s studies that Dr. Franklin donated to UTM (The University of Toronto Mississauga) for use by their Women’s Studies Program. Series consists of 1 file containing a list of the books and the transcript of a tape recording where Dr. Franklin details the significance of her books and the ways in which her collecting practices reflect her own particular feminist politics.

Publishing activities

Subseries consists of records relating to Dr. Franklin’s publishing activities. Files include correspondence, requests for work, author agreements, reviews and other records relating to publishing books and articles, rather than the texts themselves.

Correspondence

Series consists of incoming and outgoing correspondence between Dr. Franklin and friends, family, colleagues, government officials, and others. Correspondence pertains to the full scope of Dr. Franklin’s life and work, including her academic work, her political activism, and her personal life.

Publications

Series consists of records relating to Dr. Franklin’s publishing activities. See subseries descriptions for more information.

Papers

Subseries consists of papers written by Dr. Franklin for academic journals, magazines and books on a wide range of subjects, including physics, materials science, engineering, pacifism, politics, technology, feminism and education. Also includes some editorials written for newspapers. A list of publications (1950-1980) can be found in file B2015-0005/034(06). Files consist primarily of final copies of articles, although a few files do contain drafts and correspondence.

RCMP files

In 2013, a researcher studying the Voice of Women requested the RCMP files of many of the women involved in the group, including Dr. Franklin. Redacted copies of the files were supplied by Library and Archives Canada and subsequently shared with Dr. Franklin. Subseries consists of 5 PDF files (577 pages) documenting the extensive file the RCMP kept on Dr. Franklin from 1949-1984. It is presumed that more recent records were withheld for privacy reasons.

Personal and biographical

Series consists of records relating to Dr. Franklin’s personal and academic life in Germany and Canada. See subseries descriptions for more detailed information.

University of Toronto

Series consists of records relating to Dr. Franklin’s various activities and functions within the University of Toronto, especially as Director of Museum Studies (1987-1989) and Senior Fellow at Massey College (1989-). Records tend to reflect administrative activities, but also include some advocacy done within the university. See subseries descriptions for more information.

Massey College

Subseries consists of records relating to Massey College, especially those during Dr. Franklin’s time as one of the College’s Senior Fellows (1989-). Records include the College’s Incorporating Statute (1961), various correspondence (1990-2002), a list of Officers (1995), and various event files.

Records also discuss Senior Fellow nominations (1999), the Senior Residents Policy (2005), and the Clarkson Laureateship (2007-2012).

Awards

Subseries consists of records relating to various awards given to Dr. Franklin. Records include correspondence, ceremony invitations and programs, acceptance speech notes and texts, letters of congratulations, photographs, certificates, awards and plaques.

Nuclear technologies

Subseries consists of records relating to a wide variety activities pertaining to Dr. Franklin’s concerns around nuclear energy and technologies. Records include news clippings, correspondence, minutes, copies of government records, submissions, and reports.

Files document a 1996 panel on nuclear waste management, to which Dr. Franklin made an oral presentation and written submission, on behalf of VOW. A number of files pertain to the MOX (mixed oxide fuel) forum, which challenged the disposition of Russian and U.S. plutonium in Ontario generating stations. Other files reflect opposition to Canada’s sales of CANDU reactors to other nations.

Energy and nuclear issues

Series consists of records relating to Dr. Franklin’s various interests and activities around energy policies and practices, especially regarding the dangers of nuclear technologies. These files pertain to Dr. Franklin’s involvement with a number of groups, and pertain to a number of initiatives. See subseries descriptions for more information

Chronology files (keynotes, lectures, talks)

Series consists of what Dr. Franklin referred to as her ‘chronology files’: files kept on various events she attended – most of which she spoke at. Events include academic conferences, guest lectures, government meetings and hearings, public talks to community and religious groups, memorials, press conferences and panels.

Topics covered include science policy, technology, materials science, archaeometry, museums, women in engineering and science, the state of higher learning, the commercialization of universities, education, peace and violence, military research, human rights, feminism, faith, the nature of research, energy policy and the environment, and opposition to nuclear technology.

Records include correspondence, paper abstracts, notes, programs, brochures, posters, proceedings news coverage, transparencies, and contracts. Dr. Franklin typically spoke from handwritten notes, rather than a typed script. Where a transcript exists, the file title includes the word ‘[transcript]’. Occasionally, ‘transcript’ denotes the original text/paper created before the talk (ex: for the presentation of academic papers), but for the most case, these are transcripts sent to her after-the-fact by event organizers. Where Dr. Franklin’s speaking notes are typed and more coherent/complete, the file title will include the term ‘[typed notes’].

Series also includes files kept on declined speaking events, conferences, symposia, seminars, councils and focus groups.

Voice of Women: General

Subseries consists of records relating to Dr. Franklin’s work with Voice of Women, founded in 1960 by a group of women concerned about the threat of nuclear war. Their first mass meeting was in July 1960 at Toronto’s Massey Hall. The group organized an International Peace Conference in 1962 – the first of its kind. Working alongside Muriel Duckworth, Kay Macpherson, and other leading women in the Canadian peace movement, Franklin brought her scientific experience and knowledge to bear on the work done by VOW.

Records primarily document the activities of VOW in Toronto and Ottawa, but also include coverage of Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, Regina, and Victoria.

General background records on VOW include the 1968 VOW constitution, reports, papers, newsletters, public education literature, news coverage, research, correspondence and general publications on the Canadian peace movement.

VOW submitted numerous briefs to the House of Commons and various federal commissions and committees on a wide range of issues, including military trade agreements, chemical and biological weapons, Star Wars, Canadian-American military cooperation, arms exports, disarmament, energy policy, and bilingualism and biculturalism. Records relating to these briefs, including background material, correspondence, drafts, and the final briefs, can be found in this subseries.

Other activities documented include election advocacy, public education events, peace conferences, meetings, exhibits, and organizational matters. There are also several files document VOW’s work with the Cluff Lake community, in their opposition to a proposed uranium mining development in Northern Saskatchewan in the late 1970s. Records include correspondence, testimonies, background information and news clippings.

There is also significant documentation of tension in the organization in 1962-1963 around the purpose and priorities of VOW. Records here include results from a controversial opinion poll questionnaire sent to members to gather their opinions, and significant correspondence.

Research

Series consists of records documenting Dr. Franklin’s research activities in physics, materials science, archaeometry, and museums. See subseries for more information.

Colleagues

Subseries consists of records pertaining to particular colleagues with whom Dr. Franklin worked closely at different points in her career, including Debbie Garfinkel (from the Collegium Archaeometricum and University of Toronto), J.E. Rehder (Senior Research Associate in the Department of Metallurgy and Materials Science, University of Toronto), Moain Sadeq (a Palestinian expert in archaeology and Islamic art history), and Bruce Trigger (archaeologist/anthropologist at McGill). Records include correspondence, copies and drafts of papers, and research records.

The subseries also provides extensive documentation of work done with/by Vanda Vitali, who was one of Dr. Franklin’s PhD students and went on to be a colleague. Dr. Vitali worked with Dr. Franklin as a research assistant, and later on the Carthage project. Records include her CV, correspondence, thesis and research notes, and papers and drafts, articles.

Subseries also contains a number of files regarding Zdenka Volavka, Professor in Fine Arts at York University and specialist of African art and artifacts. Files contain correspondence, research material and data, notes, and academic work. Some files also include micrographs and samples.

Day planners

Series consists of day planners and organizers kept by Dr. Franklin throughout much of her career. The planners typically contain a list of appointments and activities for each day. Some planners also include notes and recollections. Dr. Franklin often kept extra material tucked into in the planners, which reflect her activities during that given month. This material includes news clippings, letters, event programs, invitations, newsletters, address books, drawings by her children, business cards, and photographs.

Peace work

Series consists of records relating to Dr. Franklin’s pacifism and peace work, including her work as a Quaker, a key member of Voice of Women, and in other capacities. This series provides excellent documentation of segments of the Canadian peace movement, especially from the 1960s through to the 1980s. See subseries descriptions for more detail.

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