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Archival description
Clara Cynthia Benson fonds Series
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Benson Family

This series contains assorted files relating to the Benson family in general and Dr. Benson’s parents in particular. Included are records relating to the family property in Port Hope, estate papers for her father Judge Thomas Benson, correspondence between Judge Benson and his second wife, Laura Fuller Benson (Clara Benson’s mother), account records for the management of the house and property in Port Hope.

B2010-0008 contains mainly family papers. Included are records relating to Clara Benson’s sister Emily C. Morris, including estate correspondence. Other members of the Morris family for which there are records: William Morris and Alexander Morris. Correspondence, wills, clippings and memorabilia also document Benson family members, particularly Thomas Bingley Benson, son of Thomas Moore Benson and Laura Fuller. Many of the records relate to his work as a naval architect and yacht broker as well as his estate of which Clara Benson was executor. Finally there are drawings and some financial records relating to the family home in Port Hope – Terralta.

Other activities

In 1921, Dr. Benson was elected the first president of the Women’s Athletic Association of University of Toronto and was involved from the beginning in the campaign to build an athletic building for women. Among the records relating to this activity are correspondence, notes, financial statements and blueprints of proposed buildings. Also included in this series are correspondence, minutes and reports relating to her work as Chair of the Foreign Committee of the YWCA (Young Women’s Christian Association) focusing primarily on an international survey on leadership (1930-1932). Other documents include two undated and unsigned manuscripts of stories, a collection of cards acquired during a trip to the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893, and a scrapbook of pressed flowers with identification collected by Clara Benson ca 1890’s.