The records in this series underscore the impact of an upbringing where the tenets of Christianity, public service, and duty were emphasized. They begin with thirty years (1937 – 1969) of files on Camp Kagawong, a privately owned boy’s camp on Balsam Lake, where Dr. Hastings spent his summers as a young boy enjoying the outdoors. The leadership qualities he displayed led to his becoming a camp counsellor (1944 – 1945) and, from 1946 – 1950, director of the Bantam Section and instructor in nature, first aid, swimming and games. During those years he dramatized three folk tales for presentation. At the weekly chapel services, he often delivered homilies or ‘sermonettes’, a practice he continued throughout his association with the camp until a few years before it closed in 1975. He served as camp doctor for a number of his vacations between 1952 and 1967. Dr. Hastings’ activities at Camp Kagawong are well documented through notes, certificates, correspondence (much of which is in Series 3) scripts for theatrical presentations, chapel service programs and sermonettes, and some of the annual camp catalogues, photographs and artifacts. The arrangement of the files in this section is largely chronological.
The material on Camp Kagawong is followed by files on Canadian Council of Churches and its Vellore/Ludhiana Committee, of which Dr. Hastings was a member from 1962 – 1975 and to which he was an advisor from 1975 to 1981. These are followed by files on the Christian Medical College in Vellore, India, including extensive ones documenting the work of the International Review Team, of which he was a member, that visited Vellore in 1979 and produced a report on its findings the following year. His wife and daughter accompanied him on this trip.
Next are files on the coronation of Queen Elizabeth in 1953; the Developing Countries Farm Radio Network, of which Dr. Hastings was a member of the board; Emmanuel College, where he was a University representative on its council and a member of its curriculum committee; the King’s College Fund which in 1985 organized a Canadian study tour of health services in Britain and, in the same period reciprocal study tours in Canada, based on the Department of Health Administration at the University of Toronto. (Dr. Hastings and his family lived at the King’s Fund College during several visits in London.) He was active in the youth clubs of the Progressive Conservative Party in the 1940s, attended the 1948 convention at which George Drew was selected leader, and took part in the federal election the following year.
Dr. Hastings’ place of worship for many years has been St. Andrew’s United Church at 117 Bloor Street East in Toronto. He played a very active role in its affairs, serving on its Session and Official Board since 1956, many of its committees, was a member of its Men’s Club and, on occasion, delivered the sermon of the week. The files cover the years from 1952 to 1973, when St. Andrew’s and the Yonge Street United Church amalgamated, and include correspondence, notices of services, minutes of meetings, reports, and drafts of three sermons.
This series ends with a number of files on Dr. Hastings’ involvement in several activities of the United Church of Canada, centering around his being a member of its task force on health services (1985 – 1987) and its Division of Mission in Canada’s health task group (1991 – 1994). Included are correspondence, minutes, memoranda, notes, drafts of reports, and a video, “Taking the pulse of Canadian health care” that grew out of the work of the health task group.
