In his “Introduction” to this finding aid, Professor Friedland states that this series contains “some [my emphasis] of the research material collected over the past five years”; then describes the arrangement of the files. “Sub-series 7.1 consists of the spiral binders I used to make notes of what I was reading and how I planned to handle the material. Sub-series 2 contains the notes I made as I tackled each chapter. Sub-series 3 is the most extensive collection of material. In it, the subjects are set out in alphabetical order and include persons, places, institutions, and concepts. Individual files may include newspaper articles, research notes, obituaries, academic writings, and many other matters.” Professor Friedland threw out a large quantity of material before transferring his files to the University Archives: “Material that is bulky and easily found elsewhere has been excluded from the files. The series thus provides a unique source of information on topics which would take individual researchers many long days or weeks or months to gather themselves. University of Toronto publications, such as the University of Toronto Monthly, the Bulletin, and the various alumni magazines, were systematically gone through during the course of the project and copies of this material have been included in the relevant files.”
In sub-series 7.2, “Rough research notes”, the files are arranged by chapter (1-42). In sub-series 7.3, “Research materials”, the arrangement is alphabetical, “Abols – Zoology”.
The files, in whole or in part, that contain information not readily found elsewhere and that illustrate the process of research and writing have been retained. The large volume of photocopied material in the files when Professor Friedland turned them over to the University Archives has been substantially reduced. Much of it is already readily accessible in the University Archives, especially the identified textual records, indexed periodicals, and items from its biographical files (especially A1973-0026 and the ‘people files’) and ‘subject files’.
Entries from the widely available Dictionary of Canadian Biography have also not been kept, although entries from some difficult to locate biographical sources have been. Significantly annotated material and references to sources have been retained (some sources were added when the photocopies were culled), as has photocopied material from sources that would be otherwise very difficult for researchers to locate.
In the course of his research Professor Friedland made careful and extensive use of the files assembled by Robin Harris in the 1970s in his ultimately abandoned attempt to write the second of a proposed two-volume history of the University. Much of the material Professor Friedland’s researchers photocopied from this accession (A1983-0036) had earlier been copied from administrative and other sources in the U of T Archives. While references to files in this accession (and others) have been retained, the photocopies themselves, unless annotated, have been removed. Researchers should, in any case, ultimately refer to the original sources, where they are identified, in the University Archives.
Where deemed appropriate, photocopied material in volume has been retained. There are two principal occasions where this was done. First, Professor Friedland had
copied the complete run of Claude Bissell’s diaries and journals from 1934 to 1971, the year he stepped down as president of the University. These Friedland marked for further copying (the resulting elements were then used to bolster files about individuals, events, groups and organizations that were created by his researchers). Only the pages that were earmarked for further copying have survived culling; they contain the entries that were actually used throughout the manuscript and, with the ‘elements’ described above, provide a rough index to the diaries.
In the second instance, where indices do not exist items have largely been retained. Journals that are indexed in the University Archives include the student newspaper, the Varsity (1880-1931,1953-1973), University of Toronto Quarterly (up to 1937, thereafter in the Canadian periodicals index), University of Toronto monthly (1901-1948) and its successors, the Alumni Bulletin (1948-1956), Varsity Graduate (1948-1967), and the University of Toronto Graduate (1967-1972). The last’s successor, University of Toronto Magazine, has been searchable online since 1999. The Department of Development maintains a card index for the University of Toronto Bulletin, a journal about the activities of faculty and staff and events on campus, for the years 1980 to August 2000. As the card index to the Bulletin is not readily available to users, dated items from the years it covers have been kept, along with entries from earlier years. Recent years of the Bulletin are now available online.
Some of the files also contain research material, including correspondence, reports and publications, that were forwarded by individuals; these files are identified as discrete units and the material therein has, with few exceptions, been retained in its entirety. George Connell, for example, gave Professor Friedland two large binders of memos, reports, and addresses – some are original handwritten versions – from his years as president (see box 045). Some research material forwarded for use by the
History Project has been scattered throughout this series. The principal example here is the index cards compiled by James Greenlee while writing his biography of Sir Robert Falconer, president of the University from 1907 to 1932. These cards have been retained in their entirety and may be found in boxes 051 to 053 and in those files where the notation in the ‘date(s)’ field is [198-].
-Cassette audiotapes of an oral history interview by James Greenlee with Vincent Bladen have been removed from B2002-0022/042(03) to 001S and 002S;
-Cassette audiotapes of interviews by James Greenlee with Robert D. Falconer, dated 13 July and August 1979 have been removed from B2002-0022/050(12) to /003 - /010S
-A cassette audiotape has been removed from B2002-0022/077(14) - /011S