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Graphic material

Two black-and-white photoprints of the graduating class in Arts, Victoria College, 1948. Two photographs were taken because of the large number of graduates

University of Toronto. Administrative activities

This series provides partial documentation Professor Lang’s years as a senior administrator at the University of Toronto. It begins with correspondence, primarily with President Connell, and related material regarding the Ontario Commission on the Future Development of the Universities of Ontario (the Bovey Commission), followed by later correspondence (to 1990) with him. The subsequent correspondence files end in 2010, some of which are contained on 3.5 inch floppy disks.

Professor Lang’s “general files” and “miscellaneous projects” begin with two major controversial decisions, the first being the closure of the Faculty of Food Sciences (1974) and the proposed closure of the Faculty of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (1986), with only the first being realized. The remainder of this subseries focuses on capital plans and budgeting, primarily responsibility centre budgeting as applied to Scarborough College. There are also files on Maclean’s magazine university and college surveys from the 1990s. The admission surveys from the last quarter of the 20th century also include a Maclean’s survey.

In the mid-1990s the University introduced a new electronic students’ records system (ROSI) with leadership provided by the Registrars Group. It is well documented here. Professor Lang’s activities as a senior policy advisor to the President of the University of Toronto are also documented but only for the years 2005 to 2007.

Professor Lang maintained extensive files on campus development plans and building projects from the mid-1960s to the late 1990s relating to all three campuses, including several on the Southwest Campus. There are also proposals to provide land for a new headquarters building for the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto (1982) and facilities for the abortive bid to hold the summer Olympics in Toronto in 1996.

B2011-0003 ends with several proposals for an innovations centre and an industrial research centre at the University in the decade from the mid-1980s.

B2018-0001 includes further files related to his role as Senior Policy Advisor to David Naylor, a role in which he served until 2012. Also included are arbitration briefs and notes about a dispute between the Faculty Association and the University in 1986-1987, regarding mandatory retirement for professors.

Digital files include email correspondence with several Government of Ontario and U of T officials; files about the Maclean’s survey; and files (notes, briefts, reports) about the expansion of the number of graduate students at the University of Toronto.

The sub-titles in this series are those used by Professor Lang in his original box list. The files contain correspondence, memoranda, notes, and reports, Also included are compact discs containing certain files of correspondence and reports. The arrangement is generally by categories and chronolgically within each, with like materials grouped together.

University of Toronto Blues men's baseball team

This series documents Professor Lang’s years of service to the University of Toronto Blues Men’s Baseball team which he coached from 1994 to 2011. The files contain information on team lists, coaches, financing and fundraising, equipment, rosters and players, and statistical records. There is also some press coverage. There is documentation of tournaments in Columbus, Ohio (1998) and Durham College in Oshawa (1999). Photographs and digital images document the team from 1999-2007, including many images and graphics used to boost the website for the team Also included is an Ontario University Athletics medal for 2001.

Digital files in B2018-0001 include email correspondence with players, university officials, and sponsors; rosters and team photographs; and files related to the construction of a new baseball diamond on the University of Toronto Scarborough campus, which opened in 2006. In 2011, it was renamed the “Dan Lang field” in honour of his many years of service to the Varsity Blues baseball program.

Photographs

Photographs document the personal and professional life of Dr. W. Harding le Riche including his time as an epidemiologist in South Africa and in Canada at the University of Toronto. There are early images of le Riche and Grant ancestors, as well as the le Riche family in Pretoria. There are some early photos of the skeleton dig at the Sterkfontein caves in 1936. Portraits and snapshots cover Le Riche’s time as a student at University of Witwatersrand and at Harvard University. Many snapshots document his arrival in Canada and his family’s early years in their adopted country.

Photographs, both amateur and professional document his professional life including attending conferences making speeches and receiving awards. Events at the University are also documented including celebrations around the 50th anniversary of the discovery of insulin in 1971 and general photos of the students and faculty of the School of Hygiene (1960-70s).

Finally, le Riche had a collection of portraits of well know scientists in the public health field who would most likely have been his peers or pioneers in this field of medicine.

Accession B1989-0046

Consists of biographical files, mementoes, addresses, manuscripts and publications (1950-1988), curricula and lecture notes in epidemiology (1960's to 1976), lecture notes in public health sanitation, international health, and School of Hygiene documenting Prof. le Riche's career in epidemiology in the School of Hygiene and its successor departments. Includes photoprints.

Photographs and slides

B2007-0018 and B2012-0012 contain several hundred photographs and negatives taken by Lee and document his research on the !Kung San. They include portraits of individuals, images of village life, hunting, ceremonies, rituals etc.. There are also slides taken during field trips to Botswana, Kenya, South Africa, Rhodesia and several others African countries . There are also slides of an early field trip to a native reserve at Heron Bay in 1960 on the North shore of Lake Superior. Finally, there is one file of images taken at the New Native Resistance symposium in Toronto in 1972.

In B2019-0017 contains mainly photographs used in several of his books as well as portraits, informal shots of Lee with colleagues, teaching and at conferences.

Research

This series contains research records such as field notes, data sets, notes and drafts of the beginnings of papers, correspondence and planning documents relating to research activities.

B2007-0018 contains the most extensive set of field notebooks. Acquired in this accession were the copies for his two earliest field excursions among the !Kung San in 1963-64 and again in 1967-69. An original set of the 1963-64 set as well as his 1973 field trip notebooks were acquired as part of B2019-0017 donation, with the odd one missing from the series. For a complete list see Appendix 2. B2007-0018 also included original collected data on height and weight of the !Kung San. This originates in both hand written spread sheets and in collated computer data printouts for the years 1967-1971. Finally there is a vocabulary card list, and one box of files with transcripts of interviews with Lee, newspaper clippings

B2012-0012 acquisition provided additional notebooks, primary field research, data, and supplementary research to his initial and later research fields.

B2019-0017 contained some of the original field notebooks as described above and in appendix 2. This accession also contains Lee’s extensive research organized into the book chapters for The !Kung San (1979). These files are followed by later research in the 1980s and 1990s relating to his areas of expertise on the indigenous peoples of Namibia and Botswana. There are also extensive files documenting his shifting interest in medical anthropology and the social cultural aspects of HIV/Aids in southern Africa Research files document his leadership and active involvement in the Fogerty / University of Namibia program.

Correspondence

This series contains professional and personal correspondence covering the years 1952-1990. Topics covered include administrative matters in the Department of Slavic Studies, issues relating more widely to slavic studies, and Professor Luckyj's writings, including correspondence with publishers. Interspersed with this correspondence are drafts of book reviews, articles, and memorials; notes, press clippings, and photoprints. Many of the letters are written in Ukrainian, and there are a few also in Russian and French.

Photographs

Photographs documenting professor George S. N. Luckyj of the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures. Includes two early photos from his childhood as a well as photographs documenting his trips to the Ukraine in the 1990s.

Photographs

Portraits of Professor Macallum; copies of illuminated address presented to Professor Macallum on 9 March 1906 by undergraduates in the Faculty of Medicine, on the occasion of his election to the Royal Society of Canada. Taken by Steffens-Colmer, Vancouver; C.T. Blackburne; Freeland, Toronto; Lafayette, Glasgow; McCaul's Pond, c. 1880. Also includes photo of McCaul's Pond, ca. 1880.

Patient files

This series contains a selection of MacIntosh’s patient files from several medical practices – the Toronto General Hospital, the Princess Margaret Hospital, Sunnybrook Hospital and the Hart House Clinic for student athletes at the University of Toronto. Included in this series are patient files for MacIntosh’s own practice at the University of Toronto’s Medical Arts Building as well as patient files and case information for the many litigations and Workers Compensation Board/Workplace Safety Insurance Board cases for which MacIntosh served as an expert medical consultant. Lastly, included in this series are a set of patient files from Drs. Allan Gross and John C. Cameron, two younger doctors who worked in the orthopedic field with MacIntosh.

Most of the files in this series contain patient intake information, background medical charts, diagnoses, treatment plans and follow-up reports. Occasionally, the patient files will include photographs and x-rays. The series is arranged in order to reflect how MacIntosh kept his patient files under several different systems. MacIntosh arranged some of his patient files based on the injury or affliction facing the patient. Other files were arranged alphabetically, and many were arranged using a numbered system. The patient files belonging to patients seen at the Hart House Clinic were also kept separately by MacIntosh.

The series also includes several different sets of patient indices, which are presumably index cards for every patient MacIntosh treated. Most of the indices are alphabetical or chronological, however there are several miscellaneous or misfiled boxes are patient index cards.

Photographs and media

This series contains photographs, glass latern slides, photographic slides and a collection of reel to reel films belonging to MacIntosh. Most of the media covers MacIntosh’s professional life: surgical images, patient photographs, procedure documentation and lecture and statistical slides. There are also a small number of personal and family photographic slides which document various family trips and events. Also included is a set of photographs of the HMS Philante, the escort vessel which MacIntosh served on with Royal Navy during the Second World War.

Photographs

Consists of photographs, photoprints, and negatives documenting club activities at Go Home Bay and Hope Island; dedication of the Soldiers' Tower; convocations and official visits of dignitaries such as Viscount Allenby (1926) and Lord Wellington (1926); and maps of Go Home Bay and surrounding areas

B1974-0015 primarily consists of photo albums that were compiled and maintained by Professors C.A. Chant; G.R. Anderson; and Grant Robertson, a Professor of Classics at Victoria College who married Elizabeth Chant.

B1976-0022 consists of eight albums that belonged to the Anderson Family.

Personal and biographical

This series consists of Dr. Mastromatteo’s biographical and personal records. They document his career, personal life, and professional and personal relationships. This series also contains many files documenting studies, projects and issues that Dr. Mastromatteo included with his personal files. Record types include curriculum vitae, correspondence, photos, cards and certificates, articles, pamphlets, reports, notes, forms, minutes and projector slides.

The material is arranged into two sections. The first section contains personal records, career records, records documenting relationships, education records, and general files. The records are arranged in that order and filed chronologically within each of those sub-sections. The second section contains files on specific work projects or issues and is arranged chronologically.

Addresses

This series documents Dr. Mastromatteo’s research and advocacy in the form of addresses. The addresses in this series are mostly Dr. Mastromatteo’s but there are some addresses by others, possibly sent to him for review or reference purposes. There are also some small amounts of reference material filed with his addresses.

The addresses in this series are mainly about occupational health, with some on environmental issues and human rights issues as they relate to occupational health (for example workers’ compensation). Most addresses in this series were given at meetings of professional associations with a small number of talks given at private companies.

Records in this series include notes, manuscripts, correspondence, projector slides, reports and press clippings.

Professional organizations, associations and societies

This series documents Dr. Mastromatteo’s participation in organizations, associations and societies. These groups pertain mainly to medicine, occupational health and safety, and labour conditions. The largest amounts of material are from the Ontario Medical Association, the International Labor Office, the Industrial Accident Prevention Association, the Canadian Public Health Association, the Canadian Medical Association, and the Atomic Energy Control Board.

Records in this series include notes, drafts, papers, correspondence, minutes, reports and memoranda.

Photographs

As an engineering student at the University of Toronto, D. F. McCarthy was involved in a number of activities including water polo, and as a member, 4th year Executive of Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering. Included are photographs water polo teams, graduation photos for high school and university, class photographs, as a professional engineer with the City of Toronto and as an alumnus of U of T., including the Chancellor’s Circle (1994) and Arbor Award (1993). Also included is sketch by Owen Staples of “Memorial Tower University of Toronto” ca 1930.

Personal

This series includes records documenting personal family life, professional activities including position appointments, medical internship, club memberships, and participation in health related organizations at the national and international level, and honours bestowed. Amongst the last are the Gairdner Foundation International Award (1969), election to the Royal Society (1999), an honorary degree from the University of Toronto and election to the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame (both 2004).

Includes weekly appointment books, daily journals, curriculum vitae, personal and professional correspondence, minutes of meetings, certificates, and photographs.

Publications

This series consists of manuscripts, correspondence, research notes relating to published articles and chapters in books written alone or in collaboration with colleagues. Arrangement is chronologically by date of publication, although contents of file may be earlier.

The bibliographic data in the file list has been copied directly from Dr. McCulloch’s curriculum vitae and additions have been made where warranted.

Research

This series contains records mainly relating to experiments undertaken by Dr. McCulloch and his research team. The alpha experiments are CFU repression experiments, and the related AB experiments are very early repression studies on the definition of the phenomenon. The AB, FAB experiments conduct further studies on immunology with an emphasis on early cellular immunology, while the “current experiments 609” mark the beginning of cellular immunology experiments at the University of Toronto. The D series consists of early radiobiological experiments. Radiology and the beginnings of studies of the heterogenetic model leads to the SC model. The SC series contains Connie Eaves' studies on repression, while the SC, D and E series contains important early experiments. The VV84-129 experiments compare the culture results that lead to the development of new technology.

The DII experiments study multiple transplants and the effects of same. The F1-F45 experiments contain Edith Russell's compilations. The L1-37 experiments study the effect of endotoxins, etc. on the spontaneous growth of colonies after radiation. The N1 and N2 series contain the earliest cell culture experiments. The NA series is comprised of early cell cycle experiments and the PF experiments conduct further studies in cell separation. The PG experiments study cell separation using propylyne glycol.

Patient data for various papers for 1979 will be found in B1991-0004/012

Field Trips

This series documents field trips taken and organized by Prof. McIlwraith beginning in 1963 while still a geography student at the University of Toronto. Most of the files however document field trips that were organized and led by Prof. McIlwraith as part of the Erindale College Field Studies Courses - GGR 301 and GGR 319.

Many of the field trips required students to undertake oral histories in various Ontario Townships. Files include correspondence, memos, notes, forms, photographs and logistical information handed to students. Tapes and transcripts relating to these Field Trips have been deposited in local archives.

Heritage Associations

Records in this series document Prof. McIlwraith active involvement in various conservation groups or initiatives. It includes records relating to his time on the Ministry of Culture, Conservation Review Board of which he was a member and vice chair. Drawing on his academic expertise, he often prepared reports for the Board on properties under review. As a Board member he also acted as one the adjudicators for cases brought before the Board. Other committees documented here are the Cultural Policy Advisory Committee for the Mississauga Arts Council, Mississauga Local Architecture Conservation Advisory Committee (LACAC), and the Erindale College Plaque Committee.

Files contain reports, memos, correspondence and, in some cases, hand drawn maps and photographs.

"The Bella Coola Indians"

Series consists of records related to McIlwraith’s research and writing for his book The Bella Coola Indians, published in 1948. Material includes multiple versions of the book’s manuscript, McIlwraith’s field notes, photographs taken and collected, as well as vocabulary cards and printing plates.

Artwork, photographs, and artifact

Series consists of artwork, photographs, printing plates, and an artifact collected by McIlwraith. Material covers a range of subjects and media types. Photographs include images of archaeological digs and sites, collected images such as a cabinet card of a meeting of the Six Nation Chiefs (August 1871) and images of artifacts, as well as postcards and informal snapshots. Series also includes artwork: Inuit drawings identified with the Canadian Northern Survey Department, a series of string figure drawings made by Abel Moses and Margaret Shanoush, as well as some additional collected drawings. Finally there is one carved stone artifact that remains unidentified as to its origins or purpose.

Professional associations and conferences

This series consists of files on organizations, conferences, symposia and workshops, arranged alphabetically. The most thoroughly documented ones are those in which Professor McLeod was involved in an organizational or executive capacity. The earliest files document his involvement in multicultural issues in Saskatchewan, specifically problems associated with language instruction in French. They contain correspondence, notes, briefs submitted to the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism and to the Saskatchewan Committee on Instruction in Languages other than English, associated
reports, and a seminar on bilingual education (1964-1966). Later, in Ontario, his overlapping duties as chair of the Ontario Multicultural Education Conference Committee (1980-1983) and president of the Canadian Council for Multicultural and Intercultural Education (1981-1985), for example, enabled him to play a central role in organizing the early national conferences on multicultural education. He organized and chaired two colloquiums on “Multiculturalism – Teaching and Learning”, sponsored by FEUT (1990, 1991), and was a co-organizer of the International Colloquium on Ethnicity, Conflict and Cooperation held in Moscow in 1992. McLeod also attended a number of international conferences as a Canadian representative. These include four (1977-1987) world congresses of the Comparative and International Education Association, and the Circumpolar Conference of Indigenous People in Iceland (1993).

McLeod was involved in an executive capacity in many organizations, the files for which contain the correspondence, notes and memoranda, minutes and reports that reveal the extent of his involvement. The principal bodies, for which there is extensive documentation, are the Canadian Association for Second Language Teachers (CASALT), Canadian Ethnic Studies Association (CESA), Canadian Council for Multicultural and Intercultural Education (CCMIE), Canadian History of Education Association (CHEA), Multicultural Health Coalition (MHC), the Multiculturalism and Aging Seniors Coordinating Committee (MASCC), and the Ontario Multicultural Association (OMAMO). He was also frequently asked to advise governments on policy. He gave, for example, evidence to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Multiculturalism and served on the Ontario Advisory Committee on Multiculturalism.

Manuscripts and publications

Over the years Professor McLeod initiated a number of book proposals (mostly edited), a few of which were realized. Some that were not are also documented here. He also wrote a number of articles and compiled bibliographies and chronologies. This series also contains many of his editorials from Multiculturalism, and his book reviews, but letters asking him to review books are mostly filed in Series 1, with a few in Series 4.

Most of the titles in this series are in manuscript form, often with accompanying correspondence and notes. There are more manuscripts for articles than for books. The manuscripts are arranged, within each accession, in chronological order of publication date and by the date written, if not published. The articles document his principal interests – multicultural education and health – though his wider interests are also reflected, as in “Josiah Wedgwood and the potter’s art.” There is also a file on the second issue of the Journal of Ethno-Development, which McLeod co-edited. There are whole or partial drafts of several books, two of which are untitled, but including Aboriginal Languages and Education (1988) and Health and Culture: exploring the relationships (1993). There is also a file on the production of his video, ‘Putting it all together’ (1991), and drafts of ‘The multicultural experience at FEUT’ (1995-1996) (both in B1997-0013/002 and 003). The series concludes with a typescript of Guiseppe Masi’s autobiographical Like a Dream: as short story of my life.

Works of art

This series consists of two signed water colours, samples of a larger collection still in the position of his family. Both pictures are scenes near his cottage on Garden Island in the St. Lawrence River between Wolfe Island and the City of Kingston. The watercolour of the sailboat “The Curlew” was painted in a harbour near the cottage of his former student , friend and colleague, Donald Swainson, professor of history at Queen’s University in 1984. The snow scene is a view of his son walking from the cottage in the winter of 1990. This was the one and only occasion that Prof. McNaught agreed to visit the cottage in the winter.

General correspondence

This series is made up of general correspondence files, arranged alphabetically by the name of the correspondent or by the name of the person about whom Prof. McNeill is corresponding. Incoming and outgoing correspondence cover such areas as research, supervision of graduate students, editing of papers, trips, as well as numerous letters of reference for past students and colleagues seeking recommendations for appointments, tenure, awards and grants. Some correspondence relates to consultancy work such as files on the Ministry of the Solicitor General, Advanced Medical Systems, Inc., and Scintrex Ltd.. There is extensive correspondence with colleagues in Australia regarding his involvement in the development of a body compositional laboratory at Prince Henry Hospital in Melbourne.

The files often contain attached documentation to the correspondence. This is most often the case when corresponding with or about students under his supervision. Files may include drafts of thesis, research reports and Ph.D. oral assessments.

Archives of Newfoundland Mines Study

This series is a collection of documentation in form of reports, data, research materials and articles relating to the study of radon levels in Newfoundland Mines conducted by the Federal Government in the 1960s. Most of this material is copies given to Prof. McNeill to conduct his research on radon exposure for the Atomic Energy Board of Canada. There is however a scattering of his original notes and correspondence from the 1995 that he produced while writing his report entitled Measurements of Radon Progeny in Canadian Mines before 1968. The report itself can be found in Series 8 – Consultancy, Box B2005-0004/003 (13). The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission has requested that these records remain with Kenneth G. McNeill Fonds since Prof McNeill was their last custodian.

University of Toronto Administrative Committees

This series documents some of Prof. McNeill's administrative positions within the University including member of the Slowpoke Reactor Committee (1970-1991); the Council of the Faculty of Medicine (1962-1967); the Presidential Advisory Committee on Appointments and Terms of Office (Haist Committee) (1964-1968); as well as various administrative positions with Trinity College. The amount and type of records vary from one position to another but usually include copies of minutes, correspondence, reports and memoranda and some original correspondence between Prof. McNeill and other committee members.

Linear Accelerator Committee of the Department of Physics

Records in this series include both the records of this committee as well as the documentation leading up to the design, building and financing of the Electron Linear Accelerator (Linac) in the Department of Physics. The committee itself, of which Prof. McNeill was Chair from 1966-1971, was responsible for overseeing the use of this apparatus for research in nuclear physics, medical biophysics and chemical engineering. This sub-series gives insight into early nuclear research conducted on campus.

Included are general files containing correspondence, minutes, reports on research, project proposals; grant files; sub-committee files; internal reports; and yearly progress reports. Also included are records relating to its planning and design which took six years from the time it began to be seriously considered in 1960 to the time it opened in 1966.

Records are grouped by type of file and are arranged more or less chronologically. Yearly progress reports, covering the period from 1966 to 1975 are filed at the end.

Personal and Biographical

Series consists of files documenting the life of Harvey Moldofsky, including his curriculum vitae, some personal and professional correspondence, certificates and awards, various press clippings about him, photographs, and artifacts. Photographs include a young Moldofsky in Medical School with classmates in the anatomy lab; son David and wife Zelda; group photographs from conferences attended; and of staff and the laboratory at the Centre for Sleep Chronobiology.

Microgravity, Sleep and Immune Functions in Humans (SWIF)

This series documents Dr. Moldofsky’s research activities, in particular, his two major research projects on Microgravity, Sleep and Immune Functions in Humans (SWIF) with the Canadian Space Agency and NASA, funded through the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The first project (1995-1999) studied the influence of gravity change on sleep and the immune system in astronauts. The aim of this research was to further advance the studies of disordered sleep and altered immune functions observed in distressing circumstances, and in patients with psychiatric (major depression) and medical conditions (i.e. fibromyalgia, post febrile chronic fatigue syndrome). This experiment was conducted during the Mir 23/NASA 4 and Mir 24 missions in 1997-1998.

The second project of the same title (2000-2003) involved experiments carried out in space but then subsequently lost during the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. This second phase aimed to understand bone loss in astronauts in space as well as osteoporosis on Earth, believing that chemical changes in the human immune system – possibly triggered by sleep deprivation – could instead be a major cause of bone loss in space and on the ground (as opposed to just microgravity).

Included in this series: grant applications; correspondence; files related to visits to the Russian Space Agency in Star City and the Johnson Space Center in Houston (including photographs); baseline data collection (BDC) data sets; and final reports. Also included are EEG electrode caps used by American and Russian astronauts aboard the MIR space station.

Travel files

Series consists of records relating to Dr. Mustard’s attendance and participation in various events across the world, including meetings, conferences, visits with community groups, presentations, convocations, and other special events. Files consist of correspondence, itineraries, meeting notes, reports, brochures, proceedings, lists of attendees, and news coverage of the event. In some cases, a copy of the presentation is also included.

In cases where files document Dr. Mustard’s visits to small communities and early childhood development organizations, files also contain information on the host group and region, including brochures, information packages and news clippings relating to issues in that particular community (such as health, poverty, and child care).

Series also consists of digital files, containing PowerPoint presentations (.ppt) for particular talks and speeches, 2003-2005.

Biographical

This series consists of academic honours received by Professor Nesselroth as well as his M.A. and Ph.D. theses. There is also a 50th anniversary festschrift created by his friends and students.

Graphic records

This series consists of photographs of Professor Nesselroth at academic events throughout his career, including the award ceremony for the Ordre des Palmes académiques, and ceremonies at the University of Toronto with Saul Bellow and Julia Kristeva.

Photographs

This series consists of personal photographs of Mary O'Brien with her partner Cath McNaughton, friends, and colleagues. Includes early photographs of O'Brien as a nurse in Scotland and Montreal, two photographs of O'Brien at the Annual Conference of the UK Labour Party in October 1956, O'Brien receiving the City of Toronto's Constance E. Hamilton award in 1982. Also included are professional portraits of O'Brien taken for her books and a 1985 interview with the Kingston Whig-Standard.

National Research Council

Series contains is composed of records dating from McKay’s time at the National Research Council. During the Second World War, the organization was mobilized to support the Allied war effort. As a result, most of the series’ records relate to military research and development. Canadian Army Operational Research Group (C.A.O.R.G.) reports compose approximately half the files that make up the series. These reports cover subjects ranging from blast measurements for anti-tank mine clearance to the number and distribution of Japanese paper balloons in North America. There are also two summary reports on Japanese balloon incidents.
The remainder of the textual and graphic records are made up of committee minutes, general Department of Defence documents, and a short paper on Canada’s part in the development of the radio proximity fuse, which McKay contributed to as assistant to project leader Professor Arnold Pitt.

Also included in this series are the remains of a Japanese paper balloon. Paper balloons, also known as balloon bombs, were a by-product of an atmospheric experiment by Axis scientists, which discovered a powerful air current traveling across the Pacific at about 30,000 feet [1]. Taking advantage of this knowledge, the Japanese military developed what may well have been the first intercontinental weapon in the form of explosive devices attached to paper balloons. These balloons were released in Japan and carried along the Pacific by a jet stream, ultimately finding their way to North America’s West Coast. Although the Japanese are thought to have released as many as 9,000 paper balloons, only 1,000 or so are thought to have reached North America, resulting in a total of six casualties [2].

NOTES

  1. Johnna Rizzo, “Japan’s secret WWII weapon: Balloon bombs,” National Geographic, 27 May 2013.
  2. Ibid.
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