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Archival description
University of Toronto Archives and Records Management Services (UTARMS) Davidson-Black, Margaret
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Black (Davidson) Family fonds

  • UTA 1084
  • Fonds
  • 1871-2011

This description is under review
Personal records of the Davidson Black family, covering three generations, with particular reference to Davidson Black, the discoverer of Peking Man. Included are his diaries, extensive family correspondence and a few professional letters; files on his education, his employment, including his service in World War I but especially at Peking Union Medical College, his life in China generally, along with a few on his writings, and some artifacts. There is an extensive and well documented photo collection that helps tie the whole together. There are also a number of films made by Davidson Black between the late 1920s and 1932.

Black (Davidson) Family

Margaret Davidson-Black sous-fonds

Margaret Davidson-Black survived her husband by 43 years. She hyphenated her name legally in 1913, but for the purpose of this finding aid, Margaret Black will be referred to without using her hyphenated surname. This sous-fonds begins with Margaret’s handwritten account of her working life and a file on her official change of name. It also includes other legal documents, materials related to her involvement in the Women’s Auxiliary of the Church of England in Canada, and some photographs. The remainder of the sous-fonds consists mostly of letters sent to her by friends and family members, especially her sons, Redmond and Davidson, who, from boyhood, wrote to her weekly (sometimes more often) when they were apart. There are also a number of letters from her sons’ wives, Grace and Adena; various Delamere relatives, especially her sisters, Sassie and Emily, and brother, Will; and other friends.

In the first accession received in 2011, some of the letters Redmond sent to her are present, but most were separated out by family members and handed over to Redmond’s family. The 2018 accession consists of these letters that had been separated out. However, a number of Davidson’s letters are also present in this accession, as Margaret often passed along letters written by him to her other son Redmond, which he would then return, usually enclosed with his own letters to Margaret.

Davidson’s letters from his youth provide both a detailed description of his activities and insight into his interests and ideas. The letters from 1919 on are of particular interest because of his running commentary on the political turmoil in China, his observations on Chinese customs and society, and the description of aspects of his professional work that he thought would interest
his mother. Letters written by Redmond in 1902 and 1916 are of particular interest, as they reveal aspects of Canadian involvement in overseas wars (Boer War and World War I).

Davidson-Black, Margaret

Davidson and Margaret Black sous-fonds

This sous-fonds consists of correspondence, primarily between Davidson Black and Margaret Delamere, from the time of their engagement in 1878 until his death eight years later, but also letters of congratulation to Margaret from family and friends on her engagement. The arrangement is by names of the correspondents or groups of them. There is also a tintype photograph of their children, Redmond and Davidson, taken in 1886.

Black, Davidson, [Sr.]