Fonds 1002 - James Headly Acland fonds

Identity area

Reference code

UTA 1002

Title

James Headly Acland fonds

Date(s)

  • [195-]-1976 (Creation)

Level of description

Fonds

Extent and medium

1.05 m of textual records with architectural drawings found throughout
1.8 m of graphic records
(total 16 boxes)

Context area

Name of creator

(1917-1976)

Biographical history

James Acland was professor of architecture in the University of Toronto School of Architecture from 1958 until his death in 1976. His main research and teaching interest was in historical architecture of the medieval period.

James Acland was born in Toronto in 1917. After attending Ecoles des Beaux Arts and McGill University in Montreal, he graduated from Syracuse University New York with a B.A. in Architecture in 1942. During World War II, he worked on factory designs and from 1942-1945 was with Canadian Army Photo Intelligence. After obtaining an M.A. in Philosophy from Harvard University in 1952, he returned to the study and teaching of architecture and held positions at the University of Utah and the University of British Columbia. In 1956, he returned to his hometown to become associate professor and later professor at the University of Toronto’s, School of Architecture.

Both his research and teaching focused on the history of architecture. Much of his research related to land use and how it affects architecture, the development of complex towns in the medieval period and early European building traditions. His study in these areas resulted in several articles and culminated in his book Medieval Structure: The Gothic Vault, University of Toronto Press, 1972. The subjects he taught related directly to his interest on the history of architecture and included courses such as the History of Medieval Architecture, Renaissance Architecture, European Tradition of Framed Building, Mediterranean Tradition of Mass and Shell Building, Medieval Structures, to list a few.

Starting in 1962, Acland popularized his ideas on the history of architecture by appearing in two CBC television series Man in a Landscape and Wall and Window. In these shows, and many to follow, he was the speaker, actively developed the script and provided photographs, and drawings. Through the 1960s, he continued to be involved in television programming and educational films.

Acland’s interest in the history of architecture led him to become an advocate of architectural and heritage conservation. In the 1960s, he was active in the Stop the Spadina Committee and, as chair of the Friends of Old City Hall, he was instrumental in saving Toronto’s Old City Hall (now the City Court House) from demolition. From 1969-1971, he was president of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario and organized a computer inventory of historic buildings through the National Historic Sites Service. Many of his articles related to his conservation work. His work with Eric Arthur on maritime architecture most certainly did – Building by the Sea, University of Toronto Press, 1962. James Acland died on June 22, 1976. He was still teaching in the School of Architecture and was writing a history of house and street.

Archival history

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Content and structure area

Scope and content

Records documenting Professor Acland’s research, publication and teaching activities. Includes notebooks, scripts and draft papers, photographs, slides, and negatives. The fonds is dominated by over 4000 prints and negatives documenting his research interest in and publication of his book The Gothic Vault and the book Building by the Sea written with Eric Arthur on the study of maritime architecture on Canada’s east coast. Also included are numerous prints of Toronto where Acland was active in the preservation of historic buildings such as Old City Hall.

This accession documents to a limited degree James Acland’s research, teaching and publications. It is limited because very little of his textual records survived, although there is a good number of notebooks that were mostly likely used for lectures. Records relating to his architectural conservation work especially relating to saving Old City Hall are held at the City of Toronto Archives.

This accession does however give a good representation of Acland’s photographic work that formed the basis of his research and publications. There are extensive photographs and negatives relating to The Gothic Vault as well as Building by the Sea. There is a large collection of photographs taken on a trip to Europe in 1964. These would have most certainly been used for research and teaching. All the images in this collection are well identified in terms of their location and site. However, few give specific dates. It is assumed that most of the images were taken through the 1960s and some in the early 1970s.

Sometime after his death, a collection of 25,000 slides was donated to the University of Toronto and was distributed among 15 departments. A catalogue of these slides was prepared by the Centre for Medieval Studies and published in 1984: Catalogue of the James Acland Slide Collection. Only a few slides were donated with this accession and it is possible they are duplicates of what is found in the larger collection.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

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Conditions governing access

Open

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Finding aids

Uploaded finding aid

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Notes area

Alternative identifier(s)

Accession

B2001-0044

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Dates of creation revision deletion

-Original finding aid by Marnee Gamble, March 14 2003
-Added to AtoM in Summer 2015 by Karen Suurtamm

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