Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1801-1863 (Creation)
Level of description
Manuscript Collection
Extent and medium
10 boxes and items (1 metre)
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
John Elmsley was born on May 19, 1801 in York, Upper Canada, the son of Chief Justice John Elmsley, the second Chief Justic of Upper Canada. Although born into one of Upper Canada's most prominent Anglican families, he converted to Catholicism in 1833 upon his marriage to Charlotte Sherwood, a Catholic. After his conversion, which was seen an incredibly shocking event at the time, he went on to co-found the College of St. Michael, and pledged his personal fortunes as mortgage security to permit St. Michael's Cathedral's consecration in 1848. He died in 1863 and is buried in the Cathedral crypt under St. Michael's statue, with his heart buried under St. Basil's Church at St. Michaels College on the grounds of U of T.
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Gift from Nina Elmsley, 1962.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
The collection consists of personal family letters of the Elmsley and Bradshaw families, along with a family memoir (written in 1842), John Elmsley's diaries (1831 and 1851), Mary Bradshaw's letterbooks (1871 and 1877), along with family trees, documents, verses and printed matter.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Material may be requested in person at the Fisher Library Reference Desk, or in advance using our online stack retrieval request form: https://fisher.library.utoronto.ca/stack-retrieval-request
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
- English