Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1914-1981 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
62 boxes and items
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
John Emerson Langdon was born in Ottawa in 1902. In 1928, he was appointed Editor for Eastern Canada for the Financial Post, based in Montreal. He began visiting antique stores while buying items for his new home and started to notice that a silver hallmark attributed to a Channel Islands silversmith has been used extensively in Canada. This led him to do research on the topic, and he eventually became a leading authority in the field. His books include Clock and Watchmakers and Allied Workers in Canada, 1700-1900 (1976) and Canadian Silversmiths, 1700-1900 (1966).
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Presented to the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library through the Ontario Heritage Foundation by J.E. Langdon, and gift of the estate of Stella Langdon.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
The collection includes research notes on silver, chiefly compiled for his four books on North American silver and silversmiths, along with related correspondence, typescripts and galleys. It also includes secondary materials used for lectures and articles, photographs and slides used as illustrative matter in the books and articles, as well as other correspondence, notes, invoices, photographs and awards.
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://aeon.library.utoronto.ca. Please note that this material requires 2 business days to retrieve.
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
- English