Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1928-193[0?] (Creation)
Level of description
Manuscript Collection
Extent and medium
2 boxes (14 cm)
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Kathleen Innes Stewart was born 9 April 1908 in London, England as the oldest child of George and Louise Stewart. Her father soon moved the family to Cleveland, Ohio, where he headed at the H.K Cushing Laboratory for Experimental Medicine at Western Reserve University. In 1922, the family – now including Kathleen and her three younger brothers – moved to Toronto, where Kathleen attended Havergal College. She later attended University College at the University of Toronto, and graduated in 1928 before leaving on an eleven month trip through Europe with her close friend, Kathleen Sutton. George Stewart died in 1930, and Louise Stewart died in 1933, leaving Kathleen to care for her younger brothers. Kathleen Stewart married James Fitz-Randolph Crowe in 1935, and they travelled across the United States and Canada performing in theatres together under the stage names Kathleen and Norman Roland; including the opening season of the Stratford Festival. Kathleen wrote cookbooks for additional income and worked for the Canadian National Film Board during the Second World War. She worked on the stage until the 1960s, whereupon she became a social worker in New York City. She died in New York in 2003 at the age of 95.
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Gift of Claude Stewart.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Collection consists of detailed letters written by Kathleen ‘Doy’ Stewart, primarily to her parents, with some letters written to her brothers and friends, while traveling in Europe from October 1928 to August 1929, with her friend Kathleen Sutton. During the trip, Stewart stayed in Paris from October 1928 to March 1929, before visiting the South of France and Italy, and then staying in Heidelberg from May to July 1929. After Heidelberg, Stewart traveled through Germany, Netherlands and Belgium before returning to Paris at the end of August 1929 to journey back to Canada. Collection contains a small amount of letters written by Kathleen Sutton and letters that were written jointly by Kathleen Stewart and Kathleen Sutton. Papers also includes two letters from a subsequent trip, where she visited Romania and Yugoslavia, in 1932.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
No restrictions on 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-form