Fonds 1930 - Marion Walker fonds

Identity area

Reference code

UTA 1930

Title

Marion Walker fonds

Date(s)

  • [1920?]-1998 (Creation)

Level of description

Fonds

Extent and medium

3.53 m of textual and graphic records and works of art (10 boxes)

Context area

Name of creator

(1919-1998)

Biographical history

Marion Dorothy Walker (1919 - 1998) was a production assistant at Hart House Theatre and a professor in the Department of Fine Arts, University of Toronto.

Ms. Walker was born in Toronto, September 23, 1919. Her father, George Walker, was the head of Woolworth’s Canada. Ms. Walker attended Bishop Strachan School. During her early years, she was a figure skater and talented golfer. She won the Ontario Junior Girl’s Golf Tournament in 1939 and 1940.

Ms. Walker’s main interests, however, were in the arts. She received her B.A. in English and Fine Arts in 1942 from the University of Toronto. When Hart House Theatre opened after the war in 1946, Ms. Walker became its Production Assistant. In this capacity, she designed and painted sets, made props and created costumes. From her Hart House Theatre work, she earned a reputation for her stage flair, sensitivity to colour and line, and daring use of unusual materials.

Ms. Walker eventually left the Theatre in 1957 to become a librarian and reader in the University of Toronto’s Department of Fine Arts. She also began graduate studies in art history. Upon completing her M.A. in 1963, Ms. Walker was appointed Special Lecturer in the Department of Fine Arts. Later, in 1977, she became Assistant Professor in the Department. She remained in this position until her retirement in 1985. She also served as Special Lecturer in the Department of Fine Arts’ Graduate Centre for Study of Drama, between 1966 and 1976. Ms. Walker’s teaching and research interests were the history of costume and stage design. As a result, she spent many summers in Europe, especially Italy, investigating the works of early theatre designers, Filippo Juvarra, Ferdinando Bibiena, Fratelli Gallieri and Pietro Gonzaga.

Marion Walker passed away from cancer on June 7, 1998. In commemorating her life, Ms. Walker’s friend and colleague, Phyllis Grosskurth, wrote in the Globe and Mail, “She was respected by her peers, loved by her students, adored by her friends. No one will ever fill the particular emptiness she left in our lives, but those her knew her have been enriched beyond measure.”

Archival history

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Content and structure area

Scope and content

This accession consists of the personal records of Marion Dorothy Walker. The records document Ms. Walker’s activities as a production assistant for Hart House Theatre, as a professor in the University of Toronto Department of Fine Art and as a creative writer. Types of records include: personal correspondence, manuscripts, theatre programmes, playbills, lecture notes, research notes, scrapbooks, costume designs, stage designs, photographs and slides. This accession is arranged in the following 5 series:

Series 1: Early Biographical Information
Series 2: Personal Correspondence
Series 3: Hart House Theatre
Series 4: Department of Fine Art
Series 5: Fiction

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

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Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

Open

Conditions governing reproduction

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Script of material

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Finding aids

Uploaded finding aid

Allied materials area

Existence and location of originals

Existence and location of copies

Related units of description

For Hart House Theatre’s administrative records, programmes, costumes designs and set designs, see accessions A1973-0039, A1975-0009 and A1977-0048. For the personal records of Hart House Theatre director, Robert Gill, please see accessions B1977-0046, B1973-0012, B1995-0028 and B1995-0033.

Notes area

Alternative identifier(s)

Accession

B1998-0036

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Rules and/or conventions used

Dates of creation revision deletion

-Original finding aid by Loryl MacDonald
-Added to AtoM by Karen Suurtamm, Summer 2015

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