Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1930-1980 (Creation)
Level of description
Manuscript Collection
Extent and medium
196 boxes
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Mark Gayn was born Mark Julius Ginsbourg in 1909 at Barim on the Manchurian-Mongolian border. He moved frequently throughout his childhood. He moved to the U.S to study at Pomona College in California in 1929. Upon graduating, he went to Columbia University to study journalism. He graduated in 1934 and went to Shanghai to work as a special correspondent for the Washington Post. During the Second World War - also the period when he changed his name to Gayn - he worked for a variety of publications, including Time and Newsweek. He emigrated to Canada in 1953, eventually joining the staff of the Toronto Daily Star. During his 22 years at the Star, he made frequent trips to the Soviet Union and China, eventually becoming the Asian bureau chief in 1966. He died in Toronto in 1981.
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Gift of the Mark Gayn Estate.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
The collection consists of notebooks, diaries, drafts for writings, lectures, broadcasts, correspondence, pamphlets, newspapers clippings, films and photographs related to the journalistic career of Gayn.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Series 1: Biographical and Personal
Series 2: Correspondence
Series 3: Diaries
Series 4: Notebooks
Series 5: Subject Files
Series 6: Lectures
Series 7: Conferences, Seminars
Series 8: Books
Series 9: Articles
Series 10: Book Reviews
Series 11: Translations
Series 12: Literary Agent Activities
Series 13: Broadcast Media
Series 14: Audio-Visual Recordings
Series 15: Press and Information Kits
Series 16: Posters
Series 17: Ephemera
Series 18: Artifacts
Series 19: Material from Suzanne Gayne, Philip Jaffe and Bertram Wolfe
Series 20: Photographs
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