Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1909-1974 (Creation)
Level of description
Fonds
Extent and medium
85 cm of textual records
11 Photographs
5 rolls of film
1 artefact
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Reginald Sidney Kingsley Seeley, administrator, educator, theologian, and Provost of Trinity College, was born in 1908 in Herefordshire, England. He was the son of the Venerable George Henry Seeley, sometime Archdeacon of Rangoon. He attended Marlborough College and Christ's College, Cambridge. He took both parts of a Classical Tripos then studied theology at Ridley Hall, Cambridge, graduating with a B.A. in 1930 and an M.A. in 1934.
He was made deacon in 1932 and priest in 1933 in Coventry Cathedral, and he served for two years as curate of Rugby Parish Church. In 1934 he returned to Cambridge as Chaplain of St. John's College. He assumed additional duties as organizing secretary of the Cambridge Mission to Delhi (1935), and was also examining chaplain to the Bishop of Bristol. He came to Canada in 1938 as Professor of Exegetical Theology at St. John's College, Winnipeg, and as canon of St. John's Cathedral in that city. In 1941 he was appointed Warden of St. John's College, and in 1943 became rector of St. George's Cathedral, Kingston, and Dean of the Diocese of Ontario.
Seeley was appointed Provost and Vice-Chancellor of Trinity College, Toronto, in 1945. In 1952, Seeley oversaw the centenary celebration of Trinity College. His tenure also saw the construction of the chapel, which was consecrated in 1955, and a new residence house at the north-east side of the quadrangle. He was the liaison officer for the Colonial Service of Great Britain, vice-president of the Institute of Public Affairs, and the first president of the Classical Association of Canada. Seeley addressed the public through many radio broadcasts and was the author of The Sign of the Cross: A Meditation on the Place of the Cross in Human Living and The Function of the University.
Seeley married Marjory Peters on 30 July 1955 in St. John's Cathedral, Winnipeg. On 3 Aug 1957 he died from injuries sustained in a car accident in Trenton, Ontario.
Repository
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
The fond was received in one accession after Provost Seeley’s death.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
The fonds consists of lectures, speeches (in person and on radio broadcasts), and sermons given by Seeley in his capacity as priest, religious leader, and provost. Files include programmes from services, events, and conferences, pamphlets written by Seeley, notebooks, and correspondence between Seeley and others. Fonds also includes letters received by Mrs. Seeley after her husband’s death, newspaper clippings and obituaries, official documents, photographs, and a printing plate.
Contains series
- Sermons, lectures, speeches, and writings
- Documents relating to Trinity College
- Speeches and writings relating to education
- Personal records
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Materials have been arranged by the archivist in chronological order within each series.
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Open
Conditions governing reproduction
Various copyright holders. It is the researcher's responsibility to obtain permission to publish any part of the fonds.
Language of material
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Uploaded finding aid
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Alternative identifier(s)
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Dates of creation revision deletion
2016-07-25
Language(s)
- English