Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1947-2004 (Creation)
Level of description
Fonds
Extent and medium
66 cm of textual records
1 audio record
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Keith Campbell MacMillan (1920–1991) was a composer, administrator, writer, editor, and educator. He was born in Toronto on September 23, 1920, son of the eminent conductor, composer, organist, and educator Sir Ernest MacMillan and Laura Elsie Keith. He attended Upper Canada College and studied piano, music theory, and organ privately. He enrolled at Trinity College, studying mainly biology.
MacMillan graduated from Trinity College with a BA in 1949 and received an MA in 1951 from the University of Toronto. The following year he founded Hallmark Recordings and became a CBC Radio producer. In 1964, he was named executive director of the Canadian Music Centre. His advocacy of Canadian music included writing, lecturing, and consulting. MacMillan was chair of the music department at the University of Ottawa from 1977 until his retirement in 1985.
Keith MacMillan met his wife, Helen Patricia (“Pat”) Dustan, at Trinity College; they married in 1949. They had four children. Keith died on May 20, 1991 in Toronto.
[Sources include Canadian Encyclopedia and the Toronto Star obituary of Helen Patricia (“Pat”) Dustan: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/thestar/obituary.aspx?pid=182489208]
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Materials received October 2017 from two of Keith MacMillan’s children.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Fonds consists mainly of records related to the production of the musical comedy/operetta Saints Alive! (1949) for which Ronald Bryden (later a theatre critic and academic) wrote the libretto and Keith MacMillan wrote the music during their time at Trinity College. Included are copies of the script, libretto, and score; MacMillan’s scrapbook about the show, with his annotations on the script; lists of cast members; programs and reviews. As well, there is a script and parts of the handwritten music manuscript for another collaboration by MacMillan and Bryden: the one-act musical comedy What – No Crumpets! (1947). The fonds includes other creative writing by MacMillan from his Trinity days.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
The fond was arranged by the archivist
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Open
Conditions governing reproduction
Various copyright holders.
Language of material
- English