Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1966-2015 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
105 portrait photographs (1 box)
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Sheldon Grimson is a photographer based in Toronto, Ontario. In 1970, Grimson was hired by Oxford University to photograph portraits of leading Canadian poets and writers for the book 15 Canadian Poets. This book came to be a standard textbook in Canadian schools and is still in print. In 1980, Grimson had the chance to photograph additional Canadian writers for Anansi Press.
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Gift of Sheldon Grimson, 2021.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Black and white photographs taken by Sheldon Grimson in the early 1970s of various Canadian writers, primarily to be featured in the book 15 Canadian Poets.
Titles and descriptions based on photographer's notes on the back of the photographs.
This collection includes portraits of the following writers and figures (alphabetically): Milton Acorn, Martin Ahvenus, Margaret Atwood, Margaret Avison, Earle Birney, George Bowering, Leonard Cohen, Victor Coleman, Howard Engel, Leon Fleisher, Gary Geddes, Doug G. Jones, Irving Layton, Patrick Lane, Dennis Lee, Gwendolyn MacEwen, Eli Mandel, Judith Merril, John Newlove, bp Nichol, Michael Ondaatje, Al Purdy, Joe Rosenblatt, Raymond Souster, Charles Taylor and Adele Wiseman. This collection also includes a print of a self-portrait of the photographer, Sheldon Grimson, shot around 1968-1970.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Open for research purposes.
Copyright of Sheldon Grimson. Permission of the artist required for reprint or reuse.
Material may be requested in person at the Fisher Library Reference Desk, or in advance using our online stack retrieval request form: https://aeon.library.utoronto.ca