Fonds 1333 - Thomas Barr Greenfield fonds

Identity area

Reference code

UTA 1333

Title

Thomas Barr Greenfield fonds

Date(s)

  • 1949 - 1998 (Creation)

Level of description

Fonds

Extent and medium

1.0 m of textual and graphic records (7 boxes)
689 digital files (5 MB)

Context area

Name of creator

(1930-1992)

Biographical history

Thomas Barr Greenfield (1930–1992) was a Canadian scholar whose ideas have been influential in the study of educational administration. Greenfield was born in 1930 in Saskatchewan, Canada. He studied English and German at the University of British Columbia. After graduating from the undergraduate program in British Columbia he began teaching in schools and eventually moved to the field of educational administration. In 1961 he moved to Edmonton Alberta to join the Masters program in Educational Administration at the University of Alberta and subsequently he completed a PhD in the same department. After a period at the University of Alberta he returned to the University of British Columbia where he worked as a professor and researcher. After a brief stay in British Columbia, he received an appointment at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto where he wrote his most influential works.

Greenfield argued against the positivist orientation of the so-called Theory Movement in educational administration and proposed a subjectivist approach to the study of educational administration. In his view, educational organizations have no existence beyond the actions, perceptions and values of the members of the organization. Thomas Greenfield's work has been studied and commented by numerous authors. The Canadian Association for the Study of Educational Administration instituted the Thomas B. Greenfield PhD Dissertation Award in his honour. The award is presented at the annual conference of the Canadian Society for the Study of Education. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_B._Greenfield)

Archival history

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Content and structure area

Scope and content

The fonds is divided into two series.

Series 1 contains course notes, correspondence, addresses, articles, manuscripts, notes, minutes, and photographs relating to the activities of Thom Greenfield as a professor of educational administration at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education and as a gay activist, especially in relation to "Gay Fathers of Toronto", of which he was one of the founders.

Series 2 contains professional materials that relate to Greenfield's appointment at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (correspondence with students and faculty, letters of reference, memoranda, and manuscripts), editorial work related to Greenfield's position as Associate Editor of "Curriculum Inquiry," manuscripts and correspondence related to the organization "Gay Fathers of Toronto," manuscripts for "The educational programs and purposes of the Batchewana Band: a management audit,"and personal correspondence and manuscripts relating to finances, politics, and family.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

Open;
*Digital files in Series 2 must be accessed on a computer in the Archives Reading Room. Requests for viewing this material must be made 2 business days in advance, please contact Archives staff to schedule an appointment or for more details.

Conditions governing reproduction

Language of material

  • English

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

Related descriptions

Notes area

Alternative identifier(s)

Accession

B1993-0047

Access points

Subject access points

Place access points

Description control area

Description identifier

Institution identifier

Rules and/or conventions used

Dates of creation revision deletion

Added to AtoM by Maya Pasternak, July 2019.

Language(s)

Script(s)

Sources

Accession area