Identity area
Reference code
Title
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
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
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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
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Finding aids
Uploaded finding aid
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
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Notes area
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Description control area
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Dates of creation revision deletion
Added to AtoM by Maya Pasternak, July 2019.