Series 2 - University of Toronto. McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology

0.07 m of textual records

Marshall McLuhan suffered a stroke during the summer of 1979 and, when it became apparent that he could not continue his duties as Director of the Centre for Culture and Technology, the University decided he should retire (he was 68). He died on 31 December, 1980, six months after the University closed the Centre he had created. This decision created an enormous public outcry.

The closure of the Centre resulted from the report of a review committee which recommended that, in the absence of Dr. McLuhan, it be reconstituted as the McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology within the School of Graduate Studies. The Program would establish "a program of research and scholarship which would extend and preserve the work and ideas of Marshall McLuhan in the area of culture and technology." The committee also recommended that the Program be governed by a board of directors, that the University provide the financial resources for the Program, and that it be subject to periodic review.

Dr. Gotlieb was one of the founding members of the Board in 1982. The University's financial crisis, occasioned by the salary settlements that spring, nearly meant that the Program was stillborn. The Board was to spend a considerable amount of time over the next few years seeking outside funding; the Connaught Foundation proved especially receptive. Professor Gotlieb's resignation from the Advisory Board (as it was known from 1989) was reluctantly accepted in March, 1990.

These files contain correspondence, notes, minutes, financial statements, and reports. The arrangement is chronological.

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