Accession B2004-0010 - Wrong Family 2004 accession

5.05 m of textual and graphic records, artifacts (32 boxes)

Members of the Wrong family have handled these records over the years, especially Agnes Armstrong, Oliver Wrong (son of Murray) and Joyce Wrong (widow of Hume). Agnes arranged the letters chronologically by writer, attached handwritten notes to many of them, and made covering notes on the envelopes in which the letters were presented to the University Archives. All notes that add to an understanding of the content of the letters have been retained; photocopies were made of the envelopes as the originals were often in bad shape. Agnes also typed, or had typed, copies of many of the earlier letters, either in whole or in part. Whole copies and selected excerpts have been retained, primarily to reduce handling of the originals and to facilitate reading the letters, as the handwriting is often difficult to decipher. In certain instances, the copies stand in for originals that are missing. Joyce Wrong annotated some of the letters written by her father and her husband but also cut out portions from some of them. Oliver Wrong returned to Canada letters written to his father in England, wrote an article about him and compiled a digest of family correspondence.

Records of three generations of the Blake/Wrong families, including Margaret Blake (wife of Edward Blake), her daughter and son-in-law, Sophia and George Wrong, their children [Margaret (Marga), Murray, Hume, Harold and Agnes] and Gerald Edward Blake. George Wrong was professor of history at the University of Toronto; Margaret Wrong, a leader in the student Christian movement and missionary educator in Africa; Murray Wrong, Commonwealth historian at Oxford University; Hume Wrong, lecturer in history at the University of Toronto and later diplomat and specialist in Canadian-American relations; Harold Wrong and Gerald Blake, students who were killed in World War I; and Agnes Wrong Armstrong, a leader of the Junior League movement in Canada and the United States.

The records include diaries, certificates, correspondence, student papers, articles and poems, press clippings, photographs, and medals. Letters to and from the Wrong family members predominate, especially between George and Sophia and between them and their children. They document a wide range of family matters and the careers, activities, and ideas of the correspondents, along with letters of condolence and tributes on the deaths of some of them. Margaret Wrong’s files include the reports and letters she wrote while with the World Students’ Christian Federation and the International Committee of Christian Literature for Africa.

The system of the arrangement of the letters by writer was largely followed in this finding aid. Many of the letters are in fragile condition. Those that would easily be further damaged by handling have been placed in Mylar sleeves.

Open

Finding aid available (see attached)

Finding aid created by H. Averill, Feb. 2005