Fonds 2138 - Victoria College (Toronto, Ont.). French Department fonds

The first courses in French and French Literature were offered at Victoria College in 1856, however the programme did not expand until the 1880s when the College appointed Alfred H. Reynar, S.C. Smoke, Andrew James Bell and Lewis Eermson Horning. After federation with the University of Toronto, Reynar continued to lead French studies. After the move to Toronto from Cobourg, the French Department was led by John Petch from 1889 until 1898 when it was taken over to Oscar Pelham Edgar. Victoria College's French Department continued to exist separately from that of the University of Toronto, however collaboration was common and the heads of the departments from all the federated college's would meet bi-annually. The were led by a Chairman and a committee was also struck in order to strengthen collaboration and set guidelines. In 1975, the federated college's undergraduate french departments were unified (prior to this graduate programs had unified under the Graduate Department of Romance Languages). A single university Department of French was thus created to ease administrative issues. For practical purposes, most members of the College's department remained in their offices at Victoria. David Smith of Victoria College became the first chairman of the new centralized department.