Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1867-1931 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
1.29 m of textual and graphic records (9 boxes)
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
William Henry Fraser was born in Bond Head, Ontario, in 1853 and received his BA from the University of Toronto in 1880. Following several years on the staff at Upper Canada College, he was appointed lecturer in Italian and Spanish at the University of Toronto in 1887. In 1892 he was appointed associate professor, in 1901 professor. He died in York Mills on 28 December, 1916.
Professor Fraser was a prolific writer of textbooks, alone and in conjunction with John Squair (French) and William Henry Van der Smissen (German). They were used in schools in Ontario for more than two generations. A list of the titles is appended.
In 1883 he married Helene Zahn. They had two sons, William K. and Donald, and one daughter, Frieda Helen. Helen survived him for almost twenty years, dying suddenly on the New York to Toronto train in 1933.
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
This sous-fonds documents the career of William Henry Fraser as professor of Italian and Spanish at the University of Toronto and as a writer of high-school textbooks. It also includes correspondence by his wife, Helene Zahn.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Open
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
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
Notes area
Note
For a list of Professor Fraser's publications see Finding Aid in Archives Reading Room.