Milton Wilson Fonds F2017
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Description and Finding Aid MILTON T. WILSON FONDS F2017 Prepared by Celia Schmidt, 2011 Revised by Celia Schmidt, 2012 TRINITY COLLEGE 6 HOSKIN AVENUE, TORONTO, ON, CANADA M5S 1H8 WWW.TRINITY.UTORONTO.CA [email protected] 416 978-2019 Wilson fonds MILTON T. WILSON FONDS Dates of creation: 1941–1996 Extent: 55 cm of textual records Biographical sketch: Milton Thomas Wilson, a scholar of Romantic poetry and an editor of Canadian Forum, was born in Toronto in 1923 to Mr and Mrs G. S. Wilson. He attended St Andrew’s College in Aurora, Ontario. In 1940, Wilson began studying English at Trinity College in the University of Toronto, but he interrupted his education in 1943 to serve in the Canadian navy during the Second World War. He returned to Toronto to obtain his BA and MA degrees in 1945 and 1946 respectively. After teaching briefly at the University of Syracuse, he was appointed lecturer at Trinity College in 1949. He completed a PhD at Columbia University in 1957. He became full professor at Trinity College in 1966 and professor emeritus in 1988. In 1975, Wilson became the first chair of the University of Toronto Department of English. (The English departments of the colleges at the University of Toronto had previously merged together under the direction of a committee of which Wilson was also chair.) Wilson worked as literary editor (1954-59) and managing editor (1959-68) of Canadian Forum. Among his publications are Shelley's Later Poetry (1959, republished 1974) and E. J. Pratt (1969). He is the editor of Poetry of Mid-Century (1964) and Poets Between the Wars (1967). He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. Wilson married Joanna Crawford, daughter of Mr and Mrs John Knox Crawford, on 6 September 1947.They had six children: Barbara, Katharine, Gregory, Victoria, Timothy, and Antony. Professor Wilson died in Toronto on 22 March 2013. Scope and content: Fonds consists of records relating to Dr Wilson’s academic career, publications, and administrative role in the departments of English at Trinity College and the University of Toronto as well as correspondence, including poetry, relating to his position as editor of Canadian Forum. Contains series 1. Literary correspondence 2. Academic work 3. Trinity College and University of Toronto Departments of English 4. Publications 2 Wilson fonds Notes: Acquisition history: The records contained in the first and second boxes were received from Dr Wilson by Linda Corman, head librarian of the Trinity College John W. Graham Library, who transferred them to the Archives on 15 November 1991 (accession 1991-0018), with the exception of the Series 3 records in the second box. The latter were located in the Archives and accessioned (no. 2009-0003) by the Archivist in 2009; their provenance is unknown. The records contained in the third, fourth, and fifth boxes were found in the Professors Emeritus office by the Rolph-Bell Archivist, Sylvia Lassam, in October 2012, and were immediately transferred to the archives (accession 2013-21). Arrangement: With the exception of the Series 3 material in the second box and the Irving Layton and Al Purdy files, for all of which original order was maintained, the original order of materials in the first two boxes is unknown; there was likely no apparent order. A chronological order within files in the first and second boxes was imposed sometime after 1991 by staff of the Trinity College Archives (with undated items at the end of each file). Arrangement of the folders in Series 1 in alphabetical order by correspondent’s last name was also likely imposed by Archives staff. The folders in the third, fourth, and fifth boxes were arranged by series and then chronologically by C. Schmidt. Within folders, original order was maintained, though minor weeding and tidying was done. Two publications were removed from the 2012 accession and offered to the Trinity College John W. Graham Library: Lloyd Abbey’s The Antlered Boy (Oberon Press, 1984) and Criticism: A Quarterly for Literature and the Arts (Vol. II, No. 2 – contains a review of Wilson’s Shelley’s Later Poetry by Richard Harter Fogle, pp. 214-216). Restrictions on access: Some material in poor condition in the first and second boxes has been photocopied on acid-free paper and placed next to the original. Researchers are asked to avoid using the originals where photocopies exist. Some files are closed; see series-level access note. Terms governing use and reproduction / publication: Various copyright holders. It is the researcher's responsibility to obtain permission to publish any part of the fonds. Associated material: Correspondence from Milton Wilson to Irving Layton, 1958-1969, is held at Concordia University. Photocopies of this correspondence are available in General Accession 2014-41. Provenance access points Wilson, Milton T. (1923- ) 3 Wilson fonds SERIES 1: LITERARY CORRESPONDENCE Dates of creation: [1955?] – [before 1991] Extent: 11 cm of textual records Scope and content: Correspondence, often regarding the submission or revision of poetry for the Canadian Forum. In addition to letters to Wilson, there are a substantial number of separate poems, mainly originals with the exception of a few photocopied items in one of the Layton files. The poems are often annotated by their respective authors, and there are sometimes several different versions of the same poems. It seems Wilson kept few copies of his replies to his correspondents, but there are some finished, as well as drafted, replies. FOLDER/UNIT START END CONTENTS BOX/ TITLE DATE DATE FILE # Canadian Forum 1956 1990 Correspondence with Michael Bersensky, 3-1 James Angus Brown, Chuck Carlson, A. F. B. Clark, Ralph Cunningham, Wynne Francis, Len Gasparini, Stanley Godlovitch, George Johnston, Douglas V. LePan, L. A. Mackay, Robin Mathews, D. W. M. McFadden, Alan Pearson, Sam Solecki, Peter Stevens, George Walton (with poem “Panurge Replies”), Robert Weaver, David Wright, and Seymour [?].One drafted reply by Wilson. Also “Minutes of Shareholders’ Meeting of Canadian Forum Limited.” Milton Acorn [1961?] [1968?] Letters to Wilson and poems: three 1-1 haikus, “Poem Written in a One-Tree Forest,” “In the Felt Rustle of Silence…,” “Wink in a Wee Window,” “The Crown of Thorns…,” “After Eluard…,” “Murat,” “Song the Fourth Musician, of…,” and “Barry”. Patrick January January Letter to Wilson and a bound sample of 1-2 Anderson 1974 1974 shorter poems: “The Candles,” “Poem as Bird,” “An Essex Lake,” “Emily Dickinson At Work,” “An Owl,” “On First Getting Reading Glasses,” “The Mistake,” “On Buying London Paving Stones For The 4 Wilson fonds Garden,” “The Mirror,” “Domestic,” “Drinker,” “The Ball,” “Rain Boy,” “The Analogical Net,” “A Car Passing,” “Draught of Fishes,” “Four Georgian Poems,” “Pools,” “Frisked!” “Memory of Lake Towns,” “Remembering Baie St Paul,” “Late At Night,” “A Garment Drowned,” “Dear Son,” “In Spring,” “Weather Talk,” “Chinese: Montreal,” “Outside The Supermarket,” “Railway Station: Wartime,” “The Dark Walk Home,” “By The Sea,” “A Simple Voice,” “A Hint,” “My Lady of Canada,” “Fragment From The School of Night,” “Morning; Laurentian Farm,” “Train Whistle; Vermont,” “from The Birth of Aphrodite,” “Family Quarrel,” “(Picasso),” “Statue,” “Winter in the Sticks,” “Glass Girl,” “Boy in Cachou Tree,” “A Geography,” “A Boy’s Pleasure,” and “Waking Up Poem”). Margaret Avison 8 Sept 8 Sept Postcard to Wilson. 1-3 1962 1962 Margaret [1964?] [1964?] Letter to Wilson re: The Circle Game 1-4 Atwood and poem (“A Meal”). Earle Birney 1964 1982 Letters to Wilson. 1-5 bill bissett [196-?] [196-?] Letters to Wilson and poems: “I cum 1-6 among yow to create divisions,” “NO ONE OWNS EARTH,” and “song for Ooljah.” Fred Cogswell 1959 1965 Letters to Wilson and poem (“Watching 1-7 These Two Files”). Leonard Cohen 24 Dec 24 Dec Letter to Wilson re: Canada Council 1-8 1958 1958 grant. Victor Coleman 11 April 11 April Detroit Artists’ Workshop mailing sent 1-9 1965 1965 to Wilson by Coleman. Chris Daboll 1979 1980 All untitled except “Self-Portrait.” 3-2 John Glassco 26 Oct 26 Oct Letter to Wilson re: petition against 1-10 5 Wilson fonds 1964 1964 French indictment of Glassco, Maurice Girodias, and Doug Beardsley for obscenity. Phyllis Gotlieb 1967 1968 Two letters to Wilson. 1-11 Hugh Hood 27 April 27 April Letter to Wilson. 1-12 1964 1964 George Benson 1950s 1960s Letters to Wilson. 3-3 Johnston Patrick Lane 1964 1966 Letters to Wilson. 1-13 Irving Layton – [1955?] [1974?] Originals of poems with commentary 1-14 sent to Francis (“Dining Out” and “As Seen Through A Mansbridge Glass Darkly”), a poem with handwritten revisions (“The Fool’s Song”), and letters to Wilson. The material in this file was sent by Wilson to Mansbridge, who was preparing an edition of Irving Layton’s letters, published as Wild Gooseberries (1989). Irving Layton – 1985 1989 Letters to Wilson from Mansbridge re: 1-15 Francis edition of Irving Layton’s letters. Mansbridge Irving Layton [1958?] [1960?] Letter from Wilson to the Canada 1-16 Council re: Senior Arts Fellowship, letters to Wilson, and poems, some with multiple versions and/or handwritten revisions: “A Bonnet for Bessie,” “In Praise of Benefactors,” “Trilliums After a Party,” “For a Dead Benefactor,” “Because My Calling is Such,” “My Flesh Comfortless,” “I Know the Dark and Hovering Moth,” “The Caged Bird,” and “The Song of Pincus.” This file and the four that follow were likely originally one file, since separated by the Archivist. Irving Layton [1960?] [1961?] Newspaper articles by or about Layton 1-17