REPORTER MCGILL UNIVERSITY | MONTREAL, QUEBEC | THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2011 | VOLUME 44, ISSUE 4 | UPDATES AT WWW.REPORTER.MCGILL.CA SPECIAL ISSUE | CELEBRATING MCGILL’s 190TH ANNIVERSARY , MP-1982.92 UM SE U ORD M C c NIVERSITY, 1869 / M NIVERSITY, U ILL G c M ATES TO ATES G 2 McGILL REPORTER SPECIAL ISSUE - OCTOBER 14, 2011 CELEBRATING MCGILL’s 190TH ANNIVERSARY THE STORY BEHIND THE HISTORY ISSUE t 190 years young, McGill Dick onto the head of a pin. Ais older than the majority The limits of the printed of the home countries repre- page stand in direct contrast sented by the 2010 student to the boundless vision and body – including Canada, of imaginations of the brilliant course. men and women who have When you’ve been around made this university one of that long, you have a ten- the world’s very best. dency to accumulate a lot of We started by going right to milestones and achievements the source, enlisting the help – even more so when you are of Peter F. McNally, Director of a renowned institution that the History of McGill Project; JOHN KELSEY has produced more than its Gordon Burr, Collections share of Nobel Laureates, Management, University Rhodes Scholars, Olympic Archives; and Dr. Rob Michel, Earl Zukerman from the Communications Officer, time. The great cover shot of gold medalists and world- a former Archives employee; Athletics Department; and Everett Martin, provided us old McGill is courtesy of the changing discoveries. to draw up an outline of the regular contributors Jim with some much-appreciated McCord Museum. That’s great if you’re put- issue. Peter also proved to be Hynes, Chris Chipello and 11-hour copy editing work. The job of laying out ting together a McGill fact a history jack-of-all-trades, as Doug Sweet, most of whom Finding illustrations for this monster fell upon our sheet. Less so, if you’ve been he also wrote three sections benefitted from the work the last 190 years was no designer Allison Flynn, who given the task to celebrate and fact checked the bulk of of Stanley P. Frost, the first small feat. Thankfully, we outdid herself in producing that history and highlight material. Director of the History of had Theresa Rowat, Director, what is probably the biggest those accomplishments in Copy was provided by a McGill Project and author of University Archives, and her and most ambitious McGill a mere 20 pages of tabloid- variety of writers, including the first two volumes of our team at our disposal. They Reporter ever. Some might sized newsprint. Something McNally; long-time Montreal official history, McGill: For the responded to our ambitious even call it historic. akin to transcribing Moby Gazette staffer Paul Waters; Advancement of Learning. photo wish list in record - Neale McDevitt 1801 James McGill and - 1855 a vision of learning BY PETER MCNALLY in the small community as a pros- Institution the hefty heirs tried unsuccessful- Faculty of Medicine, making the perous merchant in the fur trade. sum of £10,000 along ly to prevent the estate College a practical reality. hen McGill University In 1776 McGill married a lo- with his Burnside and money being Quebec’s first university was Wwas founded in 1821, cal widow, Charlotte Guillimin estate. This provi- conveyed to the launched, albeit somewhat hap- higher education in Quebec Desrivières – they had no children sion of his will Institution. For the hazardly. and other parts of British North – and 20 years later, he began to would, however, gestating College, When the years of litigation America – like education gener- acquire his Burnside country es- be nullified un- two developments were finally behind it, the young ally – was rudimentary, inade- tate on the slope of Mount Royal. less, within 10 saved the day. university was able to focus its quate and subject to the compet- McGill was first elected to the years of his death, First, the grant of energy upon the future, particu- ing demands of politics, religion newly created legislative Assembly a college bearing a Royal Charter larly development of the Burnside and language. (There are those of Lower Canada in 1792. That his name was estab- from George IV in property and the founding of two who might argue today that not body, in 1801, created the Royal lished at Burnside. 1821 established the of the oldest university faculties much has changed.) Institution for the Advancement This caveat spurred College as a legal enti- in Canada. James McGill, a sturdy Scot of Learning, Quebec’s first at- the Institution’s ty. Second, in 1829, In 1839, construction began, born in 1744, who had attended tempt at creating a public educa- transformation in James McGill the teaching arm according to the plans of John the University of Glasgow, came tion system. 1818 from a purely of the Montreal Ostell, on the Arts Building and to Montreal in 1766, shortly after This gave James McGill an op- paper operation to General Hospital – East Wing – today’s Dawson the start of the British regime. He portunity to make his mark. He a functioning body. the Montreal Medical Institution Hall. They were opened in 1843, soon became an established figure bequeathed in trust to the Royal From 1819 to 1835, Desrivières’s founded in 1815 – became the at which time the Faculty of George Washington King Louis XV gives his U.S. invasion of France farewell of Canada Montreal is declares war address as is halted at incorporated on England president Stoney Creek as a city WORLD 1744 1775 1796 1813 1821 1829 1832 Oct. 6 James James McGill James McGill James McGill College The Montreal McGill is born settles in begins the UM McGill receives SE Medical Institute in Glasgow, Montreal, purchase U dies Royal Charter, becomes McGill’s Scotland begins his of Burnside ORD M becomes a C Faculty of Medi- c RCHIVES A M McGILL career as a Estate university cine GILL merchant c M McGILL REPORTER SPECIAL ISSUE - OCTOBER 14, 2011 3 CELEBRATING MCGILL’s 190TH ANNIVERSARY CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2 faculty from Catholic, Jewish, and other faiths. Second, the Royal Arts, was established. In 1845, Institution for the Advancement the Faculty of Medicine moved of Learning became the College’s to the new campus, followed Board of Governors, with mem- three years later by the founding bers coming from Anglophone of the Faculty of Law (although Montreal’s rising business and courses in Law had been offered professional community. It is since 1843.) McGill’s faculties of worth noting that in 1852, Laval Medicine and Law are, therefore, University – whose origins stretch the oldest not only in any Quebec back to 1635 – was established in university, but also in any univer- Quebec City as the province’s first sity in Canada. Catholic and Francophone uni- For McGill College, growing versity. Quebec had firmly com- up was anything but smooth and mitted itself to an educational easy. Attracting faculty and stu- system divided along confessional dents proved difficult, as did the lines, meant to reflect English and establishment of academic pro- French linguistic communities. grams. A modern college Religion and money In 1853, the new Board created Problems plaguing these early both an Education Committee years revolved around four major McGILL UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES and a Finance and Building issues: leadership, religion, fund- Construction began on the Arts Building and its then East Wing (now Dawson Hall) in 1839. Committee. Strict financial con- ing and governance. Although The cornerstone for the building was laid by Governor General, Sir John Colborne, on October trol was introduced, and the ac- McGill’s first four principals 7 of that year. The new buildings opened in 1843. This photo was taken in 1851. cumulated deficit began shrink- were intelligent and worthy men ing. As part of the strategy, plans who made positive contributions, the suspicion of French-speaking were put in place to sell McGill none possessed outstanding gifts Quebecers: being too secular for property south of Sherbrooke St. as an educator. The first four: some, too private for others and and develop an alumni society Archdeacon George Jehoshaphat too English for most. Its original ready to support the College. The Mountain (1824-1835), Rev. John intention of providing bilingual academic program was strength- Bethune (1835-1846), Edmund and religiously neutral education ened and new faculty hired. The Allen Meredith (1846-1853) and proved ultimately unacceptable three term English system was Justice Charles Dewey Day (1853- to both English and French com- replaced by one long term. The 1855). munities. Oxbridge pattern of classical stud- The first of those two were Visitation Reports of 1843 and ies was starting to be supplanted Anglican clergy, reflecting the 1848, outlining finances, gover- by modern curricula emphasiz- Royal Charter’s assumption that nance and academic life of the ing applied subjects for careers McGill would operate as an College, were prepared by the in commerce, technology and Anglican institution. However, Royal Institution, and reflected the professions. There would be Mountain was careful to indicate the awkward relationship between no professor of Theology, al- that there would be no denomina- it and the Board. though the subject would tional requirements for students Both reports were equally criti- be taught in affiliated denomina- or faculty. cal of the College’s operation, tional colleges. Later, Bethune’s attempt to im- with the 1843 report strongly Statutes promulgated in 1854 pose religious standards, includ- condemning Bethune and his re- underlined the nondenomina- ing attendance and membership ligious, fiscal and academic pro- tional character of McGill College in the Anglican Church, created gram.