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 c C ord M u se um , MP-1982.92 niversity, 1869 / M g ill u niversity, ates to m c g ates 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 Pe t e r McNa l l y 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 McGill receives Medical Institute in Glasgow, Montreal, purchase dies Royal Charter, becomes McGill’s Scotland begins his of Burnside becomes a Faculty of Medi- m c C ord M u se um

McGILL career as a Estate university cine merchant m c Gill A rchives McGill Reporter special issue - October 14, 2011 3 celebrating McGill’s 190th anniversary

c o n t i n u e d f r o m p a g e 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. During 1850-52, construc- and regularized the Corporation strong opposition and was ulti- tion of the water reservoir made as the body concerned with mately thwarted. It also caused the new buildings largely unuse- academic life. This division of the Board never again to appoint able, and forced the College back authority between the Board a clergyman as Principal. into the city for a time. Even so, concerned with administration McGill’s funding was always in- McGill UniverSITY ARCHIVES under the leadership of Meredith and finance, and another body sufficient to cover both building Edmund Allen Meredith was appointed the third Principal and Day, the situation began to – Corporation or Senate – con- and operating expenses. Despite in 1846. He followed the government of Upper Canada to improve. cerned with academic life, still ex- promises to the contrary, govern- Toronto in 1849, and wasn’t replaced as Principal until 1853. The most significant improve- ists at McGill. ment support remained minimal. ment was a revised 1852 Royal After decades of false starts, the Governance of the new univer- Charter from Queen Victoria, two stage was set for the College to ful- sity was bedeviled from the start of Learning. The Institution con- bequest; and by terms of the Royal amendments of which were cru- fill James McGill’s in- by ambiguity over the respec- tended that, by terms of its act, it Charter it served as Visitor. cial. First, the non-denomination- tention of establishing tive roles for the McGill Board controlled and administered pub- By the late 1830s, its sole remain- al, but Protestant and Anglophone a noteworthy institu- of Governors and the Royal lic education; by terms of James ing responsibility was McGill. The nature of McGill was made clear, tion of higher learning Institution for the Advancement McGill’s will it administered his Institution had always aroused without excluding students and in Montreal.

“A Christmas Carol” by Charles Poets Elizabeth The New York A fire in eastern On April 9, The Dickens is Barrett and Times starts Montreal Bank of Montreal published. 6,000 Robert Browning publishing at leaves 10,000 increases its stock to copies are sold elope two cents a copy homeless $2 million

1843 1846 1848 1851 1852 1855

McGill’s Edmund Allen McGill’s McGill’s Faculty of Charles John J.C. Abbott, Faculty of Arts Meredith Faculty of Law Medicine relocates Dewey Day later Prime Minister is established, becomes is established to 15 Côté Street becomes of Canada, is named September 6 McGill’s third McGill’s fourth Dean of McGill’s m c Gill A rchives

Principal m c Gill A rchives Principal m c Gill A rchives Faculty of Law m c Gill A rchives 4 McGill Reporter special issue - October 14, 2011 celebrating McGill’s 190th anniversary 1856 Dawson takes it - 1882 to a higher level

By Pe t e r McNa l l y number of advantages, including stable governance, finances on the ohn William Dawson (1820- road to recovery and the start of J1899) was McGill’s fifth and Montreal’s prosperous and expan- longest serving Principal (1855- sionary era. During the 1840s and 1893). Many would argue that early ’50s, Britain had repealed he was its greatest. He was the Corn Law, mercantile laws also an outstanding leader and and Imperial Navigation Acts, re- visionary educator along with sulting in Montreal and all British being a geologist, palaeontolo- North America losing Imperial gist, and Canada’s leading 19th- preference and undergoing a ma- century scientist. jor economic depression. Born and raised in Pictou, N.S. By the time of Dawson’s arrival, and educated at the University of however, Montreal businessmen Edinburgh, by the time he came were taking advantage of new to McGill he had taught sci- opportunities, developing facto- ence at Pictou Academy, served ries along the recently expanded as Superintendent of Education Lachine Canal, and inaugurating of Nova Scotia, written exten- Canada’s industrial revolution. sively on science and education, With Confederation in 1867, and been elected fellow of the Montreal soon became the met- Geological Society of London. ropolitan centre of a transconti- In appointing him Principal, nental nation bound together by McGill’s Board recognized that telegraph and railways. By the Dawson’s views corresponded end of the century, 75 per cent of exactly with its own on the need Canadian wealth was concentrat- for a modern curriculum, in light ed in Montreal’s elite Square Mile, of the inappropriateness of the stretching west from McGill. All Photos from McGill University Archives English-style classical curriculum While attracting some well-to- in a young country like Canada. do English- and French-speaking The first class to graduate in Applied Science (Engineering), 1873. Science, technology and the Roman Catholics and members of emerging social sciences would other faiths, the neighbourhood’s need to be included in the col- most notable and numerous in- ence curriculum of Agriculture, graduate, Sir William Osler, who lege’s curriculum, along with the habitants were wealthy English- Botany, Chemistry, Geology, taught there from 1874 to 1885. humanities. speaking Protestants whose sup- Zoology and Natural History, port for McGill was crucial during among other subjects. In 1857, he Branching out A rocky start an era of limited government sup- established the McGill Normal Placing McGill on the interna- With the exception of the port for higher education. School for teacher training and tional academic map began in Faculty of Medicine, McGill Dawson’s intelligence, energy, served as its head. Thirty-five of 1857 when, at Dawson’s invita- was in a sorry state at the start and initiative were evident from the the 40 students enrolled in the tion, the American Association of Dawson’s tenure, being virtu- start of his tenure. He began im- first class were female – it was for the Advancement of Science ally moribund and having only mediately cleaning up the grounds the first English-language pro- held its first meeting outside 64 students. This condition was of the abandoned Burnside cam- fessional training program that the United States in Montreal. shared with other pre-Confeder- pus, laying out Graduates Walk allowed women in Montreal. McGill’s provincial and national ation Canadian universities, their – from Sherbrooke St. to the Arts That same year, Dawson began profile were raised in 1858, by total enrolment in 1860-61 total- Building – and planting the trees an Engineering program that, for development of McGill School ling only 1,000. Dawson’s vision that lined it. financial reasons, was closed in Examinations for university ad- and leadership, combined with By 1860, the Faculty of Arts 1863, but revived in 1871, and re- mission, and the granting of affili- community support, resulted in had returned to campus, with constituted in 1875 as the Faculty ation to smaller colleges. McGill soon emerging with an in- Dawson’s own office doubling as of Applied Science. To cope with growing enrol- ternational reputation as Canada’s College library. Dawson shoul- The Medical Faculty’s 1872 re- ment and expanding curriculum, leading university. dered an arduous teaching load Painting of Peter Redpath turn to campus, and its own build- new faculty were hired whose By 1855, the College enjoyed a covering almost the entire sci- by Robert Harris ing, included its most famous reputations added to McGill’s lus-

The Grand Trunk Canadian Railway begins U.S. President Parliamentarian passenger service The Victoria Bridge Abraham Lincoln Thomas D’Arcy between Montreal and opens and becomes declares slavery in McGee is Toronto. The inaugural the first structure to the Confederate assassinated on trip takes 13 hours span the St. Lawrence states unlawful April 7. WORLD m c cord mu se um 1856 1857 1859 1863 1868

Total student McGill Normal School First academic Chair is McGill Observatory is Total student enrolment: 64 for teachers opens endowed by William, established by enrolment: 312 its doors on Belmont Thomas and John Charles Smallwood Street Molson McGILL m c cord mu se um m c g ill archives McGill Reporter special issue - October 14, 2011 5 celebrating McGill’s 190th anniversary

THE BUILDER THE BENEFACTORS THE SCHOLAR

William Molson (1793- 1884, and started on the 1875) and the Redpaths path of becoming the – Peter (1821-1894) leading medical doctor and his wife Grace of the English-speaking (1816-1907) – were world. Considered by loyal friends of Sir some to be the “father John William Dawson of modern medicine,” and McGill’s first great Osler established medical benefactors. Leaders of residency so that students Anglophone Montreal’s would gain firsthand mid-19th century elite, knowledge by working

all p hotos f ro m M c Gill University archives they serve as models with real patients in a real for subsequent bene- hospital setting. He once Sir John William Dawson factors. Their gener- famously said “listen to ous support helped your patient, he is telling By any standard, Sir as a leading – if contro- establish McGill as you the diagnosis.” After John William Dawson versial – intellectual and Canada’s top univer- leaving McGill he taught is McGill’s most impor- researcher, he was an out- sity. Molson Hall (Arts at the University of tant Principal. He took standing educator who Building West Wing) Pennsylvania and Johns a struggling, impover- understood the elements and Redpath Library, Hopkins University, be- ished, and obscure col- of higher education. His Hall, and Museum, Sir William Osler fore becoming Regius lege and shaped it into ability to attract wealthy along with endowed Professor of Medicine Canada’s leading uni- benefactors, essential for chairs and research col- Sir William Osler (1849- at Oxford in 1905. His versity, with an interna- McGill to move forward, lections, stand as last- 1919) MDCM 1872, History of Medicine col- tional reputation. Aside has served as a model for ing monuments to their taught Patholog y at lection is a jewel of the from his own qualities, all his successors. William Molson support. McGill from 1874 to McGill libraries.

c o n t i n u e d f r o m p a g e 4 federal jurisdiction, and an en- the three wings, thereby creating tre, including Charles Smallwood dowment for itself. Of these three the familiar Arts Building façade. and C. H. McLeod (Meteorology) requests, only constitutional sup- Other early supporters includ- – under whom McGill devel- port for reciprocal Protestant/ ed Peter and Grace Redpath, oped Canada’s leading time- Catholic education in Ontario and whose gifts to McGill made keeping observatory – Thomas Quebec was granted. them Canada’s first major li- Sterry Hunt and Bernard James As a mark of respect, however, brary and museum benefactors. Harrington (Chemistry), G. F. after Confederation the Governor- In 1882, Redpath Museum was Armstrong and Henry T. Bovey General became McGill’s Visitor. built to house Dawson’s collection (Civil Engineering), Archibald and provide him with research Duff (Mathematics), and John Early campaigns facilities, as well as to entice him Clark Murray (Philosophy). Fortunately, to compensate for to remain at McGill instead of Dawson did his fair share in the lack of government grants, departing for Princeton building up McGill’s academic community support was strong. University. reputation by publishing 10 The year after his arrival, In 1893, Redpath Library to 12 scientific books and ar- Dawson launched a financial opened. In addition to con- ticles annually. In 1856, he was campaign, the forerunner of many structing the two buildings, the elected President of Montreal others, all of which have been fa- Redpaths supported their opera- Natural History Society, and re- cilitated by the 1857 formation of tion, endowed them, and gave elected intermittently thereafter the Graduate’s (Alumni) Society. them important research col- eventually becoming Honorary Large numbers of small gifts and lections including McLennan Life President. In 1882, he be- bequests were received to provide Library’s Redpath Tracts. Both the came President of the American mcgill university archives for books, medals, prizes, and Redpaths and Molsons endowed Association for the Advancement Sir J. William Dawson and his family on the steps of the Arts scholarships. Chairs at McGill. of Science and first President of Building c. 1865 Major support also began ap- Dawson continued as Principal the Royal Society of Canada. pearing from wealthy benefac- until 1893, but by 1882 he had Financial problems continued tors. Among the earliest was successfully propelled McGill into dogging the College – a consis- sions were a continuing point of As part of the 1867 Confederation the Molson family, particularly becoming Canada’s tently recurring theme in its his- dispute. Dawson and several fac- debate, McGill argued for consti- William, whose support permit- leading university tory. The selling-off of property ulty paid for official activities from tutional guarantees in support of ted construction in 1865 of the with a significant and continued into the 1870s and ’80s. their own pockets. Petitions to gov- Protestant education in Quebec, West Wing of the Arts Building growing reputation for Faculty and staff salaries and pen- ernment proved largely fruitless. universities being placed under along with corridors connecting teaching and research.

Hockey is first played in Montreal according to rules devised by Montreal Royals James George Aylwin baseball team Creighton, a McGill First electric lighting First issue of La Presse is founded University student. m c g ill archives illuminates Montreal hits newsstands.

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William Osler receives The Department of Applied The Redpath James Ferrier First female stu- his medical degree Science becomes a Faculty Museum opens becomes McGill’s dents admitted (MDCM) second Chancellor to the Faculty of Arts m c g ill archives m c g ill archives 6 McGill Reporter special issue - October 14, 2011 celebrating McGill’s 190th anniversary 1883 McGill emerges as - 1894 a top-flight school

By Ch r i s Ch i p e l l o and Michel noted. Macdonald was a voracious cGill’s emergence as reader, and he shared Dawson’s Ma top-flight university belief in the importance of practi- got a big boost in the late 19th cal, scientific education. In 1869, century from two legendary he made his first gift to McGill: Canadian philanthropists: $1,750 for biology equipment. Donald A. Smith and William Two years later, he chipped in C. Macdonald. Their contribu- $5,000 for the general endow- tions helped shape the contours ment. of the University’s campuses By the 1890s, Macdonald was and the future directions of its funding whole buildings. The faculties. Macdonald Physics, Engineering, And like so many other tower- and Chemistry buildings were de- ing figures in McGill’s forma- signed by Sir Andrew Taylor, a tive years, both men had roots in Scottish-born, London-educated Scotland. architect, who also designed Macdonald, the grandson of a several other landmark McGill Scottish laird, was born in Prince buildings of this period, includ- Edward Island in 1831. He moved ing the Redpath Library. (When in the 1850s to Montreal, where the original Engineering Building he made a fortune in the tobacco burned in 1907, Macdonald business, capitalizing on turmoil promptly funded construction of sweeping the U.S. His company a new version.)

“Free of the dynastic ambitions, social life, and art collecting of his fellow Montreal millionaires, Macdonald found his life’s mission McGill University archives in McGill” - Frost & Michel The interior of the Redpath Library, with women library staff at work, c. 1894. The Library, which opened in 1893, was McGill’s main library for 60 years. cured and processed leaf, much Macdonald also donated 25 the institution, transforming it of it from Kentucky, for chewing acres on the lower slopes of from a medical school attached to or pipe tobacco. “The American Mount Royal, above James an arts college into a full-scale uni- Civil War opened up opportu- McGill’s old farm, providing versity with a particular strength nities for export and brought plenty of room for the campus to in science.” higher prices, which Macdonald expand. In later years, he would Donald A. Smith – known as exploited,” according to biogra- also set up a college at the west Lord Strathcona – also made a phers Stanley Frost and Robert H. end of Montreal Island – what series of major donations that had Michel. “He may have cornered is now the Macdonald campus. a sweeping impact on McGill’s much of the American crop.” All told, Macdonald’s gifts and development during this period. A lifelong bachelor, the frugal bequests to McGill added up to Born in Scotland in 1820, Smith and unpretentious Macdonald, in more than $14 million – a stun- set out for Canada in 1838, and 1867, moved with his mother and ning sum for that time. took a job counting muskrat skins sister into a three-story Montreal “Free of the dynastic ambitions, at the Hudson’s Bay Company’s townhouse. “Fatefully, it stood social life, and art collecting of warehouse at Lachine. In 1847, almost next door to McGill his fellow Montreal millionaires, he was assigned to a remote trad- College, which was emerging Macdonald found his life’s mis- ing post in Labrador, where he into prominence under Principal sion in McGill,” Frost and Michel mcgill university archives remained for more than 20 years, John William Dawson,” Frost wrote. “He practically refounded Redpath Library under construction, 1892. until a promotion brought him

Saint James Methodist Construction Church (now Saint James on Montreal’s Dutch artist Vincent United) is built on St. Windsor van Gogh cuts off Catherine Street West in Station begins his left ear downtown Montreal WORLD

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Board of Governors adopts The first female students Donald A. Smith, the use of the name graduate with Lord Strathcona, McGill University Bachelor of Arts degrees becomes McGill’s third Chancellor McGILL m c g ill archives m c g ill archives McGill Reporter special issue - October 14, 2011 7 celebrating McGill’s 190th anniversary

THE BUILDER THE BENEFACTOR THE SCHOLAR

involved in banking, He funded the University`s met McGill’s Chair of railroads and industrial de- first classes for women Pathology, Dr. George velopment. He also carved with gifts of $50,000 in Adami. In 1898, he named out a prominent place in 1884 and $70,000 in 1886. her assistant curator of politics, becoming Mayor Several years later, he the Medical Museum and of Montreal in 1845 and funded the construction sent her to Washington to eventually a Canadian of Royal Victoria College, study the Army Medical Senator. Meanwhile, he and eventually provided Museum. During her trip, played a key role at McGill an endowment of $1 mil- she met William Osler, during a critical period in lion for it. The building who would later ask her its development: From formally opened in 1900, Maude Abbott to write about congenital

all p hotos f ro m M c Gill University archives 1845 until his death in furnished with carpets spe- heart disease for his System 1888, he served as a mem- cially woven in Scotland, Maude Abbott earned of Medicine. Her work James Ferrier ber of the the College`s Donald A. Smith linen from Ireland, and her McGill BA in 1890 on this culminated in her governing body. As presi- silver, glassware and and was valedictorian of 1936 Atlas of Congenital James Ferrier was born dent from 1847 until 1852 Donald A. Smith, better crockery bearing the col- her class. But McGill’s Cardiac Disease. She be- in Scotland in 1800 and of the Royal Institution known as Lord Strathcona, lege crest. Smith also was medical school turned her gan teaching informally at arrived in Montreal in for the Advancement of is probably most recog- a major donor to the down because she was a the Medical Museum in 1821 as a Scottish clerk Learning, he is credited nized as the bearded fig- Faculty of Medicine. woman. She studied in- 1901 and by 1904, “mu- with no money and little with stabilizing McGill`s ure driving the last spike He became a tr ustee stead at Bishop’s, where seum demonstration” education. Still he pro- perilously shaky finances. in Canadian Pacific’s of McGill after his first she received her medical was part of the medical ceeded to set up a busi- In September 1884, he be- transcontinental railway. gift, and was elected degree in 1894, taking the school curriculum. McGill ness in the first store came the University’s sec- But he also was one of the Chancellor in 1888, suc- Senior Prize in anatomy. awarded Abbott an honor- on rue Notre-Dame, ond Chancellor, succeed- greatest philanthropists of ceeding Ferrier. In that Following postgraduate ary MDCM in 1910. She made a fortune in com- ing Charles Dewey Day. his era, and was especially role, he recruited William studies in Europe, she re- retired in 1936 and died in merce, and later became generous toward McGill. Peterson as Principal. turned to Montreal and 1940.

c o n t i n u e d f r o m p a g e 6 birthday. “Later, the women had hospital in Montreal. The Royal further accommodation in the Victoria Hospital opened in 1893, back to Montreal. East Wing corridor. Miss Helen and Smith later endowed it with In 1869, following negotia- Gairdner, the lady superintendent $1 million in Great Northern tions in London for the trans- engaged for their welfare, was Railroad securities. After the fer of HBC’s territories to present with her knitting in the Medical Building burned down in Canada, Prime Minister John A. classroom by way of chaperone,” 1907, he funded its replacement, Macdonald appointed Smith as according to Frost. Smith gave a the Strathcona Medical Building. a special commissioner to defuse further $70,000 in 1886, complet- Keeping female students in a tensions in Manitoba with Métis ing what came to be known as separate college – and out of the leader Louis Riel. The complex the Donalda Endowment for the medical school – irked advocates HBC land transfers also set the Higher Education of Women of coeducation. Grace Ritchie, stage for Smith to build an enor- valedictorian of the first class of mous personal fortune through The Donaldas women graduates in 1888, spoke a series of shrewd investments. The “Donaldas,” as the early in favour of providing medical ed- He bought depressed HBC stock, women students were called, ucation for women even though chalked up huge gains when the propelled a sharp increase in en- Dawson had edited that passage shares rebounded, and eventually rolment in the Faculty of Arts; out of her written remarks. parlayed his growing fortune into by 1889 – the year that Smith Still, Dawson and Smith had a controlling interest in the Bank mcgill university archives became McGill’s Chancellor – finally brought female students of Montreal. He also played a key The William Molson Hall library, c. 1885. In 1860, Principal women accounted for one-third into the University fold, one of role in financing the Canadian Dawson persuaded Molson to donate a west wing to of the Faculty’s student enrol- many landmark developments Pacific Railway, and in 1885 fa- the College building. Named after its benefactor, the new ment. during Dawson’s remarkable 38- mously drove the last spike in wing featured a second floor library, complete with oak shelves Smith was also a major bene- year tenure as Principal. the transcontinental rail link, in and classical columns. factor of McGill’s Faculty of In 1893, Dawson retired, hav- Craigellachie, B.C. Medicine, donating $750,000 ing transformed McGill from a A year earlier, in Montreal, during his lifetime. In 1888 his cash-strapped fledgling college Smith had laid a cornerstone for those for men. Dawson, who fa- embraced Smith’s idea. only child, Margaret, married the in an imperial backwa- McGill’s future, by providing voured higher education for wom- The first women’s classes were son of the Faculty’s dean. Smith ter, to a research uni- $50,000 to create collegiate class- en but had reservations about taught in the Redpath Museum and his cousin George Stephen versity of prominence es for women – on the condition the coeducation trend spreading by McGill professors on Oct. in 1887 announced a gift of $1 across Canada and that they be entirely separate from through the U.S. Midwest, readily 6, 1884, James McGill’s 148th million for construction of a free beyond.

Alfred Nobel, innovator, chemist and engineer, writes his last will and The Montreal Amateur testament and set aside Athletic Association hockey John Harvey the bulk of his estate to Tchaikovsky’s ballet team wins the newly Kellogg patents establish the “Swan Lake” premieres donated Stanley Cup “flaked cereal” Nobel Prizes in St. Petersburg, Russia

1893 1894 1895

Macdonal Physics The original Redpath The Royal Victoria William Peterson and Macdonald LIbrary (now Redpath Hospital opens becomes the sixth Engineering buildings Hall) opens Principal and open, as does the Vice-Chancellor Workman Technical m c g ill archives Building m c cord mu se um m c g ill archives 8 McGill Reporter special issue - October 14, 2011 celebrating McGill’s 190th anniversary 1895 Peterson, Rutherford: - 1919 a golden age

By Ch r i s Ch i p e l l o ity. With Frederick Soddy, who arrived at McGill in 1900 from ollowing William Dawson’s Oxford, he developed the so-called Fretirement as Principal in disintegration theory, which holds 1893, Chancellor Donald A. that the origin and the loss of ra- Smith, later Lord Strathcona dioactivity are due to changes not – the prominent industrial in the molecule, but in the atom baron and McGill benefactor – itself. Otto Hahn, who later dis- spearheaded the search for the covered atomic fission, worked University’s next leader. under Rutherford at the McGill As the 19th century drew to a laboratory in 1905-06. close, Britain and its rich edu- cational traditions still stood as Mac is born the primary reference point for Rutherford was awarded the McGill’s supporters. So Smith, Nobel Prize in Chemistry in naturally enough, took his talent December 1908 (with Soddy hunt across the Atlantic, eventual- winning in 1921). At the pre- ly homing in on a classics scholar sentation ceremony, Royal who had built a successful track Academy of Sciences President record as Principal of University K.B. Hasselberg noted that mcgill university archives College Dundee in Scotland. Rutherford’s breakthrough high- The Physics, Chemistry and main building at Macdonald College following the completion of After protracted negotiations and lighted the emerging importance their construction in 1906. Founded in 1905 by Sir William Macdonald, the college opened its at least two visits from Smith, of interdisciplinary research. doors in 1907 as the largest agricultural college in Canada and one of the most modern in the William Peterson accepted the “Though Rutherford’s work has world. Sir Macdonald’s longtime collaborator James Robertson was its first principal, while the job offer and became McGill’s been carried out by a physicist and College’s operations were overseen by McGill’s Board of Governors. Principal in the fall of 1895. with the aid of physical methods, Peterson, born in 1856 in its importance for chemical inves- Edinburgh, had distinguished tigation is so far-reaching and self- Education was created in the himself as a classics student at the evident, that the Royal Academy Faculty of Arts and Science. The University of Edinburgh and at of Sciences has not hesitated to Macdonald campus has been an Oxford. At McGill, he assumed award to its progenitor the Nobel integral part of the University leadership of an institution that Prize designed for original work ever since. was earning an international in the domain of chemistry – thus reputation for its achievements in affording a new proof to be added Taking the lead medicine and the sciences. That to the numerous existing ones, of Peterson was also a leader in reputation would grow at a rapid the intimate interplay one upon promoting the cause of univer- pace during Peterson’s 24 years at another of the various branches of sity education across Canada and the University’s helm. natural science in modern times.” the U.S., and his prominent role One decision that would con- Another important part of helped raise McGill’s profile. He tribute immensely to McGill’s Peterson’s mandate as Principal was among the first trustees of renown came in 1898, when was to nurture relationships with the Carnegie Foundation for the Peterson hired Ernest Rutherford, the many deep-pocketed McGill Advancement of Teaching, estab- a 28-year-old scientist then work- benefactors that Dawson had cul- lished in 1905 to promote higher ing in the Cavendish Laboratory at tivated. By all accounts, Peterson education, and later became its the University of Cambridge, to fill handled this role deftly. mcgill university archives chairman. In 1912, he hosted a the Macdonald Chair of Physics. When tobacco magnate William A professor, his patient and an attentive class in a Faculty of meeting at McGill of Canadian Installed at the Macdonald C. Macdonald set out to estab- Medicine operating theatre/classroom in 1905. university leaders that gave rise Physics Building (today the site of lish an independent college for to the National Conference of the Schulich Library of Science future Quebec farmers and rural Canadian Universities, forerunner and Engineering), Rutherford teachers, for example, Peterson in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue. The College, which opened in 1907. of the Association of Universities launched a series of experiments persuaded him to name McGill’s University, for its part, agreed to At the same time, the Macdonald and Colleges of Canada. McGill to delve into the recently discov- Board of Governors as the gov- move the McGill Normal School Chair of Education was endowed also helped lay a foundation for ered phenomenon of radioactiv- erning body of the new institution for teacher training to Macdonald at McGill and a Department of university education in western

First modern Olympic The territory Montreal Games known as Shamrocks The Children’s Memorial open in “the Yukon” win the Hospital opens on Athens is created Stanley Cup Cedar Avenue WORLD M c C ord u se um 1896 1897 1898 1899 1904 1906

The McGill School of The first volume Royal Victoria McGill McGill Student Union Architecture is of Old McGill College receives Conservatorium Building (now the founded, a Canadian yearbook is its first women of Music opens McCord Museum) is first published in residence given to McGill by

McGILL Sir William Macdonald m c g ill archives m c g ill archives M c C ord u se um McGill Reporter special issue - October 14, 2011 9 celebrating McGill’s 190th anniversary

THE BUILDER THE BENEFACTOR THE SCHOLAR

poration of Macdonald including arts, law, edu- papers, either alone or as a College as part of McGill. cation, music and archi- co-author. He moved from Peterson took a close in- tecture. After Macdonald Montreal to Manchester terest in student affairs; College opened in Ste- in the summer of 1907, the Students’ Society of Anne-de-Bellevue in and the following year was McGill University was 1907, Macdonald often awarded the Nobel Prize formed during his ten- came to inspect the cam- in Chemistry. Most of the ure, providing a degree pus. In 1914, he succeed- work mentioned in his

M c Gill University archives of student self-govern- ed Lord Strathcona as citation had been carried ment. Peterson was one Chancellor. Macdonald out at McGill. After leav- Sir William Peterson of the initial trustees of died in 1917, and in- ing McGill, Rutherford the Carnegie Foundation Sir William Macdonald cluded in his bequests a went on to other major Sir William Peterson, for the Advancement of legacy of $300,000 for Ernest Rutherford breakthroughs, including a classics scholar from Teaching, established Sir William Christopher the Dept. of Music and splitting the atom in 1913, Scotland, solidified in 1905, and eventually Macdonald made a for- another $500,000 for the Ernest Rutherford was which he described as hav- McGill’s growing reputa- served as the Foundation’s tune in tobacco, but so Faculty of Medicine. His born in 1871 in rural New ing “broken the machine tion as a top-flight research chairman – a role that lat- disapproved of smoking total giving to McGill Zealand. He began parti- and touched the ghost of university. Under his lead- er led the parent Carnegie that McGill staff in the amounted to more than cipating in research on ra- matter.” On Rutherford’s ership, a graduate school Corp. to provide a grant buildings he funded hid $14 million. The bulk of dioactivity at Cambridge’s death, the New York was established and sever- of $1 million to McGill. their pipes during his his estate went to David Cavendish Laboratory, Times said “he was uni- al programs were created He oversaw develop- visits. Besides providing Stewart’s two sons. Walter and pursued experiments versally acknowledged as including architecture, ment of McGill opera- buildings and professo- M. Stewart took over the from 1898 in McGill’s the leading explorer of the commerce and dentistry. tions in British Columbia, rial chairs for physics, direction of Macdonald’s state-of-the-art Macdonald vast, infinitely complex In 1906, he persuaded Sir prior to the creation of engineering and chemis- company and continued Physics Building. During universe within the atom, William C. Macdonald the University of British try, he made substantial using profits to support his nine years at McGill, a universe that he was first to provide for the incor- Columbia. grants to other faculties, McGill and other causes. Rutherford published 69 to penetrate.”

c o n t i n u e d f r o m p a g e 8 merged with McGill’s in 1905, Chancellor and served in that role making Abbott an ex post facto until he died in 1917. Canada through affiliated colleg- Faculty of Medicine alumna, of As early as 1907, McGill of- es, prior to the emergence of the sorts. By then, she was teaching fered courses leading to commis- University of British Columbia, at the Pathology department’s sions in the Canadian militia or University of Victoria and Medical Museum. McGill didn’t in the British army. In 1912, the University of Alberta. open its own medical courses to first Canadian Officers’ Training Meanwhile, an early McGill women until World War I, and Corps in a Canadian university alumnus was putting his stamp the first class of female students was established, and Strathcona on Canadian history. Wilfrid graduated in 1922. helped bankroll the equipping Laurier (BCL 1866) became the of its headquarters. Soon after country’s first francophone prime The ties that bind World War I was declared in minister in 1896. He served until The McGill establishment’s August 1914, a volunteer unit 1911, marking the longest unbro- ties to Britain grew even stron- known as the McGill Provisional ken term of office of any prime ger during the Peterson years. Battalion took shape, command- minister. This was a period of ro- The Principal himself spent all ed by Major Auckland Geddes, bust growth and unprecedented his summers in Britain. And an anatomy professor. Eventually, prosperity across the country. in 1896, Smith, who was then more than 3,000 McGill alumni Immigration expanded, espe- McGill University Archives the University’s Chancellor, and students would serve in the cially in the West, leading to the Students in a Household Science class practice their ironing was appointed Canada’s High armed forces. McGill’s Faculty of creation in 1905 of the provinces skills in 1910. The School of Household Science, a distant Commissioner in London. In Medicine played a major role in of Alberta and Saskatchewan. precursor to today’s School Dietetics and Human Nutrition, 1898, he was made a peer, with treating casualties of the war. Laurier also was an early advo- was founded in 1907 as an adjunct to the agriculture program the title of Lord Strathcona – a In January 1919, shortly after cate of free trade with the U.S. – a at Macdonald College. name that remains etched in the end of the war, Peterson suf- cause that led to the defeat of his McGill campus architecture, par- fered a debilitating stroke while Liberal Party in the election of ticularly the Strathcona Medical presiding at a meeting for depen- September 1911. College for women, and later Maude Abbott applied to study Building (now Anatomy and dants of Scottish war victims. He Women continued to make established an endowment of $1 medicine at McGill in 1890, after Dentistry). Smith continued as resigned as Principal in headway on campus during this million for the college, which for- earning her bachelor’s degree in Canada’s High Commissioner, April of that year and period. In 1896, Smith gave mally opened in 1900. Arts at McGill, the medical fac- as well as McGill’s Chancellor, returned to Britain, the University $300,000 for the Not all doors opened so read- ulty balked. She went to Bishop’s until his death in January 1914. where he died two construction of Royal Victoria ily to female students. When instead. The Bishop’s Faculty Macdonald succeeded him as years later.

On November 22, the Inauguration The Fairmount city’s first regular bus of Montreal’s Test tokens are struck in the Montreal Bagel service is launched on first cinema, first production of Canadian Canadiens opens in St-Étienne Street, better Ouimetoscope coins are founded Mile End known as Bridge Street

1906 1907 1909 1911 1912 1919

Management Macdonald College in The McGill Daily The School of Faculty of education begins Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue is born Physical Dentisty is at McGill with the opens Education is established creation of the established Department of Commerce m c g ill archives m c g ill archives m c g ill archives 10 McGill Reporter special issue - October 14, 2011 celebrating McGill’s 190th anniversary 1920 Between the wars: - 1939 hard times and turmoil

By Pa u l Wa t e r s build the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI). cGill’s Board of Currie’s reign also marked MGovernors surprised ev- the beginning of the end of the eryone – including themselves Imperial era – a prospect that – in 1919 when they picked Sir would have horrified the old gen- Arthur Currie as the University’s eral. Canada had emerged from eighth principal. Academically, the agonies of World War I with Currie boasted few qualifica- a renewed sense of itself as a na- tions, at least on paper. His tion and not just an appendage of only diploma was from his high the British Empire. A small group school in Adelaide, Ont., and of McGill students and faculty his civilian career comprised just members, dismissed at the time a few years as a schoolteacher in as mere nuisances, were at the Victoria, B.C., and a moderately forefront of this new nationalism. successful stint in the insurance Their leader was Frank Scott, po- business – hardly a typical CV litical essayist, poet and later con- for a university principal. stitutional scholar. He and Arthur It turned out to be an inspired Smith helped to found the McGill choice and a wildly popular one. Fortnightly Review in 1925 to give Currie’s wartime career had made “Canadianism” a literary voice. him a national hero. He’d com- The magazine lasted only two manded Canada’s troops on the years but it was a hit on campus. battlefields of Europe and had As contributor Leon Edel recalled mcgill university archives transformed a ramshackle group in his memoirs: “We were called Students from the McGill School of Physical Education practicing callisthenics in 1923. The of colonial volunteers into one of bohemians, rebels, communists, School, the first of its kind in Canada, was founded in 1912. the most effective forces on the smart alecks. But we were read.” Western Front – not a bad record for a militia officer whose day job Changing demographics late 1920s, the Law and Medicine Chancellor, Sir Edward Beatty, a was selling insurance. Edel’s presence on campus Medical faculties had quietly es- lawyer and the president of the He also racked up a pretty im- along with such other contributors tablished quotas for Jews, and the Canadian Pacific Railway. At first pressive record at McGill over the as A.M. Klein and Lew Schwartz Arts faculty required higher ma- Beatty didn’t even bother to name next 13 years or so. It turned out signalled another change: McGill triculation standards for Jewish a new Principal, but took over that his common sense and prag- was less an Anglo-Scottish en- applicants. This discriminatory the day-to-day running of the matic action were just what the clave than it had once been. By the practice was eliminated during University himself, which, given University needed to get it through 1920s, 60 per cent of its students World War II. the hardships of the time, was a period of rapid expansion and came from the Montreal area and Sadly, the Currie years ended probably just as well. From 1933 change. During his tenure, McGill many of them were the children of in controversy. Charges that he’d to 1940, Beatty provided continu- added a new biology building, ex- non-British immigrants who had squandered Canadian lives on ity to an era of McGill principals panded the Redpath Library, re- adopted Canada as their country the battlefield had dogged Currie with short tenures. constructed the Arts Building and and English as their language, for years, and in 1928 they re- Times were indeed hard. For erected the Roddick Gates as a fi- but who had little enthusiasm for emerged. This time, Currie finally example, the University’s in- nal grace note to the old campus. Imperial trappings. sued his tormentors for libel. The vestment income dropped from New departments of Psychology Those demographic changes mcgill university archives trial vindicated him beyond all more than $700,000 in 1927 to and Sociology opened, the School led to one of the darker chapters Canadian chemistry pioneer doubt, but the battle had drained just $392,000 in 1934. Keeping of Social Work started, and Music in McGill’s history. After the war, Robert Fulford Ruttan was him. Even after a year’s sick leave, McGill afloat meant chopping students got their own faculty (de- the number of Jewish students named Director when McGill’s he never fully recovered his old spending, cutting salaries, leav- spite the objections of one profes- on campus grew dramatically. By three chemistry programs vigour. He died on Nov. 30, 1933, ing positions unfilled and raising sor who grumpily asked: “Since the early 1920s, they constituted were amalgamated into a shortly after laying the founda- fees. And from 1935 to 1939, the when has music been considered 40 per cent of the Law students single department in 1912. He tion for the MNI. governors themselves promised one of the Arts?”) Perhaps his and 25 per cent of the Arts stu- served as Dean of Graduate The task of guiding McGill to provide up to $186,000 of greatest accomplishment was dents. That, apparently, was just Studies and Research from through the worst of the Great their own money to balance the working with Wilder Penfield to too much for some people. By the 1924 to 1928. Depression fell to the University’s books.

The illuminated The New York cross atop Yankees purchase Prohibition in Mount Royal is The Babe Ruth from the U.S turns The McCord installed by the Montreal The Red Sox for Montreal into a Museum is Société Saint- Forum is $125,000 nightlife mecca established Jean-Baptiste built WORLD

1920 1921 1924

Sir Arthur Currie becomes McGill’s Faculty McGill Construction on McGill’s eighth Principal of Music is celebrates its the Roddick Gates and Vice-Chancellor established centenary begins McGILL m c g ill archives m c g ill archives m c g ill archives m c g ill archives McGill Reporter special issue - October 14, 2011 11 celebrating McGill’s 190th anniversary

THE BUILDER THE BENEFACTORS THE SCHOLAR

Chancellor Edward Beatty (1877-1934) was a pragmatic, sometimes ruthless corporate execu- tive who had served as Canadian Pacific’s presi- dent for 25 years. But he was also a businessman with a conscience and a strong sense of noblesse oblige. He once said that Wilder Penfield Canadian corporations would be good citizens as American-born Wilder lation allowed him to long as “they are guided Board of Governors 1935-39 Penfield (1891-1976) map the contours of the by men of ability and was perhaps the most human brain. Penfield’s with ideals.” It was this The men who served agreed among themselves brilliant neurosurgeon work was so famous and combination that served on McGill’s Board of to provide up to $186,000 of his age. Luring him so startling that his name Beatty well as he guided Governors from 1935 a year – no mean sum to McGill in 1928 was passed into popular cul- McGill through the grim to 1939 made a remark- in the 1930s – to keep one of the great coups ture. For example, char- years of the Depression. able contribution to McGill in the black. of Principal Currie’s acters in Philip K. Dick’s He made some tough de- the University’s survival Their agreement stipu- tenure. Penfield founded sci-fi classic Do Androids cisions about budget cuts during the dark days lated that the men would the MNI and the associ- Dream of Electronic and fee increases but he of the Depression: they give according to their ated Hospital. He broke Sheep? use something

all p hotos f ro m M c Gill University archives was also able to rally the put up their own money means, and every year new ground in treating called a ‘Penfield Mood support McGill needed to to keep the books bal- the necessary funds were epilepsy and his experi- Organ’ to call up emo- Edward Beatty survive. anced. The governors raised. ments in neural stimu- tions on demand.

c o n t i n u e d f r o m p a g e 10 with carefully chosen visiting pro- fessors of opposing views. By and large, the plan worked. Leonard Red McGill? Marsh, who headed the Social But the Depression didn’t just Science Research Project, lost his hurt McGill’s finances; it also job, as did Eugene Forsey in the changed the university’s political Economics department. atmosphere. A small but vocal It all seems rather repressive group of students and profes- now, but to be fair, Douglas was sors pressed for a more socialist no knee-jerk reactionary bent on response to the economic crisis. stifling all dissent. For example, They made their views known in when the Student Council asked publications like The Alarm Clock if it should veto a proposal to in- and The Black Sheep, which de- vite the leader of the Canadian scribed the Depression in mordant McGIll UNiversity Archives communist movement to a meet- detail and attacked the establish- Principal Arthur Eustace ing on campus, Douglas told ment for having created the mis- Morgan speaks at his council members he’d back their ery in the first place. installation ceremony, 1939. decision, whatever it was even if it Many of their leaders, like the ir- meant his going to prison. At the repressible F.R. Scott, came from McGIll UNiversity Archives time, that was no hollow promise. the ranks of the Canadian socialist In 1924, Lady Amy Redpath Roddick donated the Roddick – made them sound like policy pa- Quebec’s harsh anti-communist movement. But Scott was no lon- Gates in memory of her husband, Sir Thomas George Roddick, pers from the Left. The governors laws made it an offence for any ger just a radical student and poet; a renowned doctor who began the regular practice of sterile wanted balance and Beatty and person or institution just to pos- he was now on the University’s surgery using antiseptics and was dean of the Faculty of his new Principal, Lewis Douglas, sess Marx’s Das Kapital. Law school staff, so when he Medicine from 1901 to 1908. set out to provide it. First, they So while dissent was curbed, it wrote in The Canadian Unionist would weed out what Douglas certainly wasn’t dead. Douglas’s that he didn’t need “another 100 called the “collectivists” by limit- and Beatty’s struggles over years of social injustice, periodic were irritated. ployment. This was a serious en- ing tenure among the junior ranks free speech and its depressions and wars” to prove Even more irritating, how- deavour that had produced doz- and promoting only from a spe- limits set the stage for that capitalism couldn’t produce ever, was the University’s own ens of reports on the economic cially prepared list. Finally, they some of the great de- plenty, predictably the business- Social Science Research Project, situation. Unfortunately, their would neutralize more senior fac- bates of the 1950s and men on the Board of Governors launched in 1930 to study unem- titles – if not always their content ulty like Scott and Carl Dawson ‘60s.

Amelia Earhart Jewish homes, busi- leaves Sir Mortimer nesses and temples are Newfoundland B. Davis ransacked throughout Montreal’s flag, to become the Jewish Nazi Germany and parts based on the first woman to General J.R.R.Tolkien, of Austria on Nov. 9-10, city’s coat of fly solo across Hospital is publishes 1938 in the Night of arms, is first Atlantic founded “The Hobbit” Broken Glass displayed.

1932 1934 1937 1938 1939

Institute of The Montreal Neurological Douglas Hall McGill Redmen The war years begin: 6,298 Parasitology is Institute opens with Residence for football team men and women served with established at Dr. Wilder Penfield as men opens wins the Canadian the Armed and Auxiliary Macdonald Director on University Intercollegiate Forces. 287 gave their lives College Street Championship M c G I ll ARCHIVES M c Gill A rchives C o u rtesy o f the M NI 12 McGill Reporter special issue - October 14, 2011 celebrating McGill’s 190th anniversary 1940 War and expansion - 1962 under Cyril James

By Pa u l Wa t e r s

ough paper for shoe soles, Tpaper that conducts elec- tricity, chewable paper for documents that might have to be destroyed in a hurry, imper- vious paper prisoners of war can’t write secret messages on, paper strong enough to make sandbags – who knew that war- fare would require so many dif- ferent kinds of paper? But in 1939, when Canada once again went to war, it did – so research- ers at McGill’s Pulp and Paper Research Institute figured out how to make them. Their work was just small part of the university’s war effort. Just about every de- partment pitched in. The Physics department trained radio opera- tors, MacDonald College became the eastern training centre for the Canadian Women’s Army Corps and the Medical faculty organized Canadian General Hospitals Nos. 1 and 14, which treated British civilians during German bomb- ing raids and then followed the McGill University Archives Canadian army to Italy. At a special convocation ceremony at the Quebec Citadel on September 16, 1944, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (second from left) and U.S. president Franklin Delano Roosevelt (being hooded) received honorary degrees from McGill. McGill’s war efforts Not surprisingly, McGill chemists played a leading role. with more than 50 instructors. cialist struggles of the 1930s had certainly have gone to someone at McGill only a few months. Department Chairman Otto But not everyone was enthusias- endured. else. In fact, Chancellor Edward An Englishman who had made Maass got much of the credit for tic about the war effort, at least not Beatty told James as much when his name as an academic in the the success of a top-secret pro- in the early days. Some professors, Research to the forefront he invited him to succeed Lewis United States, James was teaching gram to develop defences against notably historian Edward Adair The war effort had at least two Douglas as Principal. “In nor- at the University of Pennsylvania’s chemical warfare. On the offen- and Law Dean Percy Corbett, ar- other effects on McGill’s future. mal circumstances,” Beatty said Wharton School of Commerce sive side, lecturer James Ross gued that war in Europe was none First, it confirmed the importance bluntly, “McGill would search when McGill recruited him to and graduate student Robert of Canada’s concern. At first of scientific research. There would for a really distinguished succes- head (and revitalize) its own Schiessler devised an efficient Frank Scott agreed, writing as late certainly be debates about how sor in Canada and in the United anaemic Commerce depart- way to produce RDX, a highly ef- as April,1939 that Canada should closely University departments Kingdom, but at the present time ment. Instead he had to guide the fective chemical explosive. remain neutral. When Parliament should co-operate with the mili- all such people are being absorbed University through the war, and For the students, the war meant declared war on Germany just five tary and, beyond that, with indus- into the war effort. The Board of then prepare it for the return of compulsory military training for months later, he changed his view try. But no one would ever again Governors would therefore like peace. If anything, the second task all physically fit men and volun- and gave his support. Canada’s question the professor’s dual role you to take on the job.” was even more demanding than tary summer excursions to the participation in the struggle to as both a teacher and researcher. Hardly a ringing endorsement, the first. west to bring in the wheat harvest. defeat fascism, he concluded, The war also played an indirect but James turned out to be one In the spring of 1945, as the war The on-campus Canadian Officers was inevitable. This healthy little role in the appointment of Cyril of the most effective leaders in was ending in Europe and the Training Corps expanded from dose of dissent showed that the James as Principal. In more peace- McGill’s history. At the time, Pacific, McGill had just 3,905 stu- 125 cadets to more than 1,400 legacy of the nationalist and so- ful times, the job would almost he was just 36 and had been dents. Two years later, returning

First flight Jackie takes off from Robinson the newly signs as 2nd India is granted opened Dorval baseman for independence International the Montreal within the British Israel declares The Korean War

Airport Royals N nica online encyclo p edia brita Commonwealth independence begins WORLD

1940 1941 1946 1947 1948 1950

McGill acquires Student enrolment jumps Chancellor Day Hall, McGill Bookstore Stoneycroft Farm in Ste. from 3,933 in the spring formerly the Ross opens (at the site Anne de Bellevue, part of ‘45 to 7,558 in the fall Mansion, is gifted where McConnell of which later became of ‘46 to McGill by Engineering

McGILL the Morgan Arboretum J.W. McConnell to stands today) M c Gill A rchives co u rtesy o f m or g an arboret um house the Faculty of Law M c Gill A rchives McGill Reporter special issue - October 14, 2011 13 celebrating McGill’s 190th anniversary

THE BUILDER THE BENEFACTOR THE SCHOLAR

ministrative experience, made him one of the Princeton, and spent sev- knew little about Canada richest and most gener- en years in India teaching and had been at McGill ous men in Canada. No Indian and Islamic his- only a few months. But one benefited more than tory. While at McGill, he he was a fast learner and McGill. wrote The Meaning and the poverty of his youth McConnell was quoted End of Religion, a book – he’d had to work as a as saying “If we are un- that fundamentally chal-

bank clerk to pay his happy and discontented University Gazette H arvard lenged Western assump- way through the London with things as they are, the tions about the nature of School of Economics fault lies not in our friends Wilfrid Cantwell Smith religion. and the University of or our neighbours, but in Smith believed that the

all p hotos f ro m M c Gill University archives Pe n n s y l va n i a – h a d ourselves - for we get out When Wilfred Cantwell history of the Muslim taught him something J.W. McConnell of this good old world Smith founded McGill’s people could not be un- Cyril James about perseverance. only what we put into it; Institute for Islamic derstood without rec- During the post-war J.W. McConnell began nothing more and noth- Studies in 1952, no one at ognizing that religion English-born Cyril James years, James spearhead- working in 1901 when he ing less.” He served on the time could have pre- was the most important was one of the McGill’s ed McGill’s response to was 14, earning three dol- the Board of Governors dicted the important role element in the creation most influential prin- the “knowledge explo- lars a week at the Standard from 1928 to 1958 and that Islam was to play in and development of the cipals. He guided the sion that resulted in an Chemical Co. in Toronto. over the years gave the world affairs. It was a dar- Islamic Civilization. university through the ever-increasing demand Less than 10 years later, he university Purvis Hall, ing foray into the study The Islamic Studies war, and the decades of for higher education. He was in a position to take Chancellor Day Hall, and of a culture that seemed Library, which began dizzying expansion that was also an instrumental control of St. Lawrence the McConnell Winter both alien and irrelevant. with a mere 250 books, followed it, with barely a player in the successful Sugar. McConnell’s edu- Stadium. In 1959, he do- Smith was a trailblazer in now boasts an excess of misstep. He was just 36 effort to secure federal cation was sketchy, but nated the funds to build the such cross-cultural adven- 110,000 volumes and is when he was named to the funding for Canadian his vision, principles and McConnell Engineering tures. He studied Oriental among the biggest collec- post, had virtually no ad- universities. plough-horse work ethic Building. languages at Toronto and tions in North America.

c o n t i n u e d f r o m p a g e 12 Duplessis’s nationalist govern- To stay competitive in this cli- ment refused to let Quebec univer- mate, universities needed more veterans had more than doubled sities accept grants from Ottawa. classrooms, more labs, more that number to 8,237. Finding a Something had to give, and it did. research and more money. For place to put all them all was a ma- In 1954, Quebec began providing James, that meant governments jor challenge. university funding. McGill’s share had to get involved. “In every McGill’s solution was to take amounted to $750,000 a year. It country in the world today,” he over some no-longer-needed was only after Duplessis died in told a Medical Faculty banquet military installations. The Air 1959 that Quebec began providing in 1963, “men believe that higher Observor Training School in universities with funding that was education has a significant influ- St-Jean-sur-Richelieu became adequate and stable. ence on economic development. Dawson College and an RCAF This belief underlies the world- manning depot in Lachine be- Knowledge explosion wide demand for the expan- came the Peterson Residence. It was clear that universities sion of university institutions … McGill also spent a quarter of a could no longer survive on fees and it also justifies the steadi- million dollars building accom- and private sources bolstered by ly growing demands on the modations for married students occasional grants from various public purse to finance this devel- at Macdonald College – a project governments. Post-secondary en- opment.” known colloquially as “Diaper rolment across the country was James retired as principal in Dell.” soaring and people were begin- 1962, at the very dawning of The quality of the students made ning to see a university education the “Age of Aquarius.” He had the effort worthwhile. “Those of not just as a key to success but as brought the University success- us who had the privilege of teach- McGill University Archives a national asset. This was also the fully though a war and a period ing the veterans,” James said later, McGill Principal Frank Cyril James, J.W. McConnell and Quebec age that coined the phrase “knowl- of hectic expansion. McGill’s “soon realized they were among Premier Maurice Duplessis visiting the new McConnell Wing of edge explosion,” and not just be- finances were stable but tight the best students we have ever the Montreal Neurological Institute in 1953. cause the physical sciences were and its reputation as a world- known.” Warnings that many of turning the whole universe upside class research centre was assured. the vets would be psychologically down. Scholars of the humani- The next decade, how- maladjusted wrecks were appar- was straining McGill’s finances. cost of education. Some prov- ties were also venturing into new ever, would be one of ently overblown. Ottawa generously subsidized the inces provided universities with territory, examining subjects as ferment and rebellion However, this worthy effort veterans’ fees, but then as now, stable funding subsidies, but not diverse as Islam and Indian na- that would test the du- to educate Canada’s warriors fees covered only a portion of the Quebec; furthermore Maurice tionalism. rability of that legacy.

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North America’s first Bellairs Mont St. Hilaire McGill Arctic Research McGill acquires its Institute of Islamic Research is bequeathed Station (MARS) is first mainframe Studies is established Institute is to McGill established at Expedition computer at McGill by Prof. established in by Brigadier Fjord on Axel Heiberg Wilfred Cantwell Barbados Hamilton Gault Island in the Canadian Smith high Arctic. 14 McGill Reporter special issue - October 14, 2011 celebrating McGill’s 190th anniversary 1963 Revolution, quiet - 1979 and otherwise

By Jim Hy n e s over academic freedoms in the new era of public funding for uni- he death of Premier versities, faced Cyril James’s suc- TMaurice Duplessis in cessor. 1959 and the subsequent Quiet Harold Rocke Robertson became Revolution in Quebec brought the University’s 12th Principal many changes to the province, and Vice-Chancellor in December including the complete reform 1962. The first McGill graduate to of its educational system. It also hold the position, Robertson was triggered significant reflection soon occupied on many fronts: on the question of national iden- overseeing McGill’s integration tity among many Francophone in Quebec’s revamped education Quebecers. system, reorganizing the rapidly To some, McGill, with its state- growing University’s adminis- ly campus, was still the old uni- tration and academic structures, lingual bastion of yesteryear, a and overseeing the planning of a symbol of Anglo dominance in 10-year, $150-million rebuilding a time and place where the idea program. of becoming maîtres chez nous Between 1965 and 1966, was a growing sentiment. And the Stephen Leacock build- the make-up of McGill’s Board ing, University Centre, Otto McGill University Archives of Governors didn’t exactly do Maass complex, McIntyre Scenes like this one outside the Roddick Gates were relatively common at the McGill of the late much to alter that impression. In Medical Sciences and Stewart 1960s. In this photo from October 1968, students march from McGill to a demonstration at the 1962, it still comprised 28 giants Biology buildings were con- Université de Montreal in support of Quebec’s CEGEP students. of Canadian finance and indus- structed and a new wing was try – all of them male, all of them added to the Pathology build- Anglophone. ing. A new Chancellor Day Hall charges against John Fekete, the McGill had changed, but mostly and a renovated F. Cyril James editor responsible for the article, grown, during Cyril James’s 22- Administration building (previ- with the new Senate Disciplinary year tenure as Principal – registra- ously the Biology building) came Committee. Protests and rallies tion had climbed to nearly 10,000 along in 1967, and the McLennan ensued, followed by a march on by 1962. During the James era, Library opened its doors in 1969. the Administration building and teaching methods, curricula, pro- the occupation of the Principal’s grams of study and research activ- Children of the revolution office by protesters. ities had improved and expanded, The global student protest In the meantime, student ac- and academic staff had nearly movement came to McGill in tivists continued arguing for doubled to more than 1,500. the mid-1960s. A protest over a greater representation and influ- McGill had grown into a large, $100 fee increase fuelled a March ence in University governance. modern, cosmopolitan university, 5, 1965 rally outside the Arts In November 1967, a Tripartite with an annual operating budget Building, after which approxi- Commission consisting of Board of $22.5 million. Yet it had not mately 40 students staged a sit-in representatives, students and aca- changed enough for some, both in- in the hallway outside the Arts McGill UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES demic staff formed to study the side the University and beyond it. Council Chamber, the meeting Radical McGill Political Science lecturer Stanley Gray (holding matter, and by the 1968-69 school By the early 1960s, professors place of the Board of Governors. cigarette) was once again front and centre at this student year, the 23 representatives of the began demanding more say in Soon, some students were accus- demonstration outside the Administration building. Gray was administration on the University University governance through the ing the University administration fired by the University in February 1969 for disrupting Senate Senate were joined by eight stu- McGill Association of University of being part of the “industrial- and Board of Governors meetings. dents and 32 members of the aca- Teachers. Student groups, embold- political-military complex.” demic staff. ened by the growing worldwide The most infamous case of stu- The curtain fell on the radi- student activism movement, soon dent unrest in McGill history oc- F. Kennedy and his successor alerted the Montreal police mo- cal phase of 1960s McGill with joined them. curred in 1967 after the McGill Lyndon Johnson judged to be in rality squad. Principal Roberston, one last demonstration, a protest All of this, as well as dealings Daily reprinted an article about extremely poor taste by members found the article so “loathsome organized by those who felt the with the provincial government assassinated U.S. President John of the McGill community, who and malignant” that he laid University had failed to adapt to

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Researchers Sam Freedman Openings of McIntyre The inaugural issue of Thomson House is and Phil Gold discover the Medical Sciences the McGill Reporter hits acquired to house carcino-embryonic antigen Buildings, Otto Maass the stands McGill’s Post-Graduate – the most frequently used Chemistry Building Students’ Society

McGILL antigen in the diagnosis and and Stewart Biological treatment of cancer today. Sciences Building McGill Reporter special issue - October 14, 2011 15 celebrating McGill’s 190th anniversary

THE BUILDER THE BENEFACTORS THE SCHOLAR

Principal in 1962. The na- Public ing grants to universities, department (1948-59) and tive of Victoria, B.C. was Support but Quebec schools were Vice-Dean for Biological previously Professor of and shut out over a jurisdic- Sciences (1964-66). His Surgery at the University Private tional dispute, education central concern as a psy- of British Columbia and Giving being the domain of the chologist was to develop afterwards Surgeon- provinces. Nevertheless, his neurophysiological in-Chief at the Montreal “McGill is unique in that McGill received $750,000 theory of such mental G e n e r a l H o s p i t a l it was a public institution a year in provincial fund- functions as thought, and chairman of forced to become a private ing from 1954 to 1957 and imagery, volition, atten- the Department of one,” wrote Stanley Brice more than $1.8 million in tion and memory which Surger y in McGill’s Frost in the University’s 1960. In 1962, the fund- Donald Hebb orthodox behaviour- Faculty of Medicine. official history. McGill ing crisis was resolved by ism tended to avoid or Robertson’s administra- had received royal char- transfer payments from Sometimes described as dismiss. Besides his im- tion planned and carried ters, but not the royal the federal government to the father of neuropsy- portant monographs, out the construction of endowment that some- the provinces. chology and neural net- The Organization of several major McGill times accompanied one. Still primarily a private works, Nova Scotia-born Behaviour (1949) and A buildings, including In 1890, its total revenue institution, supported Donald Hebb came to Textbook of Psychology a new upper campus from government sources by benefactors like E.P. Montreal in 1936 to con- (1958), he wrote over 50 formed by the McIntyre was $4,250. Its annual ed- Taylor, the Bronfman fam- duct research on brain- scholarly articles.

all p hotos f ro m M c Gill University archives Medical Building, the ucation grant climbed to ily, J.W. McConnell (and damaged patients with In 1970, Hebb became Faculty of Law Building $15,000 by 1939, the same his family foundation af- Wilder Penfield at the the first McGill profes- H. Rocke Robertson and the Stewart Biology year a bill proposing aid to ter his death in 1963) and Montreal Neurological sor to be named the Building. During his time universities was introdued the Macdonald-Stewart Institute. Hebb later University’s Chancellor, Harold Rocke Robertson as Principal, the num- into the Quebec legisla- Foundation, McGill fi- returned to McGill as a position he held until became the first McGill ber of students and staff ture. In 1951, the federal nally received major pub- Professor of Psychology, 1974. He retired from graduate to be appointed doubled. government began pay- lic funding. serving as chairman of the teaching in 1972.

c o n t i n u e d f r o m p a g e 15 building program launched in following the election of the Parti the mid-1960s had reached its Quebecois in 1976, principally the new, post-Quiet Revolution conclusion with the opening of due to the passing of Bill 101 (the realities of Quebec society. On the Ernest Rutherford Physics French Language Charter) in March 28, 1969, some 10,000 Building on University St. 1977. members of trade unions, work- The McGill administration McGill had faced challenges ers’ activists and student radicals, also turned its attention to bud- related to Quebec nationalism including a handful of McGill stu- getary and other administrative before. But the policies and sov- dents and one radical McGill lec- reforms in the 1970s, including ereignist platform of the Parti turer, Stanley Gray, marched from the creation of the Secretariat in Quebecois, in office for the first Lafontaine Park to the Roddick 1972 – and academic ones too: the time, were a serious cause of con- Gates demanding 100 per cent Faculty of Arts and Science split cern at the University and else- “Francisation” of the University into the Faculty of Arts and the where in English Montreal. while shouting “McGill français,” Faculty of Science in 1971 and the Enrolment, that vital statistic of “McGill aux travailleurs,” and University switched from a four- universities everywhere, was still “McGill aux québécois.” year to a three-year undergradu- strong and growing at McGill – ate program as the new system of 17,156 students were registered at A Bell toils for McGill McGill UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES CEGEPs was instituted through- the University in 1975-76 (almost After serving as Principal for The McGill Dental Clinic at the Montreal General Hospital in out the province in 1974. 44 per cent of them women). Still, nine of the liveliest years in 1972. The Faculty of Dentistry opened a clinic at the Hospital The continued growth of McGill an exodus of English speaking McGill history, Rocke Robertson in 1922, and renovated and re-equipped it 50 years later. called for more resources. In Montrealers down the 401 had unexpectedly announced his res- 1973, Principal Bell oversaw the McGill administrators worried for ignation in 1969. Robert “Bob” creation of the five-year McGill the University’s future. Bell replaced him in 1970. McGill’s construction boom in 1970. Burnside Hall opened in Development Program, inaugu- “The most threatening thing,” The revolutionary spirit of the crossed into the new decade 1971 to house the departments rated with the objective of raising Principal Bell told the McGill 1960s reverberated through the first without a hitch. The Faculty of of Geography, Mathematics, $25.3 million for the University. News at the time, “is the deteriora- year of the new decade in the form Education, reinvigorated in the Meteorology, Computer Science Although not as preoccupied as tion of the non-francophone com- of the October Crisis, but even mid-1960s in answer to Quebec’s and the Computing Centre, and his predecessor by student poli- munity in Quebec.” then it was clear that Quebecers, new focus on education, moved the McGill-affiliated McCord tics, Bell and his fellow adminis- Time alone would including McGill students, were downtown from its long-time home Museum moved into the old trators were nevertheless drawn reveal the extent of ready to move on and have some on the Macdonald Campus into Student Union building on into matters of language and that deterioration and fun in the ‘Me Decade’. the brand new Education Building Sherbrooke St. By 1977, the re- Quebec nationalism once more its impact on McGill.

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Artificial turf Ronald Melzack Andrew Schally Le Délit français Macdonald- David Johnston and synthetic introduces the McGill becomes first is founded Stewart becomes track is laid Pain Questionnaire, still McGill alumnus to Building 14th Principal at Molson the world’s most widely be awarded a Nobel opens at & Vice- Stadium used tool for evaluating Prize (Medicine and Macdonald Chancellor pain in patients. Physiology) Campus 16 McGill Reporter special issue - October 14, 2011 celebrating McGill’s 190th anniversary 1980 Surviving challenging times - 2002 and emerging stronger

By Pe t e r McNa l l y centrating upon excellence; retain- ing and strengthening academic olitical, constitutional and programs through hiring young, Peconomic volatility char- research-oriented faculty; using acterized the final decades of existing physical facilities effec- the 20th century for Quebec tively and limiting new construc- and all Canada. McGill was no tion; raising public awareness of exception. McGill’s excellence; and acceler- Politically, Quebec asserted its ating the University’s fundraising autonomy, and primacy of the activities. French language – along with They also followed the colle- diminished status for English. gial and consultative practices of The federal government reacted their predecessors, and encour- with a revised and patriated aged the sense of McGill being Constitution in 1982, followed by a communal enterprise in which two failed attempts at further re- everyone shared. In appointing for vision: the 1987-90 Meech Lake the first time Principals from other Accord and 1992 Charlottetown Canadian universities, McGill was Referendum. tacitly admitting there were les- Quebec held two unsuccessful sons to be learned from elsewhere referenda in 1980 and 1995 on in the country. separating, to some extent, from With Johnston, aged 38 – fifth Canada. Economically Canada, youngest and fourth longest- in the late ’70s and early ’80s, ex- serving (1979-1994) Principal – mcgill university archives perienced stagflation – high infla- McGill opted for youth, energy Student activism was back at McGill in the 1980s, with less of an edge than in the 1960s and tion but low growth – and in the and enthusiasm. He was born and with a more global view. In this photo from 1986, McGill students gather on the steps of the ’90s low inflation but high growth. raised in Northern Ontario, re- Arts Building to hear speakers against Apartheid in South Africa. Ottawa had high annual deficits ceived his BA from Harvard and from the ’70s through the mid law degrees from Cambridge and ’90s, followed by balanced bud- Queen’s, taught at the Universities No side. During the 1995 refer- were introduced whereby all aca- gets. Quebec’s economic growth of Toronto and Western Ontario endum, Johnston – no longer demic units underwent regular in- and employment lagged behind – where he served as Dean – and Principal – served as co-chair of ternal and external evaluation. the national average, with govern- published extensively on Canadian the No Committee. From 1999 Student entrance requirements ment deficits being the highest of securities regulation. to 2010, he served as President of were raised significantly, becom- the University of Waterloo, and ing over time among the highest in “In appointing for the first time Principals from in 2010 he became Canada’s 28th Canada and the world. Enrolment other Canadian universities, McGill was tacitly Governor General. rose moderately, with female His McGill tenure began also equaling male enrolment in 1985 admitting there were lessons to be learned from with an internal financial crisis – a and surpassing it thereafter. The elsewhere in the country.” - Peter McNally 1979-80 operating deficit of $4.3 first female deans of a faculty million that set the pattern for his were appointed. entire tenure. By 1991, McGill had A rising proportion of the budget any province. Johnston’s assumption of office an accumulated debt of $80 mil- came from sale and rental of aca- Against this turbulent backdrop, on September 1, 1979, occurred in lion, whose causes included: high demic and non-academic services David Johnston and Bernard an atmosphere of political crisis. inflation, a government imposed and facilities, and from invest- Shapiro preserved and strength- On May 22, 1980 – less than a year tuition freeze and decreasing levels ment income. The 1991 “Report ened McGill by focusing on a after his arrival – Quebec’s first of provincial funding. Even so, the of the Task Force on Priorities” handful of themes: raising en- referendum took place. Although mcgill university archives annual operating budget grew be- and Mission Statement provided a trance requirements for students, McGill remained officially neu- Gretta Chambers (BA‘47) tween 1979-80 and 1993-94 from blueprint for the future. The feder- and increasing academic stan- tral during the campaign, most pictured here in 2004, became $164.2 million to $480.7 million. al government designated McGill, dards for faculty; resisting calls of the province’s Anglophone a McGill Governor in 1977 and A number of specific develop- in the early ’90s, the hub of four to become a mega-university but community and people associ- the first female Chancellor in ments characterized Johnston’s National Centres of Excellence, remaining medium-sized and con- ated with McGill supported the University history in 1991. 15 years in office. Cyclical reviews and participant in six others.

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The MNI McGill Libraries McGill Symphony Gretta Chambers The Department of inaugurates its are computerized Orchestra is first becomes first Human Genetics is Webster Pavilion, for campus-wide Canadian student woman established in the housing the accessibilities orchestra to perform Chancellor Faculty of Medicine McConnell Brain Z e p hyris McGILL at Carnegie Hall Imaging Centre McGill Reporter special issue - October 14, 2011 17 celebrating McGill’s 190th anniversary

THE BUILDERS THE BENEFACTOR THE SCHOLAR

end, Tomlinson enrolled of All Soul’s College, in McGill as Maass’s PhD Oxford. Along with im- student, earning his doc- portant studies on figures torate in 1948. Joining such as Hegel, Taylor’s McMaster University’s writings on modernity chemistry department in and critiques of liberalism 1950, Tomlinson became have focused attention chair and emeritus profes- on central issues in con- sor before retiring in 1989. temporary Canadian life. Embarking upon a second He is actively involved in career, Tomlinson found- political and social issues ed Gennum Corporation, confronting Quebec and which grew to be the Canada. In 2007, Taylor world’s largest maker of and Gérard Bouchard microchips for hearing were appointed to head a aids and one of the biggest Charles Taylor one-year Commission of David Johnston and Bernard Shapiro suppliers of chips for digi- Inquiry into what would Richard H. Tomlinson tal TV studio equipment. Charles Taylor (BA’52) constitute “reasonable David Johnston and political circumstances, In 2000, Tomlinson donat- is an internationally re- accommodation” for mi- Bernard Shapiro steered they remained steadfastly During World War II, ed $64 million – the largest nowned political philoso- nority cultures in Quebec. McGill successfully focused upon McGill’s ac- Richard H. Tomlinson single gift ever received by pher, historian of philoso- The following year, through two of the most ademic mission. Despite served in the Canadian McGill. His benefaction phy, and one of Canada’s Taylor was awarded the difficult decades in the his- continuing controversy militar y’s Chemical will support fellowships. most identifiable public Kyoto Prize – sometimes tory of McGill, Quebec, over their strategy and tac- Warfare Unit, headed by Most people associate intellectuals. In addition referred to as the Japanese and Canada. Faced with tics, McGill emerged with legendary McGill chem- him with the splendid to teaching at McGill, Nobel – in the arts and daunting financial and an enhanced reputation. ist Otto Maass. At War’s Tomlinson Field House. he has also been Fellow philosophy category.

c o n t i n u e d f r o m p a g e 16 crisis. On Oct. 30, 1995, Quebec 1998, its first Canada Foundation held a second – and narrowly de- for Innovation grant and, in 2000, Maclean’s magazine in its first feated – referendum on separat- 162 Canada Research Chairs. In higher-education theme issue ism. In 1993, O ttawa began 1999 Quebec provided a major (1991) – on undergraduate Arts bringing the federal deficit under debt-reduction grant, and began in- and Science – ranked McGill control through severe cost cutting creasing operating funds. McGill’s first. Over succeeding years, the in areas such as transfer payments investments between 1980 and University would continue receiv- to the provinces for health, welfare 2002 grew from $100 million to ing high rankings in other surveys. and higher education. $800 million. Investment income, Initial consideration began for a Shapiro’s mandate to elimi- along with gifts from support- new McGill University teaching nate annual deficits and the ac- ers such as Richard Tomlinson, and research hospital. Johnston cumulated debt resulted in severe also improved the financial situ- became McGill’s public face – a measures: during 1992-1998 the ation. media personality, enhancing the budget was cut by $56 million; New initiatives were launched. brand. Although much day-to-day during 1990-99 faculty were re- Building projects included: administration was delegated to Mcgill university archives duced from 1,450 to 1,250 and 1997, Wong Engineering; 1998, vice-principals and others, fund- Richard Pound, chair of McGill’s Board of Governors (and during 1993-1998 operating rev- Nahum Gelber Law Library; raising became a particular focus. Chancellor from 1999-2009), Principal Bernard Shapiro and enue per student declined by 25 1999, William and Mary Brown Two major capital campaigns Phyllis Shapiro in period costumes at the inauguration of the per cent. Notably low student Student Services; and 2002, MNI were undertaken – the $65-million statue of James McGill in 1996. tuition imposed by the province Brain Tumour Research Centre. McGill Advancement Program upon Quebec’s universities ag- In 1998, the McGill University in the ’80s and the $200-million gravated the situation. Phyllis Health Centre was created. 21st Century campaign in the ’90s graduated from McGill – only For 10 years he served in various Heaphy, McGill’s first female In 2000, the University established – with the head of Development the third Principal to do so – and portfolios as an Ontario Deputy Vice-Principal (Administration the James McGill Professors and Alumni Relations becoming after a short career in business re- Minister. and Finance) was appointed. and William Dawson Scholars a Vice-Principal. ceived a PhD in Education from And his twin brother, Harold, The situation improved dra- programs, and in 2001 committed In selecting Bernard Shapiro, 59, Harvard. He taught briefly in the served as President of Princeton matically in the second half of to hiring 100 new faculty annually as Principal, McGill opted for sea- United States before returning University over much of the same Shapiro’s tenure. In 1997, the fed- over the next 10 years. soned maturity. The University’s to Canada to hold administra- period. eral government’s balanced budget McGill had come first Jewish Principal, he was also tive positions at the University of Shapiro’s tenure as Principal, began resulting in surpluses, a ma- through a challenging the oldest and most experienced. Western Ontario, and the Ontario 1994-2002 also began in an atmo- jor beneficiary of which was high- era even stronger than Born and raised in Montreal, he Institute for Studies in Education. sphere of political and financial er education. McGill received, in before.

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1994 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000

Bernard Shapiro A statue of James The McGill The McGill The Faculty of Dentistry Dick Pound becomes 15th McGill is erected University School of inaugurates its becomes Principal and on lower campus Health Centre Environment award-winning McGill’s 17th Vice-Chancellor as part of McGill’s is founded is established Dental Outreach Chancellor 175th anniversary Program 18 McGill Reporter special issue - October 14, 2011 celebrating McGill’s 190th anniversary 2003 Renewal and - beyond promise

By Do u g Sw e e t well as the annual Lorne Trottier Public Science Symposium. uddy. White. Anglo. And The New Music Building, at the Mresolutely Protestant. That corner of Aylmer and Sherbrooke was the McGill of 190 years ago. Sts. opened in 2006 as a modern And even the McGill of 90 years addition to the renowned Schulich ago – minus the mud, perhaps. School of Music, whose bene- But the McGill of today is a vi- factor, Seymour Schulich, has brant, multi-coloured, multi-cul- contributed hugely to McGill. It tural place that has morphed into houses a world-class sound studio, an international crossroads of audio research labs, the Marvin learning and achievement, where Duchow Music Library, the 200- more than 150 nationalities are seat Tanna Schulich recital hall represented, a host of languages and the Wirth Opera Studio. spoken, and where research occurs The other major new construc- in such varied fields as genomics, tion is the Bellini Life Sciences nanotechnology and how to turn Building, part of the Life Sciences rotting plants into biofuel. Complex, a 340,000-square-foot In addition to the storied resi- system of buildings that is home to dences on the mountain, students more than a dozen facilities aimed reside in three former hotels near at encouraging cross-disciplinary the downtown campus, teachers research. Connected buildings are as likely to be listened to or include McIntyre Medical and Smiling members of the Faculty of Education’s graduating class of 2008 represent the pride and watched online as in person and Stewart Biology as well as the hope of McGill. Some 8,000 students matriculate each year compared to the seven-member cars have all but been banned from Cancer Research Building that graduating class of 1850. the lower campus. houses the Rosalind and Morris McGill, after weathering slash- Goodman Cancer Research son. and-burn budget cuts of the 1990s, Centre. Both the Life Sciences But beyond new bricks and as well as the latent effects of the building and the research centre mortar, the University began a anglo exodus from Quebec that are the fruits of significant philan- far-reaching process of faculty followed the election of the Parti thropy – Francesco Bellini con- renewal that would culminate in Québécois and two referendums tributed a major sum toward the 1,000 new professors hired over on sovereignty, emerged from construction of the building and the past decade. Nearly 60 per cent something of an existential cri- Rosalind and Morris Goodman of them were hired from institu- sis and started to blossom at the Family Foundation gave gener- tions beyond Canada’s borders. dawn of the new millennium. ously to establish the Research Boosted by the federal Canada Centre and support its operation. Foundation for Innovation and The changing McGill skyline This has also been a period of Canada Research Chair programs, Although the past decade has not-so-visible physical renewal, McGill went after new profs with seen comparatively few physical in the form of significant reno- a vengeance. changes to its landscape, three im- vations. The federal Knowledge There were risks in that, ac- portant new buildings have been Infrastructure Program and owen egan knowledges Heather Munroe- erected in the past decade. matching provincial support pro- Former U.S. President Bill Clinton shares a laugh with Principal Blum, who had taken over as Inaugurated in 2004, the Trottier vided tens of millions of dollars to Heather Munroe-Blum during the Oct. 16, 2009 ceremony at Principal and Vice-Chancellor in building on University St., which is renovate three buildings on cam- which Clinton was granted a Doctor of Laws, honoris causa 2002-03. part of McGill’s Tech Square, was pus – the Otto Maass Chemistry from McGill. “Renewal is absolutely critical named for Lorne Trottier, winner Building, McIntyre Medical and to a university, as are sustained of the Prix Lionel-Boulet for lead- Macdonald Engineering. values and standards,” Munroe- ership in scientific advancement. One other significant change to date the Montreal Alouettes foot- seats with the addition of a second Blum said. “My fear was that if Trottier donated a substantial sum the University’s physical appear- ball team. Originally built in the tier of seating on the south side we were going to renew over half toward its construction and has ance deserves mention and that is early years of the 20th Century and the addition of permanent of the professoriate in a decade made other major gifts supporting the recent expansion of Percival and officially named in 1920, the seats to replace temporary bleach- – and having a Principal (from) Aerospace and Astrophysics, as Molson Stadium to accommo- Stadium’s capacity grew by 5,000 ers in time for the 2010 CFL sea- Ontario, who was not a McGill

Indian Ocean The Montreal Expos tsunami kills more play their last game at 9/11 terrorist than 230,000 the Big-O before Barack Obama becomes attacks kill close people in 14 Facebook relocating to first African-American to 3,000 countries debuts Washington, D.C. to win U.S. Presidency. WORLD

2001 2003 2004 2007 2008

Heather Munroe- Researchers Moshe Szyf The public phase Macdonald McGill Martlets The McGill Blum becomes and Michael Meaney of Campaign campus win first of Life Sciences McGill’s 16th provide the first definitive McGill is launched celebrates its two consecu- Complex Principal and Vice- evidence that genes can be with goal of rais- centennial tive national is officially

McGILL Chancellor influenced and shaped by ing $750 million championships opened environmental factors. McGill Reporter special issue - October 14, 2011 19 celebrating McGill’s 190th anniversary

LOOKING down the road: Will We still need mcgill?

he Internet has changed minutes on tap, get an “edu- Teverything. Where once cation” in your living room. students paid rapt attention And a pretty good one. to a professor scrawling on So what role will a University a blackboard or imparting play in coming decades? Is pearls of wisdom through a the lecture hall doomed? well-worn lecture, learning No to that last one, say se- is different now. nior academics, who point to Paper notebooks have been the tremendous advantages replaced by laptops or iPads. human interaction brings to Course material can be ac- learning and teaching. cessed from virtually any- “Teaching is a contact where in the world. sport,” said Principal Heather Students, or even non- Munroe-Blum. “Technology the end of the day a mutual like Munroe-Blum, sees the talking about the inspiration students can call up lectures might be an assist, not a learning experience between ability to download a lecture that can be imparted in the on any subject from the best substitute … there’s no sub- professors and students. as an enhancement to, not atmosphere of a classroom. minds in the world, including stitute for the extraordinary McGill has been “way ahead a replacement for going to “You go to a class, you get those at McGill. It is theoreti- learning that happens stu- of the curve” in adapting new class. a sense of that human being. cally possible to sit at home dent-to-student, and in that technology, said Chemistry “Most students will say they That’s where the inspiration and, with a lot of Internet exchange, which is really at Professor David Harpp who, want that class,” he said, happens.”

has to subsidize MBA students by ing campaign to date: a $750-mil- c o n t i n u e d f r o m p a g e 18 about $10,000 each to make up lion effort that will conclude in the difference between what the the spring of 2013. So far the alum – was there a chance that we program cost and the grant and campaign has pulled in more than would risk hurting the very best of tuition support it had received $600 million, despite the recession what makes McGill McGill?” from the Government. of 2008 and continued economic It didn’t turn out that way. This move had its seeds in the turbulence into the present day. “I credit being in Quebec and significant support philanthropist So Munroe-Blum, who has in Montreal for this, I credit all of Marcel Desautels had provided to found the Principalship to have those within our community who the Faculty. exceeded “my wildest dreams,” is have welcomed those who have McGill has found itself hon- hopeful when she looks toward the come newly to the professoriate, oured in an era where rankings future, especially when it comes to to the admin and support ranks … have multiplied and been given student engagement. for the fact that somehow – touch greater prominence by the inter- “I find, compared to our genera- wood – all of that uniqueness, of national media. McGill has con- tion – and it is partly the Internet engagement with the institution, sistently ranked in the Top 25 in but it is partly globalization … seems to be sustained and growing the THE/QS World University and those are two big contributors and our ability to retain and en- Rankings (now the QS World – our students are better informed hance the best of all those things University Rankings) and highly about issues. We had a lot of pas- that have allowed McGill to be in both the Times Higher and sion. We cared about justice and McGill, through good times and As part of the Greening the Lower Campus initiative, the Shanghai scores. As well, it has equity. We had very little content challenges, seems to be strength- section of McTavish Street between Doctor Penfield and stood as the best medical-doctor- in that. … ened. Sherbrooke – flanked entirely by McGill buildings – became a al university in Canada for six “You think of the complexity “And I thank our alumni, I pedestrian zone in 2010. years in a row in the Maclean’s of challenges that young people thank our Board of Governors, I Magazine rankings of Canadian today have to face with environ- thank our professors and admin universities. mental concerns, certainly the big and support staff, and all of those Looking ahead summer of 2009, when the Board “The rankings have helped keep economic concerns, peace and who have embraced this over time with confidence of Governors decided that the everybody’s eyeballs on McGill security and on and on – they’d and who inculcate these values.” The past decade has not been program could only be sustained across the country,” Harpp said, better care, they’d better be en- “That new wave of hiring bright- one without turbulence. A piv- through a self-financing model, crediting academic renewal and gaged. Because we’re depending ened the future,” said Chemistry otal, two-year dispute with the until August of 2011, when the Munroe-Blum’s tireless approach on them, but most importantly, Prof. David Harpp, who is also the Government of Quebec over Government and the University to the job for maintaining and they’re dependent, their future University’s Marshal. “(Munroe- whether the University could announced that the MBA pro- enhancing the McGill reputation and the future genera- Blum) came at just about the turn the Desautels Faculty of gram was sufficiently unique to that is key to its high standing. tions are dependent on right time and did the most she Management MBA into a self- meet the ministry’s requirements This period also saw the them engaging deeply could with what we had to work funding program is a case in point. for a self-funding program. The University launch in the fall of and coming up with with.” The dispute lasted from the late result means McGill no longer 2007 its most ambitious fundrais- solutions.”

John Henry Foster UNAIDS estimates The Arab Spring, “Jack” Babcock, more than 34 a revolutionary Canada’s last known million people wave of protest BIXI bike service surviving veteran of worldwide are Prince William and civil unrest, rolls out in the First World War, living with the and Kate sweeps the Montreal dies at age 109 HIV virus. Middleton marry Middle East

2009 2010 2011

The Dalai Lama Nobel Prize goes Five McGill students William Shatner McGill celebrates its speaks to 500 to McGill alums elected as NDP MPs receives Honorary 190th anniversary education students William Boyle in spring federal Doctor of Literature from Quebec uni- (physics) and Jack election from McGill versities in Pollack Szostak (medicine) Hall. 20 McGill Reporter special issue - October 14, 2011 celebrating McGill’s 190th anniversary Sound bodies: a brief history of athletics at McGill

By Ea r l Zu k e r m a n

ports in Montreal started as a Sfeature of community activi- ties for entertainment or compe- tition. It was natural that sports became an important part of the community activity in winter, with variations of hockey, and in summer, with rudimentary rugby, soccer and an early ver- sion of baseball. McGill stu- dents participated informally in many of these activities dating back to the 1850s. In the 1860s, many students took advantage of the Montreal Gym Club and began regular ex- ercise programs called “physical jerks.” This became more of a real McGill project when Frederick Barnjum established gym classes three times a week in 1880. McGill students played a prom- inent role in the first intercolle- giate football game at Harvard in 1874. They also took part in the first organized game of hockey in 1875, established the first codi- mcgill uNIVERSITY ARCHIVES fied hockey rules in 1877, formed This Alex Henderson photo of lower campus taken during the 1884 McGill winter carnival is one the first depicting an ice the first organized team in 1877, hockey game in progress. and were instrumental in both the organization of the CAHA and a major re-drafting of hockey rules sity sports teams, the McGill in 1886. Summer Sports Camp and the Canadian Football League’s Father of basketball Montreal Alouettes. The addition James Naismith, a notable of the Sir Arthur Currie Memorial McGill athlete in gymnastics Gymnasium-Armoury (1939) and and rugby-football, became the its swimming pool (1947), the first director of physical train- McConnell Winter Arena (1956) ing at McGill in 1898. Two and the Tomlinson Fieldhouse years later, he moved on to a (1994) has turned a school once position at Springfield College, renowned only for its brain-pow- in Massachusetts, where he “in- er to one that also produces top- vented” basketball, a game that flight student athletes. was actually first played on the On top of McGill’s suc- McGill campus in 1893. cess in women’s hockey, the Concurrently, the students University has won national formalized their annual athlet- titles in swimming (1972), foot- ics competitions by establishing mcgill uNIVERSITY ARCHIVES mcgill uNIVERSITY ARCHIVES ball (1987), soccer (1982, 1983, the McGill University Athletics Basketball inventor James The 1969 football Redmen captured the Yates Cup, the oldest 1997), baseball (2007, 2010) and Association in 1884. These com- Naismith first came to McGill still-existing football trophy in North America, as champions synchronized swimming (2007, petitions became the highlight of as a student in 1883 of the Ontario-Quebec Intercollegiate Football League. 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011). Over the school year. the past century, 111 McGill stu- The history of McGill’s inter- dents and alumni have gone on collegiate sports is rife with fa- tivities on the campus. In 1888, College for women was opened of back-to-back-to CIS national to Olympic glory, winning mous family names like Molson, the Faculty of Arts passed a reso- in 1900 – complete with its own championships in 2008 and 2009, a combined total of 28 Olympic Birks, Redpath, Notman, lution that “if a number of wom- gymnasium – they started the and then repeated as national medals, including eight gold, Pitfield, Rothschild, Cleghorn, en students being willing to form RVC Athletics Club. In this way, champs in 2011. nine silver and 11 bronze. Perhaps Chippindale, Tilden and Pound a class in gymnastics on the same McGill women “never walked most impressive is the 2,021 – people who went on to become terms of payment as the men, very warily” in the pursuit of Success in the classroom and Canadian Interuniversity renowned leaders in the business the Faculty will recommend to athletics. on the playing field Sport Academic All-Canadian community after graduating. the governors that the necessary Fast-forward a century and the Over the years athletics at student athletes that have come Two years after the admission arrangements be made.” McGill women’s hockey team McGill have undergone a radical out of McGill – more than from of female students to McGill in In 1896, women’s hockey evolved from what was arguably metamorphosis. Percival Molson any other university in the nation 1884, women developed their was first played on campus and the worst team in the country Stadium, which opened in 1919, – since the program’s inception own tennis and other sports ac- when McGill’s Royal Victoria to the best. They won their first is now home to a variety of var- in 1990.