OSLER LIBRARY NEWSLETTER McGill University, Montreal, Canada No. 88-June 1998 H. Rocke Robertson: Training Building of the Allan the beneficiary of so much of his A PERSONAL REMINISCENCE Memorial Institute, the Stewart energy and attention, particularly in Biology Building, the Otto Maass the years following the completion of o visitor to the Osler Chemistry Building, the Roscoe Wing his term as Principal, the Library is, in a Library can avoid the of the Royal Victoria College, New sense, an extension of the energy and presence of Dr. H. Chancellor Day Hall, the University dedication to growth that marked the Rocke Robertson. It is Centre (familiarly known as the Robertson years. It, too, has Robertson’s literally written on the “William Shatner Building”).... and the name written on its walls-specifically, walls. Directly to the list goes on and on. Robertson not only on the walls of the H. Rocke Robertson right of the door into the McIntyre changed McGill’s outsides for ever, he Room, the major rare books facility of Medical Building is an elegant plaque also profoundly altered its inner life. the Library. That name, visible through recording the opening of the building His tenure as Principal saw enormous the glass separating the Room from the Francis Wing, can also be seen on the computer screen when a researcher looks up a historic work in the Osler Library. The location code is “Robertson.” As with McGill in general, so with the Osler Library in particular: Dr. Robertson transformed it, both outside This issue of the Newsletter honours two people who passed away in the early months of this year, and who in their time with us gave exceptional service to the Osler Library. The lead article, by Dr. Faith Wallis, sketches in very personal colours the Library’s debt to Dr. H. Rocke Robertson, long- time Curator, benefactor, and founding President of the Friends of the Osler Library. June Schachter recounts the career and achievements of Cécile Desbarats, who began as Dr. Francis’ secre- tary, and ended, as Associate Osler Librarian, steering the Library almost single-handedly through its major move, and some very in 1965. It is only one of many such growth in the numbers of both staff profound changes. There is plenty tablets on campus, for no Principal of and students, as well as a fundamental of other news as well, about exhi- McGill presided over a building boom shift in the way the University was bitions, honours, and matters as extensive as that which Robertson both financed and governed. The directed in his eight years in office, McGill we have known for the past 35 Oslerian. We know Rocke and from 1962 to 1970. The Leacock years is the McGill Robertson built. Cécile would like it this way. Building, the residences at the top of The Osler Library is a kind of micro- University Street, the Research and cosm of Robertson’s McGill. Indeed, as and in. The engine driving this work of Medicine ‘36 made possible for the 2lst in the October Newsletter on Osler’s transformation was the Friends of the century what Osler's bequest made connection with the Oxford English Osler Library, which Dr. Robertson possible for the 20th: the acquisition of Dictionary, in which he documented organized in 1972, and over which he new resources for the history of medi- Osler’s activities as a Delegate of the presided until just a few years ago. In cine, and the provision of means for Oxford University Press during the recent times, we have all become very their scholarly use. period of the Dictionary’s production, accustomed to the idea that institutions I confess that in my early years in and examined the words in the of cultural value need “Friends”. the Library, I thought of Dr. Robertson Dictionary illustrated by citations from Friends of this or that worthy cause primarily as a kind of Santa Claus of Osler. These included medical terms now flood our mailboxes with appeals, cosmic proportions, who could by like “polynuclear” and “adrenaline”, as public sources of funding evaporate effortless magic produce gift-wrapped but also common words like “wash and the costs of maintaining and culti- endowments and spin his and Osler's linen” and “white.” That article remains vating these institutions grows. But in prestige into gold. It was only in 1989 one of my personal favourites, both for 1972, the Friends of the Osler Library that I discovered the inner springs of its content and for its meticulous was a “first” at McGill. Dr. Robertson this passion for the Library. In the research and unobtrusively elegant style. put at its disposal his energy, his pres- summer of that year, Dr. Robertson Over the years, Dr. Robertson gave tige, and above all, his formidable contacted me to inquire whether the the Library other precious volumes, network of connections. In the first Library would be interested in a set of and worked quietly and effectively to year, Robertson enrolled over one the famous Encyclopédie of Diderot and secure us other, much needed, sources hundred Friends in the fledgling orga- d’Alembert. Of course, I leapt at the of funding. But he also gave of himself. nization, and within a few years, the offer; but I was also puzzled and His commanding common sense Friends were raising a very significant intrigued. How, and why, did Dr enlivened many meetings of the percentage of the annual income of the Robertson acquire an Encyclopédie? At Curators, and his acute awareness of Library. Dr. Robertson’s invitation, Wayne financial realities kept us alert to the It was in the name of the Friends LeBel and I drove to his beautiful necessity of investing as well as spend- that Robertson inaugurated the Francis Georgian farmhouse near Mountain, ing. But for me, speaking very person- Wing, including the rare books room Ontario, to retrieve the gift. The house ally, Dr. Robertson represented an ideal that now bears his name, in 1978. In his had a name - “Struan”, which means of scholarly integrity and personal address (Osler Library Newsletter 28, “hearth” in Scots Gaelic - and on the nobility that matched perfectly the June 1978), Dr. Robertson typically hearth when we arrived was a deli- Library he had done so much for. I diverted the spotlight away from cious lunch prepared by Mrs recall that at one luncheon following a himself to lavish thanks and praise on Robertson, served by a window look- Curators’ meeting, we were talking the many people who had contributed ing out on her breathtaking garden. over coffee and I let fall a remark about to the expansion project. Indeed, it was After lunch, Dr. Robertson toured us an absent third party which, I immedi- not until the following Curators’ meet- about the barns and the interior of the ately realized, was quite mean-spir- ing that the rare books room was offi- house. The last room we entered was ited. Dr. Robertson responded with a cially named in his honour. Therefore the library, where the Encyclopédie quiet expression of sympathy for the few outside the inner circle of the lived. To my intense surprise and object of my spite, and the sword of Library were aware at the time of how delight, I stood before the Bibliotheca shame went through me. The gesture much Dr. Robertson had done to make Robertsoniana, a collection both was typical: he would not connive in the Francis Wing a reality, quite apart comprehensive and wisely chosen of malice, but instead of reproaching me from fund-raising through the Friends. historical dictionaries. Dr. Robertson directly, he simply called upon my own His own contribution to the work was spoke about his early love affair with better feelings. The moment remains exceptional, in both the financial and dictionaries, and with language and its engraved in my memory as one of the the conceptual sense. But it was only history, as we opened volume after greatest moral lessons of my life - the beginning. volume. When I told him that I had doubly memorable for being so subtle When I first began working at the written my major research paper for and gentle. They say that large animals Osler Library in 1985, Dr. Robertson the Licentiate in Medieval Studies in are seldom fierce, and in my experi- was already occupied with his next Toronto on the Catholicon, a 13th ence, large men are very tender and major initiative: persuading his gradu- century Latin dictionary, Dr. Robertson kind. Physically, but in so many other ating class in Medicine of 1936 to direct hauled off the shelf a thick manuscript ways as well, Rocke Robertson was their 50th anniversary gift to the -his own scholarly notes on the history definitely a man of stature. Library. He was, as usual, successful, of dictionaries and turned to the chap- and at Homecoming in September ter on the Catholicon! So I knew what Harold Rocke Robertson, 1986, the Class of ‘36 presented to the the gift of the Encyclopédie to the Osler August 4,1912 -February 8,1998. Osler Library the generous endow- Library meant to him: he was giving us ment fund which its President, H. one of the jewels of a collection he had Rocke Robertson, had been instrumen- been building over a lifetime (Osler tal in building up over the years (Osler Library Newsletter 62, October 1989). Library Newsletter 53, October 1986). On my return to Montreal, I sent Dr. That endowment now pays for most of Robertson a copy of my Catholicon our purchases of rare and historic paper, and our correspondence on volumes, and finances the Osler dictionaries took off.