McGill University Archives McGill University, Montreal Canada MG4270 Margaret A. Somerville fonds Accession 2010-0110 This is a guide to one of the collections held by the McGill University Archives, McGill University. Visit the McGill University Archives homepage (http://www.mcgill.ca/archives) for more information 1 McGill University Archives / Service des archives de l’Université McGill Margaret A. Somerville fonds Accession 2010-0110 Dates : 1934-2010 Extent: 10.25 m textual records 613 photographic records 61 VHS videocassettes 10 audio cassettes 11 DVDs 1 CD 2 computer disks 51 works of art 15 posters 18 diplomas 3 plaques 2 medals 1 button 9 published works Biographical Sketch Margaret Anne Ganley was born in 1942 in Australia. Her father was George P. Ganley and her mother Gertrude Rowe Ganley. She married Peter Somerville in 1966. She graduated from the University of Adelaide in Pharmacy and the University of Sydney in Law. She continued her education in Canada where she received her PhD in Civil Law from McGill University in 1978. She joined McGill’s Faculty of Law as an assistant professor in 1978, became an associate professor in 1979 and was named as the Samuel Gale Professor of Law in 1989. Concurrently, she held appointments in the Faculty of Medicine as an associate professor in 1980 and as a full professor from 1984. In 1986 she became the founding director of the McGill Centre for Medicine, Ethics and Law. Somerville is an internationally renowned figure in the development of applied ethics especially in regards to the areas of medicine and science. Through her research, numerous lectures and speeches, consultations, writings, and interaction with the media, she has examined the impact of science, and medicine on society through the prism of ethics. The issues that she has studied include euthanasia, AIDS, biotechnology, abortion, aging populations and human rights in relation to medical care. An ethical activist, she often engages in public debates on ethical issues. Her publications include The Ethical Canary: Science, Society and the Human Spirit, Death Talk: the Case against Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide and the 2006 CBC Massey Lectures publication, The Ethical Imagination: Journeys of the Human Spirit. Somerville has served as an expert consultant for a number of governmental organizations, including the United Nations and the Canadian government, and non- governmental agencies. She was the chair of the National Research Council’s Human Subject Research Ethics 2 committee as well she has been a member of numerous other committees in the area of ethics. She has also served on editorial boards, foundation boards and advisory boards. She holds several honorary doctorate degrees and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada as well as a member of the Order of Australia. She has received international awards recognizing her role in the pursuit of ethical issues including the UNESCO Avicenna Prize for Ethics in Science. Custodial History These records have been acquired directly from Margaret A. Somerville’s office at McGill University. The private records were appraised on site and separated from the official records of McGill’s Centre for Medicine Ethics and Law. Somerville was the founding Director of this centre. Scope and Content The fond chiefly reflects the public role of Margaret Somerville through the dissemination of her ideas on ethical issues through conferences, lectures, various publications, teaching activities, consults and research with some records concerning her family and personal life. The fonds consists of the following series; conference papers and lectures, (1981-2006), committee memberships, (1977-1985), (1990-1998); media relations, (1980-2008); personal/family matters, (1934-2008); writing/publishing activities, (1979-2007); communications, (1983-2010); subject files/consults,(1988-2005); teaching materials, (1990-1992),(1994-2000). Series One – Conference papers and lectures Dates: 1981-2006 Extent: 3.06 m textual records. – 137 photographic records: 40 col, 1 b/w, 96 - 35mm slides. - 2 VHS videocassettes. The largest and most comprehensive series is conference papers and lectures with most of the presentations taking place in Canada, Australia and the United States, many with separate speech and shorter slide summaries. The subjects covered include AIDS, medical ethics, and euthanasia, and reflect the range of Somerville’s interest in ethical issues. Series Two – Committee memberships Dates: 1977-1985, 1990-1998 Extent: 1 m textual records. – 1 VHS videocassette. The committee memberships series includes minutes, protocols and reports reflecting Somerville’s work as a an expert in ethics on the Law Reform Commission of Canada, the Royal Victoria Hospital’s Research Ethics committee, Expert Advisory Committee to the Canadian Red Cross on Stored Serum Samples, the National Research Council Human Subject Research Ethics Committee, and the Colloquium on Transdisciplinarity. Series Three – Media Relations Dates: 1980-2008 Extent: .49 m of textual records. – 7 photographic records: 3 b/w and 1 col, 3 - 35mm negatives. - 57 VHS videocassettes. – 9 audio cassettes. - 11 DVDs. 3 This media relations series documents Somerville’s many and varied interactions with the media through contact lists, articles, interviews, personal publicity files, and photographs by Barbara Woodley. Series Four – Personal/family matters Dates: 1934-2008 Extent: .53 m of textual records. - 469 photographic records: colour, black and white. – 18 diplomas. – 15 posters. – 51 works of art. – 1 CD. – 2 diskettes. – 1 audio cassette. – 1 VHS video tape. – 3 plaques. – 2 medals. – 1 button. – 9 published items. The personal matters/family series is the most varied one, documenting family life through correspondence and a wedding album and personal life through awards and honours from both Canada and Australia. Also there are records reflecting her interest in cats and the art community, particularly the artist Jacques Deshaies. Series Five – Writing/publishing activities Dates: 1979-2007 Extent: 2.46 m of textual records. The substantial writing/ publishing activities series covers most of her academic career in Canada, 1979-2007 and provides worked drafts of her most substantial publications including The Ethical Canary: Science, Society and the Human Spirit, Death Talk: the Case against Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide and 2006 CBC Massey Lectures, The Ethical Imagination: Journeys of the Human Spirit. The range of her publishing activities is also represented by many examples of letters to the editor as an ethical activist on issues such as euthanasia, AIDS, and biotechnology. Series Six – Communications Dates: 1983-2010 Extent: 2.14 m of textual records. The communications series chiefly reflects the public role of Somerville as an ethicist and researcher through a mixture of personal/professional correspondence, often with colleagues, invitations to events and greeting cards. Series Seven – Subject files/consults Dates: 1988-2005 Extent: .47 m of textual records. This series contains subject files including some professional consultations on ethical issues such as AIDS, same-sex marriage, and blood systems as well as research notes on drug abuse, immigration, and the Cross Culture Project. Series Eight – Teaching materials Dates: 1990-1992, 1994-2000 Extent: .10 m of textual records. 4 This series consists of teaching materials, including lecture notes, from Somerville’s comparative medical law course at McGill University. Source of Title Proper Title based on the contents of the fonds. Language The language of the material is predominately English. Restrictions on Access The materials are open for consultation by researchers with the exemption of some private confidential communications (15 cm) restricted for a period of twenty (20) years from the date of the donation. As well there are two sets of consultations that are closed. Due to the medical information found in the records one set is closed for 100 years from the creation of the documents (15 cm) and the other set (10 cm), containing nominative information, is closed for 30 years after the death of the person concerned. Terms Governing Use and Reproduction The Donor transfers the copyright that she holds in the fonds to the McGill University Archives. Accruals Further accruals are expected. Finding Aid The finding aid consists of a file level listing for textual material and an item level description for printed matter, photographic, graphic and audio-visual materials. Arrangement Note The files created as a result of Margaret Somerville’s responsibilities as the Director of the Centre for Medicine, Ethics and Law were excluded from these private records. The remaining records were kept in the original order that she created. Roughly 10% of the files were found as loose papers and had not been included in the filing system. These files were placed in the appropriate series based on their form and content. Most of these records were added to the communications and subject files/consult series. Extra copies of materials were weeded from the files, especially in the conference papers and lectures series. 5 Margaret A. Somerville fonds McGill University Archives Accession Number File title Outside Dates Remarks Conference papers and lectures series - Textual records 2010-0110.01.1 “AGING IN A NEW ERA: PREDICTING AND PREPARING”, 2nd Annual Symposium on AGING October 26, 1982 COMMITTEE FOR STUDIES ON AGING, McGill University, Montreal,