User:Anna St.Onge/York University Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections

York University Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections

Mandate
The Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections (CTASC) of York University Libraries collects manuscript, rare book and primary source materials to support research and learning by York University's faculty, students, and a community of international scholars. We are strong in the areas of Canadian history, fine arts (design, photography, music, film, theatre), philosophy, environmental history, and sexual diversity.

University Archivists
The head of the archives has been known as the university archivist since ****. x have held this position. This position was merged with the head of Special Collections in 19##
 * A
 * B
 * C
 * Hartwell Bowsfield
 * Barbara Craig
 * Kent Haworth
 * Michael Moir

Clara Thomas
The Archives was renamed in honour of Clara Thomas in 2005. Clara McCandless Thomas (1919-2013) was an educator, author and feminist, was born in Strathroy, Ontario in 1919. She was educated at the University of Western Ontario (B.A. 1941; M.A. 1944), and the University of Toronto (Ph.D. 1962). A founding woman faculty member of York University, she began teaching in the English Department at York University in 1961 and retired from there in 1984. She was subsequently named a Canadian Studies Research Fellow in the York University Libraries and Emeritus Professor of English.

Thomas has received honorary degrees from York University, Trent University and Brock University, and she is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. She has served on the editorial board of such academic journals as Journal of Canadian Studies, Journal of Canadian Fiction, and the Literary Journal of Canada (second edition), as well as writing articles on topics in Canadian literature for many journals. She is the author of several works including, Love and Work Enough: The Life of Anna Jameson (1967), Margaret Laurence (1969),  Ryerson of Upper Canada (1969) and, among others, The Manawaka World of Margaret Laurence (1975). She co-authored William Arthur Deacon: A Literary Life (1982) with John Lennox. Her memoirs entitled Chapters in a Lucky Life were published in 1999.

Collections
Some of the foundation collections that established the university's reputation as a research archives include the records of the (FWTAO), The Toronto Telegram, The Mariposa Folk Festival and the literary papers of Margaret Laurence. Collections reflect research strengths of York's faculty and students, including:
 * performing arts and theatre companies such as Obsidian Theatre Company
 * music, film and arts festivals such as Planet in Focus, Scream in High Park, and Desh Pardesh.
 * film and television companies, producers, documentarians and actors such as Rhombus Media Ltd., The Royal Canadian Air Farce, Indian Grove Productions, Screedoor Productions, Allan Novak, Theresa Burke, John Kastner and Dini Petty.
 * artists, graphic designers and musicians such as Joyce Weiland, Helen Lucas.
 * poets, writers and dancers such as bill bissett, Adele Wiseman, Rohinton Mistry,Danny Grossman, Toronto Dance Theatre
 * publishers such as Barry Callaghan, Warwick Publishing Groups,