Collection search - Smits and Ramsdale fonds [textual record, architectural drawing]

Record information – Brief
1
Smits and Ramsdale fonds [textual record, architectural drawing]

Hierarchical level:

Fonds

Date:

1949-1965.

Reference:

R4004-0-X-E, MG28-III86

Type of material:

Textual material, Architectural and technical drawings, Photographs

Found in:

Archives / Collections and Fonds

Item ID number:

102507

Context of this record:

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Smits and Ramsdale fonds
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Record information – Details
Fonds includes:

1 lower level description(s)
View lower level description(s)

Date(s):

1949-1965.

Place of creation:

Ontario

Extent:

5 cm of textual records.
24 architectural drawings 17 col.

Language of material:

English

Scope and content:

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Fonds consists of 16 letters from clients plus material removed from a scrapbook. The latter is composed of clippings, photos, drawings of design work, advertisements, and memorial programs. The fonds also contains numerous architectural drawings and cartoons of stained glass windows for various churches, mainly in the Toronto area.

Provenance:

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Smits and Ramsdale (Studio)

Biography/Administrative history:

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Smits and Ramsdale (Studio) : Franklin Ramsdale was born on January 3, 1908 in England. His father, John Edward Ramsdale, an artist who designed tiles, came to Canada in 1913. After serving overseas with the military, he worked as a landscape architect at Guelph Agricultural College. In the late 1920's, the younger Ramsdale apprenticed with the Toronto company Luxfer Prism, whose designer, Hollister, and manager, William Cowan, had a contract for stained-glass work in the Peace Tower of the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa. Ramsdale himself worked on those windows, and here he met the craftsman Guysburtus Smits. During the 1930's, Ramsdale accepted private commissions such as Eaton's catalogue drawings.

During the second World War, Ramsdale designed radar equipment for Small Electric Motors in Leaside, Ont., continuing his stained-glass work with Luxfer at night. After the war, he and Smits formed a partnership in which Ramsdale designed and Smits crafted. Shortly after the partnership was formed, Smits died and his son took over a portion of the business.

Smits and Ramsdale operated from a studio on Sherbourne Street, moving to Markham about 1957. Ramsdale produced original designs for each window they undertook. Some of their noteworthy windows are the ones celebrating the birth of Israel, dedicated in the Shaarei Shomayin synagogue in 1948 (on St. Clair Avenue, now on Glencairn), the many designs for St. George's United Church, and one at the Sick Children's Hospital, all in Toronto. He also did some residential work.

Finding aid:

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(Other) Textual: The finding aid lists each item of correspondence by date, author and affiliation. MSS1287

(Other) Architectural drawings: A detailed list is available. The accession has been indexed according to building type and architect. Biographical information is also available.

Additional information:

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General note:

Transferred from the Cartographic and Architectural Archives Division. The drawings were donated in 1978 by Mrs. D.L. Cumming and Mrs. Barbara Ramsdale, daughter and widow of John Edward Ramsdale.
Subject heading:

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Business enterprises - Canada - Records and correspondence, 1949-1965

Glass painting and staining - Canada, 1949-1965

Memorials - Canada, 1949-1965
Source:

Private

Former archival reference no.:

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MG28-III86

Other accession no.:

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78903/26 CA
78903/65 CA
Ordering and viewing options

Conditions of access:

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Textual records

[Consultation90 Open]

Volume [MG28 III 86] 1

[Consultation 90 Open]

Architectural: technical drawings

[Consultation90 Open]

Graphic (photo)

[Consultation90 Open]

Terms of use:

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Architectural drawings: There are no restrictions on access to or reproduction of this material.

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