Collection search - Tom Thomson collection [textual record, graphic material]

Record information – Brief
1
Tom Thomson collection [textual record, graphic material]

Hierarchical level:

Collection

Date:

1850-1998.

Reference:

R7629-0-7-E, MG30-D284

Type of material:

Textual material, Photographs, Art

Found in:

Archives / Collections and Fonds

Item ID number:

105732

Context of this record:

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Tom Thomson collection
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Record information – Details
Collection includes:

9 lower level description(s)
View lower level description(s)

Date(s):

1850-1998.

Place of creation:

No place, unknown, or undetermined

Extent:

28 cm of textual records.
137 photographs negatives, b&w and col.
2 drawings gouache, pastel.
1 print.

Language of material:

English

Scope and content:

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Collection consists of records documenting the life and legacy of Tom Thomson and research on his family. Included are textual records, photographs and some art material.

The textual records and photographs have been arranged in six series: Correspondence; Memorabilia; Estate accounts; Family records; Printed material and articles on Tom Thomson; and Photographs (see also accession record 189370 for additional photos).

The collection also includes miscellaneous artworks by or attributed to Tom Thomson including a gouache drawing with lettering depicting a young man playing a cello near a window, signed "Perce Cuthbert 1912", found in his sketch box after his death; an unsigned pastel drawing of a pastoral landscape found in Margaret Thomson Tweedale's kindergarten sample book; and a printed place card of white uncoated card stock, designed by Tom Thomson for the wedding of his niece, Jean B. Harkness.

Provenance:

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Thomson, Tom, 1877-1917

Biography/Administrative history:

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Thomson, Tom, 1877-1917 : Tom Thomson, artist, was born in Claremont, Ontario (near Owen Sound), the sixth of ten children of John and Margaret Thomson. In 1901 he followed his eldest brother, George, to Seattle, where, largely a self-taught painter, he began to work in commercial art. He returned to Canada in 1904 and found work under Albert Robson with the Toronto commercial art firms Grip and Rous & Mann, where he met some of the artists who were to become the Group of Seven. In 1913, he met James MacCallum, who became an important patron and who, with artist Lawren Harris, financed the construction of the Studio Building where Thomson had a studio, initially sharing one with artist A.Y. Jackson and then moving into a shack at the back.

Influenced by the Toronto artists' interest in outdoor oil sketching, Thomson made his first trip to Algonquin Park in 1912 and returned to spend the summer and fall of 1913 at Canoe Lake, making his headquarters at the Mowat Lodge run by Shannon Fraser. During this stay Thomson was introduced to his later fiancé, Winnifred Trainor, and park ranger Mark Robinson, with whom he became good friends. Thomson left commercial art in 1914 and supplemented his income as a painter by working in Algonquin Park as a guide for fishing parties in 1914, a firefighter in 1915 and a ranger in 1916.

Although he was an important figure in the formation of the Group of Seven, Thomson was never a member as he died before its organization in 1920, drowning as the result of a mysterious canoeing accident in Algonquin Park, July 1917. His brother-in-law, Tom Harkness, husband of his sister Elizabeth, was selected to settle his estate and Thomson's patron, James MacCallum, assisted in the disposition of the large number of paintings he left behind. Thomson's work is now represented in all the major Canadian galleries and he has become one of Canada's best known artists.

Finding aid:

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Textual records (Electronic) Finding aid 1847 is a file list. MSS1847 (90: Open)
http://data2.archives.ca/pdf/pdf001/p000000423.pdf

Photographs (Electronic) Accession: 1995-131 (90: Open)
http://data2.archives.ca/pdf/pdf001/p000002388.pdf

Additional information:

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General note:

Tom Thomson's business card, a letter from Thomson to his father [Spring 1917] and a letter from J.S. Fraser 18 July 1917, as well as some of the photographs, were received in 1981 from the estate of Tom Thomson's sister Margaret Thomson Tweedale of Toronto, Ontario. Other photographs, the art material and most of the Tom Thomson correspondence and correspondence relating to his estate was received in 1990 from his sister Elizabeth Harkness's granddaughter, Helen Young and her husband, David, of Toronto, Ontario. The remaining material was received in 2001 from another granddaughter, Kay Fiske Morrison of Orangeville, Ontario.
Subject heading:

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Tom Thomson - Estate, 1917 John Thomson, 1917

Painters - Correspondence, [1901-1917] J.S. Fraser, 1917

Seattle (Wash.) - Commercial artists, 1901-1905 Mowat Lodge (Algonquin Park, Ont.), 1917

Commercial artists - Canada, 1901-1905 Tom Harkness, 1917

Tom Thomson - Death and burial, 1917 Arthue Lismer, 1916

Drowning victims - Ontario, 1917 James McCallum, 1917

Tom Thomson - Family, 1909-1923 Shannon Fraser, [1917]

Jean Harkness - Marriage, 1909 Winnifred Trainor, [1907-1931]

Wedding decorations, 1909 J.E.H. MacDonald, [1907-1931]

Artists - Employment, 1912-1917 Newton MacTavish, [1907-1931]

Fishing, [1916-1917] Eric Brown, [1907-1931]

Canoes and canoeing, [1916-1917] H.O. McCurry, [1907-1931]

Fishing guides - Ontario, 1917 Barker Fairley, [1907-1931]

Outdoor life - Ontario, 1916-1917 A.Y. Jackson, [1907-1931]

Art - Collectors and collecting, 1917-1931 Lawrence Harris, [1907-1931]

Art - Exhibitions, 1917-1949 Fred Housser, [1907-1931]

Art - Private collections, 1917 Harold Tovell, [1907-1931]

Art dealers, 1917- 1931 O.J. Stevenson, [1907-1931]

Art galleries, 1917-1931 A.H. Robson, [1917-1931]

Blodwin Davies, [1907-1931]

Rous and Mann (Firm), 1912
Source:

Private

Related control no.:

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118-020084-5
123-040173-3
1981-254 NPC
1991-002 DAP
1995-133 DAP
1995/0048
2001-01115-6
90-420
95-070

Former archival reference no.:

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MG30-D284
Ordering and viewing options

Conditions of access:

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Textual records

[Consultation90 Open]

Finding aid box [FA 1847] 137

[Consultation 10 Closed]

Graphic (photo)

[Consultation90 Open]

Graphic (art)

[Consultation90 Open]

Terms of use:

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Photographs: No restrictions on use or reproduction. Copyright: Expired on posthumous prints. Copyright on remaining photographs and negatives has expired. Credit: Visual and Sound Archives, National Archives of Canada.
Drawings: No restrictions on use or reproduction. Copyright: expired. Credit: Visual and Sound Archives, National Archives of Canada.
Textual records: The recipient of copies is responsible for determining whether material is subject to copyright and for ascertaining the name of the person or organization holding copyright. The recipient is also responsible for determining whether any use of copyrighted material does or does not constitute an infringement of copyright under the Copyright Act.

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