Collection search - Arthur Donald Margison fonds [multiple media]

Record information – Brief
1
Arthur Donald Margison fonds [multiple media]

Hierarchical level:

Fonds

Date:

1879, 1905-2000.

Reference:

R5097-0-5-E, MG31-J39

Type of material:

Textual material, Photographs, Maps and cartographic material, Architectural and technical drawings, Moving images, Sound recordings, Art

Found in:

Archives / Collections and Fonds

Item ID number:

106711

Context of this record:

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Arthur Donald Margison fonds
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Record information – Details
Fonds includes:

11 lower level description(s)
View lower level description(s)

Date(s):

1879, 1905-2000.

Place of creation:

Various places

Extent:

2.11 m of textual records.
356 photographs : b&w, col.
16 maps.
15 technical drawings.
3 film reels (26 min, 10 s).
2 audio cassettes (20 min, 10 s).
1 postcard.

Language of material:

English

Accession:

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Arthur Donald Margison fonds [textual record, technical drawing, graphic material]

Scope and content:

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Fonds consists of selected project files of A.D. Margison and Associates, consulting engineers, for reinforced concrete structures in Ontario, and highway studies in Canada, Brazil and Tanzania, 1950-1977; also included are engineering and business papers relating to Island Development Company, Barber Hydraulic Turbines / Canada Frontier Water and Power Company and Clay-Mill Energy-from-Waste Inc., 1963-1988 and the consulting firms of Margison & Babcock, A.D. Margison & Associates and Canadian Frontier Water & Power Ltd.; and on World War II shipbuilding, the overhead rapid transit (1966-1985), the creation of York University (1957-1990) and his visits to the Soviet Union in 1958 and 1964. Fonds also includes material on the career of Oswald Margison, a structural design engineer and father of A.D. Margison.

The fonds also contains photographs of construction and post-construction periods of buildings, interchanges, roadways, research centres, defence installations, and other business ventures. Also included are travel photographs to Japan and the Soviet Union. Board of Governors - University of Guelph, Ont.; celebration of Phil Garratt's - 55 years as an active pilot, 1916-1971; CN Tower, Toronto, Ont. - aerial view; Canadian National Exhibition, Toronto, Ont., ca. 1973 - aerial view.

Also included are maps and technical drawings relating to York University, Energy Waste Management, Barber Hydraulic Turbines, Overhead Rapid Transit, Tanzania, Anglo Canadian Shipbuilding, and Island Development Co.

Fonds also consists of sound recordings of an interview with Margison and film footage of an aerial firepower demonstration.

Provenance:

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Margison, Arthur D., 1918-

Biography/Administrative history:

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Margison, Arthur D., 1918- : Arthur D. Margison, engineer and businessman, was born in Toronto on 18 May 1918, the son of Oswald Margison, a noted structural engineer, and Ida M. MacDonald. Margison studied engineering at the University of Toronto and at McGill where he graduated in 1945. During World War II he worked on the planning and designing of ships for the Shipbuilding Division of Anglo-Canadian Pulp and Paper Ltd., as well as other wartime projects. In 1946 he joined his father at Margison Babcock Consulting Engineers where he soon became a Junior Partner. In 1950 he was appointed vice-president of the newly formed Margison, Babcock and Associates and was made general manager of a major defence program. After disolution of the firm in 1954, it became A.D. Margison and Associates Ltd.

The firm was responsible for many large scale engineering projects such as the Pinetree Installations, large aircraft hangars for the Royal Canadian Air Force, the NORAD Underground Headquarters in North Bay, the Gardiner Expressway, as well as numerous bridges and industrial plants. In 1968, he developed an overhead rapid transit system (Margison ORT) which he attempted to market throughout Canada and the U.S.

Margison was also an entrepreneur. In 1963 he formed and was president of the Island Development Company of Prince Edward Island whose aim was to foster the economic development of the island. Among other activities, Margison's development company owned the Charlottetown Hotel and became involved in the PEI food and agriculture industry. This company was dissolved in 1974. Margison purchased Barber Turbine and Foundries Ltd. (founded 1867) which became Barber Hydraulic Turbine Limited. The company specialized in the construction of turbines for lowhead hydro installations.

Another company, Canada Frontier Water and Power Ltd., was set up to design low-head hydro-electric stations. Due to financial hardships, this company was dissolved in 1979. Margison and the American firm Clay-Mill Technical Systems Inc. set up the Clay-Mill Energy-from Waste Inc. in 1986 of which Margison was president. The company was interested in designing and building regional incinerators to provide electricity. Because of the parent company's problems, Margison wound up his company in 1988.

Margison was a member of a semi-official delegation of Canadian businessmen which visited the Soviet Union in 1958. This was one of the first visits of senior Canadians to the Soviet Union. Margison also visited Cuba in 1960 and returned to the Soviet Union in 1964. In 1958 Margison became a member of the Organizing Committee to form York University to meet the demand for post-secondary education in North York and also to solve the problem of overcrowding at the University of Toronto. In the 1960s Margison was a member of the Board of Governors of Frontier College, the University of Guelph, director of the Technical Service Council and Chairman of the Canadian Good Roads Association. He was also a member of numerous professional engineering associations.

Finding aid:

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Textual records (Electronic) Finding aid is a file list. MSS1926 (90: Open)
http://data2.archives.ca/pdf/pdf001/p000000486.pdf

Moving images and sound recordings (Electronic) See MISACS for item level descriptions. (90: Open)

Additional information:

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General note:

Acquired in 1992, 1993 and 2000 from A.D. Margison of Toronto.
Subject heading:

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Hydro electrical power plants Island Development Company

Low head installations Barber Hydraulic Turbines LTd

Engineers Canada Frontier Water and Poiver

Consulting Clay-Mills Energy-From-Waste Inc

Hydraulic engineering Overhead Rapid Transit (ORT)

Turbines Anglo-Canadian Pulp and Paper Ltd. Shipbuilding Div

Overhead rapid transit system CanRand

Energy from waste York University

Shipbuilding Lakeshore/Gardiner Expressway

Woodbine Bridge (Toronto). Design Erindale College

Aircraft Hanger (Ottawa). Design NORAD Underground Headquarter, North Bay, Ont

Concrete-Reinforced. Design Oswald Margison - (1882-1971)
Source:

Private

Related control no.:

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120-020084-5
121-020272-7
121-080276-7
1993-0276 MISA
1993-197 DAP
1993-226 DAP
1993-471 DAP
1993/0237
2000-01337-6
2378 (1993-10-05)
923-041 CA
93-015
93-054
93-239
94-002
Margison, Arthur D. 923041
MG31-J39

Former archival reference no.:

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MG31-J39
Ordering and viewing options

Conditions of access:

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Textual records

[Consultation90 Open]

Finding aid box [FA 1926] 142

[Consultation 10 Closed]

Graphic (photo)

[Consultation90 Open]

Volume [R5097] 19

[Consultation 90 Open]

Cartographic material

[Consultation90 Open]

Architectural: technical drawings

[Consultation90 Open]

Moving images (film)

[Consultation90 Open]

Sound recordings

[Consultation90 Open]

Graphic (art)

[Consultation90 Open]

Terms of use:

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Photographs (except those by Y. Karsh): No restrictions on use or reproduction. Various copyrights on items less than 50 years old; copyright is expired on items greater than 50 years old. Credit: Name of photographer / National Archives of Canada / Copy negative no. Photographs by Y. Karsh, see accession no. 1987-054.
Moving images and sound recordings: Reproduction and use in any form requires the written permission of the copyright holder. Donor restrictions are to be determined.
Maps and drawings: No restrictions on use.

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