Collection search - Lister Sinclair fonds [textual record, graphic material]

Record information – Brief
1
Lister Sinclair fonds [textual record, graphic material]

Hierarchical level:

Fonds

Date:

1922-1986.

Reference:

R4545-0-5-E, MG31-D44

Type of material:

Textual material, Photographs

Found in:

Archives / Collections and Fonds

Item ID number:

98372

Context of this record:

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Lister Sinclair fonds
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Record information – Details
Fonds includes:

30 lower level description(s)
View lower level description(s)

Date(s):

1922-1986.

Place of creation:

Ontario

Extent:

5.605 m of textual records.
303 photographs b&w and col.

Language of material:

English

Scope and content:

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Fonds consists largely of items relating to Lister Sinclair's professional career. It has been arranged in the following series: Radio Scripts; Television Scripts; Film Scripts; Stage Plays; Novel and Poetry Manuscripts; Articles, Essays and Lectures; Miscellaneous Manuscripts; Subject Files; Correspondence; Personal Material; Financial Records; Clippings; and Scrapbooks. Accruals subsequent to the first donation have been arranged in series parallelling these series, and bear the designation "Additional". Among the papers are papers of Lister Sinclair's first wife, Alice Mather Sinclair.

Fonds also consists of numerous portraits of Lister Sinclair and other individuals such as Sydney Newman, and Graham and Irene Spry.

Provenance:

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Sinclair, Lister, 1921-2006
Additional name(s):

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Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
Biography/Administrative history:

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Sinclair, Lister, 1921-2006 : Lister Sinclair, playwright and radio producer, was born in Bombay, the son of a Scottish chemical engineer, and received his early schooling in England. He came to Canada at 18 and enrolled at the University of British Columbia, where he was active in amateur theatre. He graduated with a B.A. in maths and physics in 1942 and continued his studies at the University of Toronto, graduating with an M.A. in 1944.

Lister Sinclair began his long career with the C.B.C. in 1944 as an actor and writer for radio. He worked with Andrew Allan on the famous "Stage" series, writing some fifty of the scripts. He wrote and co-hosted the science series "Science Review" and wrote a series on anthropology, "The Ways of Mankind", broadcast in both Canada and the U.S., as well as many other scripts. He won several Ohio Radio Awards for his work in radio.

Lister Sinclair also wrote for the stage and two of his plays, Socrates and The Blood is Strong, were published in the early 1950's. During the same period he contributed a regular column on music to Saturday Night.

Lister Sinclair became involved in C.B.C. television in the mid-1950's and wrote both documentaries and drama. Among his credits were many of the programmes in the series "The Nature of Things", as well as the acclaimed radio series "A is for Aardvark". He was an executive producer with the C.B.C. from 1967 to 1972, when he became executive vice-president (until 1975).

Lister Sinclair was a prominent figure in the founding of ACTRA and was chairman of CIRCOM (Coopérative Internationale de Recherche et d'Action en Matière de Communications). He was president of the Canadian Conference of the Arts 1980-1984. He has lectured across Canada and was involved with the organization of York University's Fine Arts Department in the 1970's. He has received several honorary degrees, the John Drainie Award (1971) and the Order of Canada (1985).

Lister Sinclair died in Toronto in 2006.

Finding aid:

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Textual records (Electronic) The finding aid provides a file list of volumes 1-14 and 20-32. MSS1096 (90: Open)
http://data2.archives.ca/pdf/pdf001/p000000168.pdf

Additional information:

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General note:

Most of the papers were received in 1976, 1985 and 1988 from Lister Sinclair of Toronto, Ontario. The clippings and scrapbooks in volumes 18-19 were received in 1987 from his second wife, Maggie Watchman Sinclair of Toronto, Ontario. The material in volumes 28-32 was received in 1994 from Maggie Watchman Sinclair, who had earlier received it from Alice Mather Sinclair, Lister Sinclair's first wife, and partly comprises Alice Mather Sinclair's papers. The photographs were received from Lister Sinclair.
Subject heading:

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National Film Board of Canada

University of Toronto

Dominion Drama Festival

Authors, Canadian, 1922-1986 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 1944-1986

Radio plays - Canada, 1944-1962 "Stage", 1944-1962

Television plays - Canada, 1952-1985 "Science Review", 1944-1962

Documentary television programs, 1952-1985 Socrates, 1952-1957

Television authorship, 1955-1985 The Blood is Strong, 1955-1985

Film - Canada Saturday Night, 1953-1982

Television writers The View from Here is Yes, 1944-1962

Television Scripts The Summit and the Tide, 1944-1962

Television plays, Canadian Democracy in America, 1944-1962

Literature publishing - Canada George E. Probst, 1944-1962

Theatre scripts Play on Words, 1944-1962

Theatre - Canada The New Canada, 1944-1962

Radio plays, Canadian The July Group, 1955-1984

Radio scripts Choice of Enemies, 1955-1984

Literature - Periodicals Canadian Conference of the Arts, 1980-1984

York University. Faculty of Fine Arts, [ca.1970-1979]

Harry E. Foster Agencies, 1944-1962

McLaren Advertising Co. Ltd., 1944-1962

Heritage Theatre, 1955-1985

The Canadians,1955-1984

People, 1955-1984

Hilda Morgan, 1955-1984

"Dimensions in Science", 1955-1984

"The Music of Man", 1955-1984

Jupiter Theatre, 1952-1957

Book Society of Toronto, 1952-1957

Much Ado About Nothing, 1952-1957

One John Smith, 1949, 1952-1957

"Mediamasters", 1953-1982

"The Vintage Years", 1953-1982

The Art of Norval Morrisseau, 1953-1982

Play on Words and Other Radio Plays, 1952-1969

The Canadian Friends, 1952

Association of Canadian Radio and Television Artists, 1948-1951

McMaster University. McMaster Dramatic Society - Earle Grey Players, 1948

University of British Columbia Players Productions, 1939

"Pearl Castings", [ca.1940-1949]

University of British Columbia (Vancouver, B.C.), 1939-1942

Reading (literary magazine)
Source:

Private

Related control no.:

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115-020329-3
121-020387-1
172-89
1987-168 NPC
1987/0213
1989-242 DAP
1993/0235

Former archival reference no.:

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MG31-D44
Ordering and viewing options

Conditions of access:

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Access restriction document

http://data2.archives.ca/pdf/pdf001/r000000625.pdf

Textual records

[Consultation18 Restricted]

Finding aid box [FA 1096] 95

[Consultation 10 Closed]

Graphic (photo)

[Consultation90 Open]

Terms of use:

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Photographs (accession no. 1989-242): no restrictions on use or reproduction. Copyright unknown.
Photographs (accession no. 1987-168): written permission is needed to reproduce these photographs. Various copyrights on items less than 50 years old; copyright expired on items greater than 50 years old.

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