The files contained in this series document the Canadian Authors Association's administration of projects such as awards programs and involvement in issues of particular concern to writers, such as copyright and public lending right, and broader cultural issues, such as foreign ownership and the taxation of printed material.
The series includes files relating to the history and bankruptcy of Graphic Publishers Ltd., containing correspondence and financial and other records, 1931-1950, collected by Charles Clay when he was National Secretary; the correspondents include A.M. Stephen, W.A. Deacon, V.B. Rodenizer, Magnus Pyke, L.P. Burpee and Raymond Knister, among others. There are also files of material collected by the CAA bearing the autographs of Ottawa authors, including signed extracts from books, poems, quotations and other works; the authors represented include Elise Aylen, Arthur Bourinot, L.P. Burpee, M.J. Coldwell, Pelham Edgar, Gustave Lanctot, Duncan Campbell Scott, and others. There are, as well, files documenting the CAA's Writers' War Committee, consisting of correspondence and copies of reports on public attitudes to wartime questions prepared by CAA members, including Laura Salverson, for the Wartime Information Board.
Files pertaining to the CAA awards programmes constitute the largest segment of the documents found in this series. Since 1937, the CAA has been instrumental in the development of national literary awards. In 1937 the CAA instituted three silver medals for English prose fiction, prose non-fiction and poetry published in the previous year. When Governor General Lord Tweedsmuir (John Buchan) agreed to present the first medals at Rideau Hall, the awards became known as the Governor General's Awards. The CAA administered the awards until 1959, when they were surrendered to the newly established Canada Council (1957). In exchange, the Canada Council agreed to fund a 1,000 dollars cash prize accompaniment to the medals. The Leacock Memorial Medal was inaugurated by the CAA in 1947 and was first presented to Paul Hiebert for "Sarah Binks" (1948). In 1962 Vicky Metcalf launched an annual award of 1,000 dollars, administered by the CAA, for a body of work inspirational to Canadian youth. The first winner was Kerry Wood of Alberta, author of "Wild Winter" and other books for children. Mrs. Metcalf presented an additional award of 500 dollars for "the best short story published in a Canadian children's periodical or anthology during the previous year" in 1979. Marina McDougall of Toronto ("The Kingdom of Riddles") and Estelle Salata of Hamilton ("Blind Date") were the first Vicky Metcalf Short Story Award winners in 1980. The CAA Awards, consisting of a silver medal and a 1,000 dollar cash prize funded by Harlequin Enterprises Limited of Toronto, were inaugurated in 1975. CAA Awards are presented in four categories (prose fiction, prose non-fiction, poetry and drama). In 1979 Air Canada established an award to be offered under the aegis of the CAA for promising authors under the age of thirty. Michael Ondaatje, Timothy Findley, Stewart MacLean, W.P. Kinsella, Carol Shields, W.O. Mitchell, and Pierre Berton have been recipients of prizes offered under the CAA awards program.
Awards files are grouped together and arranged chronologically. Of particular interest are the files of Betty Dyck, who served as Awards Chairman for 1982-1983. Her files contain information about the awards process, correspondence with winners, judges and executive, clippings and press releases. Some awards files also include photographs, application forms (which, in the case of the Vicky Metcalf Short Story award, are accompanied by the published short story submissions). A small amount of information can be found on the Allan Sangster Memorial Award, instituted in 1968 for long and distinguished service to CAA, the Beta Sigma Phi First Novel Award presented in 1961 to Margaret Laurence, and the Rothmans Merit Award for Literature. The latter two awards appear only to have been administered by the CAA.
Second in volume to the awards files are the files which document the CAA's involvement in the areas of copyright, public lending right and government commissions since 1949. Since its establishment, one of the main objectives of the CAA has been to work for the protection of Canadian writers (and other artists producing copyright material) and to represent them before government and other public inquiries. The files found in this series contain briefs and submissions made to various Royal Commissions, such as the Royal Commissions on Book Publishing and Bilingualism and Biculturalism, and correspondence regarding the CAA's advisory role in certain copyright cases like that against Alberta Heritage (concerning Alberta Heritage re-publishing the works of Alberta authors without legal right in a volume entitled "A Sense of Place" 1979.)
An important project of the CAA during the 1970s was the series of Literary Luncheons launched by the Toronto literary agent Lucinda Vardy and Executive Officer Fred Kerner. The luncheon series began at Casa Loma with a lecture by Canadian-born American economist, John Kenneth Galbraith. The subsequent lectures were co-sponsored by the book department of Simpsons Department Stores and held in a central Toronto hotel. Literary Luncheon speakers included Robertson Davies, Germain Greer, Charlton Heston and Sir Peter Ustinov.
The report "Sixty years or sixty months" by Jeffrey Holmes and the survey "The Next 60 years", of 1981-1982, constitute an interesting set of documents within this series. Described as "a fearless approach to self-examination" ("Quill & Quire", May 1982), the report and survey represent an attempt by the CAA to re-evaluate its role and position in the Canadian literary scene.
Other documents of interest in this series include the minutes of the Association of Canadian Bookmen's inaugural meeting February 13, 1925; "Boys in Banff" CBC radio scripts written by Mrs. Gordon (Eula) Lapp; and the Writers' Standard Contract. (In 1946 Gwethalyn Graham was appointed chairman of a Standard Contract Committee. The committee was charged with the task of formulating a standard book contract for use by authors seeking to publish their works. The contract drafted in consultation with the British Society of Authors, the Authors League of America and the Co-operative Canadian Book Publishers' Council subsequently provided Canadian authors with a basic document which allowed them to compare the terms being offered by a publisher with a set of contract guidelines.) Files not pertaining to awards are arranged alphabetically by file title. Containers 38 to 43 and 55 contain photographs.
