The chronological files series consists of files created by Evelyn Bayefsky into which general correspondence, notebooks, manuscripts, publicity material, printed material, philatelic material, photographs and other documents were placed as a record of each year's activities.
Included in the files is material on Bayefsky's war service, his French Government scholarship, and trips to India and Japan (with letters to his father describing these trips). Throughout is documentation on Bayefsky's business with commercial galleries and dealers, including Robertson Galleries, Wells Gallery, Jean Newman and Artlenders, Montreal, Agra Gallery (Palm Beach), Nancy Poole's Studio, Atelier Petit (Tokyo), Kar Gallery and Market Gallery; with museums and other collections and exhibitions, including the Dallas Museum for Contemporary Arts, Tokyo International Biennial Exhibition of Prints, National Gallery of Canada, Art Gallery of Toronto and Hart House's art committee; with art societies like the Algoma Art Society, Sarnia Arts Association, Western Art League and Northern Ontario Art Association; and with artists' organizations, including the Federation of Canadian Artists (with a copy of its 'Folio of original reproductions' Issue One October 1950, including work by Bayefsky), Canadian Group of Painters and Canadian Society of Graphic Art. Of particular interest are Bayefsky's records on the Assembly for Canadian Arts 1952, documenting the 1952 controversy concerning Canadian talent at the Canadian National Exhibition and the dismissal of Toronto Symphony Orchestra musicians as an apparent result of American McCarthyism. There is material on Bayefsky's various publishing projects, including correspondence with his collaborator David Newman and with the Roger Ascham Press, and there is correspondence about his collection of antique eyeglasses.
Among Bayefsky's correspondents in the files are the following: Miller Brittain n.d.; Unitarian Service Committee of Canada 1951; Fred Taylor 1958; Fran Jones 1958, 1960; Charles Comfort 1958, 1963; Cleeve Horne1958, 1967; Harry Mayerovitch (regarding the National Bicentenary of Canadian Jewry), Humphrey (Bud) Milnes, 1959; Japanese artist Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Dorothy Cameron, James Boyd, John Inglis Company 1960; Ron Bloore 1959-1960; Frank Underhill, Leonard Brooks, W.J. Gage Ltd. 1962; Bob Paterson (West Baffin Eskimo Co-operative), Langford Dixon 1962, 1964; Edwy Cooke 1962, 1968; Bill Wheaton 1963; Rabbi Gunther Plaut 1963, 1971; Robin Harris 1967; John Parkin 1969; Florence Friedman, Beth Shalom Sisterhood, Edmonton 1970-1971; John B. Mays 1971; Paul Weinzweig, Bruno Bobak 1972; Bobs and Peter Haworth 1974; Don Rickerd (Donner Foundation), Jerrold Morris 1976; Ghitta Caiserman-Roth 1976-1977; Robin Mathews 1978; Jack Geller 1980; Gordon Fairweather 1980, 1983; and Saul Muhlstock 1982, 1984.
Also included in the series is philatelic material dated 1972: one souvenir sheet of four cinderella stamps (with an envelope) bearing the portrait of Hugh MacDiarmid by Aba Bayefsky and one postal cover (with the cinderella stamp) addressed to Bayefsky.
Also included in the series are 58 photographs, documenting Bayefsky as a student sketching, publicity shots of the artist in his studio, reproductions of works by Bayefsky and by other artists, and meeting officials such as The Right Honourable Edward Schreyer and Mrs. Lily Schreyer, and Mayor Art Eggleton.
Additional material in the series includes gallery accounts and copies of pages from exhibition guest books; documentation on Bayefsky's murals and other commissions (e.g., for historical sketches of Toronto 1958); the printing and distribution of his portfolios and other printed works, including The Ballad of Thrym (with Humphrey Milnes' manuscript), A Slight Trace of Ash and Spectacles; his teaching and writing (with Bayefsky's notes and manuscripts for various articles); art auctions and work on juries; and artists' supplies and his studio on King Street (including his leases 1977-1992).
Among the specific projects documented are Bayefsky's exhibition at the Canadian Consulate in Chicago 1978; his efforts to find funding for an extended stay in Israel 1979 and 1991; his interest in tattooing and trips to Japan, 1979-1982 (with correspondence from the Japanese Association of Tattoo Artists and Fans, Japanese master tattoo artist Hori Kazuo Oguri, and his Japanese translator, as well as Bayefsky's 1986 certificate of his lifelong membership in the Japan Tattoo Club); his exhibition, Aba Bayefsky in Kensington Market, at Karney Gallery and the accompanying book published by Mosaic Press 1991; a proposed documentary by JHS Productions 1994; and a proposed exhibition with the Ben Uri Art Society in England 1994.
Among the personal correspondents are the following: Scottish poet Christopher Grieve (Hugh MacDiarmid) 1965-1966, including references to the Toronto Marxist Quarterly and Margaret Fairley, and his trying to arrange a Bayefsky exhibition in the U.K.; printers and designers William Rueter 1965 and Gus Rueter 1978-1980, 1993; Gerard Brender à Brandis 1973 re. a Society of Wood Engravers & Relief Printers exhibition in England and expressing admiration for Bayefsky's prints; translator Pierre Guillaume re. Spectacles book; Abraham Rotstein 1977; Mavor Moore 1982, writing about Bayefsky's lack of success getting a Canada Council grant; collector Saul Muhlstock 1982 (re. an art gallery controversy) & 1991; Gail Geltner 1980; composer Harold Wevers 1984-2000; Edwy Cooke 1986; Caven Atkins 1988; Christopher Varley 1989-1990; sociologist Ben Lappin 1991; Robert Verrall 1991; Ruth Colombo 1991; Jean Sutherland Boggs 1992; conductor Victor Feldbrill 1992; Ramsay Cook 1992; Kay Macpherson 1992; Julius Griffith 1994; Harry Mayerovitch 1994; John Ayre 1994; Tom Wood 1994; and Herbert Steinhouse 1994.
Other documents to note are Paul Duval's manuscript for his introduction to Bayefsky's Tattoos exhibition 1981 and the manuscript for his introduction to the Aba Bayefsky in Kensington Market catalogue 1990; an autographed copy of Last Summer's Blueberries (Toronto: Provincial Library Service, 1971), text by Rita Baker, illustrated by Bayefsky; and a copy of a promotional calendar published by Harbord Bakery and Calandria, [Toronto] 1980.
Seventeen photographs (15 col. and 2 b&w prints), found enclosed in letters to Bayefsky, are interfiled with the additional textual records.
See also Binders and scrapbooks series.
