Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
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- Graphic material
- Textual record
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Edition statement
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Dates of creation area
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Physical description area
Physical description
4.6 m of textual records
Publisher's series area
Title proper of publisher's series
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Archival description area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Robert MacGregor Dawson, born in 1895 in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, was a graduate of Dalhousie and Harvard universities and the London School of Economics. A leading Canadian political scientist, he taught at Dalhousie, Rutgers and the University of Saskatchewan before taking up an appointment at University of Toronto in 1937. He wrote several major works on the government and constitution of Canada, including a textbook, The Government of Canada, which achieved its sixth edition in 1987, nearly 30 years after his death in 1958. He left the University of Toronto in 1951 to write a biography of MacKenzie King, but died before it was completed.
Custodial history
The original manuscript for Dawson’s 1921 book The Principle of Official Independence was donated to the Archives by his son, Professor Robert MacGregor Dawson Jr, in 1976. In 1979 Professor Dawson Jr. donated some family financial records and Dawson Sr.’s collection of copies of the London Illustrated News. The latter were transferred to Dalhousie’s Special Collections department soon thereafter.
In 1980 the bulk of the fonds was acquired, again by donation from Professor Dawson Jr. In 2002, all material relating to the Nova Scotia Royal Commission on Provincial Rehabilitation and Development, a government commission chaired by Dawson, was transferred to Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management.
Scope and content
Approximately half of the fonds is taken up with general research notes accumulated by Dawson during his working life, consisting of newspaper clipping, hand-written notes and assorted print materials (1917-1958). As well, there is a considerable but not comprehensive body of material relating to his publications, including research notes and correspondence, handwritten and typed drafts, proofs and copies of the finished publications (ca. 1920-1961).
The fonds has a small amount of personal and family papers (ca. 1900-1927), professional correspondence (ca. 1921-1951) and personal correspondence (1899-1950). Finally there are over 160 photographs of Dawson’s family and homes (1895-195-), of acquaintances from his student days at Dalhousie (1915-1920), and 4 photograph albums (undated).
Notes area
Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
Arrangement
The physical arrangement of material reflects the original grouping of material types, e.g. proofs are arranged together, photographs are together, and so on. Unless otherwise stated, for a given type, material is also arranged as found. In instances where there were indications that alphabetical arrangement had once been present--through the presence of runs of material in alphabetic order--that arrangement has been reapplied.
Language of material
- English
Script of material
Language and script note
English.
Location of originals
Availability of other formats
Restrictions on access
All records are open.
Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication
Materials do not circulate and must be used in the Archives and Special Collections Reading Room. Materials may be under copyright. Contact departmental staff for guidance on reproduction.
Finding aids
Detailed inventory available on-site.
Associated materials
Records collected by Dawson of the Nova Scotia Royal Commission on Provincial Rehabilitation and Development are housed at Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management.
Accruals
No further accruals are expected.
General note
Preferred citation: [Identification of item], Robert MacGregor Dawson fonds, MS-2-256, Box [box number], Folder [folder number], Dalhousie University Archives and Special Collections, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
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Sources
This fonds description comes from the Dalhousie University Archives Catalog. The complete, original description is available there.