Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
General material designation
- Graphic material
- Textual record
- Textual record (microform)
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Class of material specific details area
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Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
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1801-1843, 1955 (Creation)
- Creator
- McCulloch, Thomas
Physical description area
Physical description
10 cm of textual records (7 folders). - 4 reels of microfilm. – 1 photograph : b&w glass plate ; 7 x 5 cm.
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Archival description area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Thomas McCulloch, Dalhousie's first president, was a Presbyterian minister, author and educator. Born in 1776 in Fereneze, Scotland, to Michael and Elizabeth McCulloch, he was raised in a prosperous, intellectual environment engendered by a community of highly-skilled textile workers. He graduated in logic from Glasgow University in 1792, started medical school, and continued independent studies in languages, politics and church history before training as a minister at the General Associate Synod in Whitburn. In 1799 he was ordained, assigned a presbytery in Stewarton (near Glasgow), and married Isabella Walker, with whom he eventually had nine children.
Four years after his appointment in Stewarton, McCulloch requested an assignment in North America. He was intended for Prince Edward Island, but in 1804 he was inducted into the Harbour Church in Pictou, Nova Scotia. In 1806 he opened a school in his house, a first step toward his dream of establishing a non-sectarian institute of higher education in Nova Scotia. By 1818 he had helped to establish Pictou Academy, where he served as principal. Although an academic success, with a fine collection of scientific instruments and a distinguished library and natural history collection, from its beginning the school was under political and financial pressure.
In 1824 McCulloch resigned from the ministry to concentrate his efforts on teaching and educational reform. He remained at Pictou until 1838, when he became the first president of Dalhousie College as well as Professor of Logic, Rhetoric and Moral Philosophy. McCulloch’s belief in the importance of mathematics, natural philosophy and the physical sciences was integral to his understanding of a liberal education. He gave public lectures in chemistry, established a museum of natural history at Dalhousie, and continued to pursue insect collecting. He also wrote on theology and politics and composed popular satirical stories, including The Stepsure Letters. McCulloch died in September 1843.
In 2018 Thomas McCulloch was named one of 52 Dalhousie Originals, a list of individuals identified as having made a significant impact on the university and the broader community since Dalhousie's inception in 1818. https://www.dal.ca/about-dal/dalhousie-originals/thomas-mcculloch.html
Custodial history
Custodial history is unknown.
Scope and content
Fonds contains both original records and reproductions of materials related to Reverend Thomas McCulloch, including one glass plate of an etching of McCulloch, a hand-written paper concerning vegetation in the Minas Basin, shorthand notes, a ticket for McCulloch’s moral philosophy course at Dalhousie College, microfilmed copies of three books by McCulloch, a Dalhousie thesis discussing McCulloch and the Nova Scotia educational system, and correspondence with Sam Cunard, Lord Dalhousie, the University of Edinburgh, and the Wernerian Natural History Society.
Notes area
Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
Arrangement
Language of material
- English
Script of material
Language and script note
English.
Location of originals
Availability of other formats
Restrictions on access
There are no access restrictions on these materials. All materials are open for research.
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
Associated materials
See the Thomas McCulloch, Jr. fonds (MS-2-41) for materials created and compiled by McCulloch's son.
Accruals
Further accruals are possible, but not expected.
General note
Preferred citation: [Identification of item], Thomas McCulloch collection, MS-2-40, Box [box number], Folder [folder number], Dalhousie University Archives, 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.