Fonds comprises Ronald St. John Macdonald's records regarding his personal, academic, and professional activities as a jurist, judge, and professor. Records include those related to Macdonald's involvement with Osgoode Hall, University of Western Ontario, University of Toronto, Dalhousie University, the European Court of Human Rights, the Hague, Peking University, World Academy of Arts and Science, Canadian Council of International Law, United Nations, Institute of International Law, African Society of International Law, British Institute of International Law, Canadian Institute of International Law, International Law Association, and others. Records types include correspondence; meeting minutes and agendas; research materials; photographs; newsletters; newspaper clippings; manuscripts; and off-prints.
Item is a typed transcription of a letter from Felix Mendelssohn to the Johann Hermann Kufferath, the music director in Utrecht. The letter is translated to English from German.
Item contains a letter written by Franz Liszt to an unidentified person, addressing the publication of some of his songs by Schott, and his cousin, Mlle. Liszt.
File contains a letter written by Franz Liszt to an unidentified person, accompanied by a typed transcription. The letter addresses the publication of some of his songs by Schott, and his cousin, Mlle. Liszt.
Item contains a typed transcription of a letter written by Franz Liszt to an unidentified person, addressing the publication of some of his songs by Schott, and his cousin, Mlle. Liszt.
File includes a postcard with a black and white photograph of Pietro Mascagni (1863-1945), an Italian opera composer. The postcard has various signatures on the front, including Francesco Marconi (1855-1916, operatic tenor from Rome) and four other illegible signatures. The postcard is addressed to Frau Dr. Lehnsern(?) of Berlin. File also includes the incipits of three pieces by Ignaz Moscheles (1794-1870), signed at dated October 3, 1844. There are also five letters written by the following composers: Jacques Offenbach (1879), Gustav Mahler (1899), Edvard Grieg (1902), Maurice Ravel (1921), and Ignacy Paderewski (n.d., 1860-1941).
Fonds contains music manuscripts and published scores, photographs, and autograph letters written by well-known composers such as Jacques Offenbach, Giuseppe Verdi, and John Philip Sousa. Through his work as a music critic and journalist in Toronto and Halifax, Logan communicated with many prominent Canadian musicians in the early twentieth century. Many of the scores, photographs, and autographs included in this collection are a result of his contributions to music criticism. The music and theatre programs are frequently annotated with comments for reviews, and most of his correspondence with musicians and actors relates to his work as a music and theatre critic. Some of the scores were given to Logan as gifts from performers while others were sent to him for review or publication in newspapers. There are several manuscripts of songs by Edith Jessie Archibald, a prominent social activist and suffragist in Halifax. Letters sent to Logan also concern his poetic contributions, and there is a manuscript draft of one of his books, Preludes: Sonnets and other Verses (1906).
Series contains autographs, autograph letters, and autographed photographs. The letters were purchased by John Daniel Logan and were predominantly written by composers, including Giuseppe Verdi and Jacques Offenbach. Many of the autographs are signed on concert programs, presumably from concerts that Logan attended. The photographs are of musicians and actors, including several of the English actor Johnston Forbes-Robertson, and were sent to or obtained by Logan for his personal collection and in his capacity as a music critic and journalist.
File contains an autographed letter from Jacques Offenbach as Director of the Theatre des Bouffes Parisiens, addressed to "Monsieur le Baron" (likely Georges-Eugène Haussmann, commonly known as Baron Haussman).
Subseries consists of Ronald St. John Macdonald's items of interest collected throughout his life, including biographical materials, art pieces, newspaper clippings, periodicals, books, and other materials.
File contains an autographed letter from John Philip Sousa, written on his letterhead from the Marine Band and Orchestra, Washington, D.C. The letter is stored in a folder and includes a copy of a photograph of Sousa from 1895 .
Item is a letter from Edvard Grieg to an unidentifed person. Grieg wrote the letter at his Troldhaugen residence in Bergen Norway on February 10, 1902. It reads: "Dear Sir! Permit me, in bad English, to thank you for your songs & for your essay on my musical work. Both has [sic] given me much pleasure. I also congratulate you to your reputation in America as teacher and composer and beg you kindly to receive from me and my wife our best compliments. Yours faithfully, Edvard Grieg."
File contains a letter from Frank Squire Welsman. The letter concerns the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and requests John Daniel Logan's help in promoting and supporting their endeavours.
File contains three letters of uncertain authors sent to John Daniel Logan. One is from a former Dean and composer at the University of South Dakota (February 24, 1907); another about upcoming performances by J.S. Middlelai(?); and the third from "Ethel" concerning vacation plans.
File contains a letter from W.H. Greenwood, the Managing Director of The Toronto World newspaper, informing John Daniel Logan of his appointment to staff as Musical Critic.
File contains three letters from Marian MacDowell to John Daniel Logan. The letters concern her husband's death and work (the American composer and pianist Edward MacDowell) and Logan's poetry. The file also includes a compilation of press notices about a series of lectures that Marian MacDowell gave in 1910 on Edward MacDowell's music.
File contains a letter from R.S. Pigott of the Toronto Conservatory of Music concerning John Daniel Logan's book, presumably "Preludes: sonnets and other verses" (1906).
File contains a letter from the actress Anna Frery, thanking John Daniel Logan for his critique of her performance in Aida by Giuseppe Verdi. The letter is written on letterhead from the Grand Union Hotel Co., Limited.
File contains a letter from the Australian operatic soprano Nellie Melba concerning a short poem that John Daniel Logan wrote about her singing. The file includes a copy of the poem as printed in a newspaper. The letter also references a photograph that Melba sent to Logan.
File contains two letters from the Canadian violinist Kathleen Parlow concerning reviews of her performances by John Daniel Logan and Logan's poetry. One of the letters (dated April 19, 1912), mentions the sinking of the Titanic in passing. One of the letters originally contained two photographs of Parlow, one for the press and one for Logan.
File contains a letter from Minnie Parlow, the mother of the Canadian violinist Kathleen Parlow. The letter concerns reviews of her daughter's performance in Toronto.
File contains three letters from Gena Branscombe Tenney. Her letters include references to Logan's article on "Canadian Women," her family, and her compositions.
File contains one letter and a Christmas card from Christie MacDonald. The letter apologizes for missing John Daniel Logan and his wife when she was in Toronto.