Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
Robert MacGregor Dawson fonds
General material designation
- Graphic material
- Textual record
Parallel title
Other title information
Title statements of responsibility
Title notes
Level of description
Fonds
Repository
Reference code
MS-2-256, Box 1-33
Edition area
Edition statement
Edition statement of responsibility
Class of material specific details area
Statement of scale (cartographic)
Statement of projection (cartographic)
Statement of coordinates (cartographic)
Statement of scale (architectural)
Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
-
1895-1962, 1920-1958 (Creation)
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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Other title information of publisher's series
Statement of responsibility relating to publisher's series
Numbering within publisher's series
Note on publisher's series
Archival description area
Name of creator
(1895-1958)
Biographical history
Born in 1895 at Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, Robert MacGregor Dawson 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 he also donated some family financial records and his father's collection of the London Illustrated News. The latter were transferred to Dalhousie’s Special Collections department.
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
Fonds comprises primarily Dawson's research materials, including newspaper clippings, assorted print materials, notes and correspondence, manuscript drafts, proofs and offprints. There is a smaller volume of personal and family papers, personal and professional correspondence, four photograph albums, and over 160 photographs of Dawson’s family, homes, and friends from his student days at Dalhousie.
Notes area
Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
Arrangement
Unless otherwise stated, materials were kept as found. In instances where there were indications that alphabetical ordering had been present, 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.
Finding aid
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.