scholarly journals The Making of a Conservationist

2018 ◽  
Vol 108 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Warecki
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Family Farm ◽  
Natural Areas ◽  
University Of Toronto ◽  
Royal Ontario Museum ◽  
Local Environments ◽  
The Family ◽  
The University

Published accounts of the work of J.R. Dymond, a zoology professor at the University of Toronto, director of the Royal Ontario Museum, and a significant force for conservation in Ontario emphasize his contributions to the natural history movement, and his influence on scientific research and the protection of natural areas in provincial parks. Relatively little attention has been paid to his early life and the local environments that shaped his views of nature. This article uses the concept of “place” to explain how Dymond became a conservationist. His experiences in specific locations—a product of social relations and the landscapes themselves—gave those places meaning and shaped his values. Such environments included the family farm and surrounding countryside in southwestern Ontario’s Metcalfe Township, Strathroy Collegiate Institute, the University of Toronto and nearby natural areas, places in Ottawa, and various lakes in B.C. and Ontario.

The Dupont family: collectors, dealers and naturalists in nineteenth-century Paris

2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Mearns ◽  
Laurent Chevrier ◽  
Christophe Gouraud
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Family History ◽  
Natural History ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Special Interest ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Anatomical Models ◽  
The Family ◽  
Small Collection

In the early part of the nineteenth century the Dupont brothers ran separate natural history businesses in Paris. Relatively little is known about their early life but an investigation into the family history at Bayeux corrects Léonard Dupont's year of birth from 1795 to 1796. In 1818 Léonard joined Joseph Ritchie's expedition to North Africa to assist in collecting and preparing the discoveries but he did not get beyond Tripoli. After 15 months he came back to Paris with a small collection from Libya and Provence, and returned to Provence in 1821. While operating as a dealer-naturalist in Paris he published Traité de taxidermie (1823, 1827), developed a special interest in foreign birds and became well known for his anatomical models in coloured wax. Henry Dupont sold a range of natural history material and with his particular passion for beetles formed one of the finest collections in Europe; his best known publication is Monographie des Trachydérides (1836–1840). Because the brothers had overlapping interests and were rarely referred to by their forenames there has been confusion between them and the various eponyms that commemorate them. Although probably true, it would be an over-simplification to state that birds of this era named for Dupont refer to Léonard Dupont, insects to Henry Dupont, and molluscs to their mother.

William Arthur Parks, 1868-1936

1938 ◽  
Vol 2 (6) ◽  
pp. 260-263
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Natural Sciences ◽  
University Of Toronto ◽  
Royal Ontario Museum ◽  
International Nickel Company ◽  
The University ◽  
Cleveland Ohio

William Arthur Parks, Director of the Royal Ontario Museum of Palaeontology, and until recently Professor and Head of the Department of Geology at the University of Toronto, was born at Hamilton, Ontario , 11 December, 1868. He was the son of George Dyer Parks and Kate Snelgrove, formerly of Exeter, England. His early youth was spent at Hamilton and afterwards at Bowmanville where he attended the High School from which he matriculated in 1886. Two years later, after having some training and experience in teaching, he entered the University of Toronto , where he gained various scholastic successes and graduated in Natural Sciences in 1892. His first appointment was as chemist at Sudbury and Cleveland, Ohio, to the Canadian Copper Company, which has now developed in to the International Nickel Company. In 1893 he joined the staff of the University of Toronto as Geologist, and devoted the remainder of his life until his retirement just before his death to the service of that University. He rose from grade to grade, and on the retirement of Professor A. P. Coleman in 1922 he was made Head of the Department.

Arthur Philemon Coleman, 1852 - 1939

1940 ◽  
Vol 3 (8) ◽  
pp. 117-122
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Laboratory Work ◽  
Northern Ontario ◽  
University Of Toronto ◽  
Lake Region ◽  
Iron Copper ◽  
The University ◽  
Gold Bearing

Arthur Philemon Coleman, the son of Francis Coleman, a Methodist minister, was born at La Chute, Quebec, in 1852, and graduated from Victoria University, Cobourg, Ontario, in 1876. After teaching for three years in the Cobourg Collegiate Institute he entered the University of Breslau, where he took his doctor’s degree in 1881 for a thesis on the geology of an area in Silesia. Returning to Canada he became Professor of Natural History and Geology at the Victoria University until it was affiliated with the University of Toronto in which he was appointed Professor of Metallurgy and Assaying. While thus engaged he wrote many reports for the newly constituted Ontario Bureau of Mines, and in 1894 was formally nominated as its Geologist and Mineralogist. In 1901 he was transferred to the Chair of Geology at Toronto and served the University in that capacity till his retirement in 1922. Coleman’s first researches in Canada were naturally on microscopic petrology, a subject then much in vogue in Germany. He combined this study with field and laboratory work not only in his papers on Anorthosite and those on Nepheline and other Syenites, but in his work on the gold-bearing rocks of the Rainy Lake Region, and on other occurrences of such ores as iron, copper, cobalt, and silver, in Northern Ontario, which he carried out for the Bureau of Mines.

The Iron Creek Meteorite: The Curious History of the Manitou Stone and the Claim for its Repatriation

2014 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 150-175
Author(s):  
Howard Plotkin
Keyword(s):  
First Nations ◽  
Red River ◽  
Cultural Significance ◽  
University Of Toronto ◽  
Royal Ontario Museum ◽  
Aboriginal Culture ◽  
History Of ◽  
The University

Canada's Iron Creek meteorite, a 320 lb (145 kg) Group IIIAB medium octahedrite iron, was long venerated by the First Nations in Alberta as their sacred Manitou Stone, but it was taken without authority from them by Methodist missionaries in 1866. That began the meteorite's long odyssey, as it was transferred first to the Methodist Mission in Victoria (now Pakan) Alberta; then to the Red River Mission in Winnipeg, Manitoba; then to the Wesleyan Methodist Church's Mission Rooms in Toronto, Ontario; then to Victoria College in Cobourg, Ontario; then to the campus of the University of Toronto in Toronto, Ontario; then to the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto; and finally to the Provincial Museum of Alberta (now the Royal Alberta Museum) in Edmonton. In recent years, a First Nations movement to repatriate the meteorite to a place near its original find site has been initiated. As of now, the meteorite remains on display at the Royal Alberta Museum's Syncrude Gallery of Aboriginal Culture, where it is a prized showpiece. The present paper explores the curious history and cultural significance of this fabled meteorite, its long odyssey, the issues surrounding the claims for its repatriation, the Royal Alberta Museum's present policy, and a possible way forward.

Fisher’s Early Years

2020 ◽  
pp. 3-11
Author(s):  
Louis R. Caplan
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Academic Performance ◽  
School System ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Small Minority ◽  
The Public ◽  
University Of Toronto ◽  
Rural Town ◽  
The University

Abstract: This chapter describes Fisher’s early life; his family; his upbringing in a rural town in Ontario, Canada; and his characteristics as a child and young boy. Fisher was born on December 5, 1913, in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. He was one of nine siblings. He attended the public school system in Waterloo through high school. Although he spent little serious time as a student and did little homework until age 15 or 16 years, he was awarded a scholarship to the University of Toronto in recognition of his academic performance during high school. Only a small minority of students from his high school went on to college.

DESCRIPTION OF THREE NEW CANADIAN PERLIDS

1935 ◽  
Vol 67 (9) ◽  
pp. 197-201 ◽  
Author(s):  
William E. Ricker
Keyword(s):  
Undescribed Species ◽  
University Of Toronto ◽  
Royal Ontario Museum ◽  
The University

While at the University of Toronto in the spring of 1934, the author had the privilege of examining the Plecoptera of the collection of the Royal Ontario Museum of Zoology. It soon became apparent that a number of undescribed species were represented therein, and the present paper describes three of the most interesting of them. It is the interest and assistance of Dr. E. M. Walker and Dr. F. P. Ide that has made possible the descriptions appearing in this and in subsequent papers.

scholarly journals Understanding Student Protest in Canada: The University of Toronto Strike Vote

1976 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-67
Author(s):  
John H. Simpson ◽  
Walter Phillips
Keyword(s):  
Social Order ◽  
The United States ◽  
Student Protest ◽  
University Of Toronto ◽  
Student Role ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Family ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Uncertain Future ◽  
The University

A behavioural indicator of student protest - voting in favour of a student strike referendum - is shown to be positively associated with two social discontinuities accompanying the student role: the weakening of ties with the family of origin and an uncertain future. Also, a student's commitment to the social order as measured by a variety of items is shown to be inversely related to favouring the strike. An argument is made that recent student protest in Canada and the United States differed in terms of the major issues involved and that the difference can be explained by variation in the valued means of social participation in the two societies.

scholarly journals Recruiting a Scientific Enigma: Ramsay Wright at the University of Toronto and its Reconstituted Medical School, 1874 – 1912

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
John P. M. Court
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Medical School ◽  
Research Methods ◽  
Research Output ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
Faculty Recruitment ◽  
University Of Toronto ◽  
Qualified Candidate ◽  
The University

Ramsay Wright was appointed in 1874 to the University of Toronto’s Chair in Natural History through an advertised competition designed to replace patronage with adjudicating candidates on merit. An absence of transparency and inconsistencies in the outcome, however, provoke doubts that the process was pursued fairly to acquire the most qualified candidate. Premier Mowat passed over eminently-qualified Canadians for this inexperienced Edinburgh lab tutor. The Darwinian orientation of his education together with training in the German scientific research methods, although sub rosa criteria because of their political contentiousness, appear to have been decisive for Wright’s selection. From archival evidence this study contrasts the recently-enacted protocol for fair, objective faculty recruitment with the shadowy process through which Wright was chosen. Once installed, with sparkling lecturing skills and the benefit of mentoring, Wright sidestepped his modest research output to progress in administration. Passed over for Toronto’s presidency, he diverged to embrace a later-discredited aspect of evolution, advocating publicly for human eugenics. Wright retired to Oxford in 1912, after which the more engaging aspects of his persona were periodically burnished for the university’s commemorative contexts. -- Ramsay Wright fut nommé titulaire de la chaire d’histoire naturelle de l’Université de Toronto en 1874, lors d’un concours public conçu pour remplacer le favoritisme par un processus de sélection basé sur les mérites des candidats. Cependant l’absence de transparence et des incohérences dans le résultat mirent en doute l’impartialité du processus de sélection. Le premier ministre Mowat préféra ce chargé de travaux pratiques inexpérimenté d’Édimbourg à des Canadiens éminemment qualifiés. L’orientation darwinienne de l’éducation de Wright et sa formation dans les méthodes de recherches scientifiques allemandes, bien qu’il s’agisse de critères confidentiels en raison de leurs caractères controversés, semblent avoir joué un rôle décisif dans le choix de Mowat. À partir de documents d’archives, cette étude oppose le nouveau protocole mis en place pour assurer un recrutement juste et objectif à l’obscur processus par lequel Wright fut sélectionné. Une fois installé, celui-ci se révéla un conférencier brillant et il compensa son modeste rendement de chercheur en progressant dans l’administration.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document