Fonds LA.SC145 - Art Directors Club, Toronto fonds

Identity area

Reference code

LA.SC145

Title

Art Directors Club, Toronto fonds

Date(s)

  • [192-]-1972, predominant 1953-1958 (Creation)

Level of description

Fonds

Extent and medium

8 cm of textual records
10 greeting cards
5 postcards
2 drawings

Context area

Name of creator

(1947-1993)

Administrative history

The Art Directors Club, Toronto (active 1947–1993), now the Advertising and Design Club of Canada, was a trade organization the first aim of which was “to promote the use of better art as applied to commerce and industry.” Its membership, initially around 25 and limited in 1958 to 90 members, consisted chiefly of art directors, commercial artists, photographers and typographers. After its charter was granted in January 1948, the club elected Robin Cumine, Leslie Trevor, John Belknap, O.K. Schenk and Eric Heathcote as officers for 1948–1949. Harry Caverhill, Charles Comfort, Stanley Cooper and Leslie Wookey served on the first executive committee. Presidents of the Art Directors Club, Toronto mentioned in club correspondence were Leslie Trevor and Gerald Moses. Similar organizations existed in Vancouver, Montreal, New York and elsewhere.
The first Art Directors Club, Toronto (ADCT) exhibition was held at Eatons Fine Art Galleries in Toronto in April 1949. In that year, the club first published reproductions of submissions to the exhibition in its Annual of advertising and editorial art (1949–1964). Issues of the annual included lists of artists in the exhibition and names of members of the club.
The club also administered the Oscar Cahén Memorial Award for accomplishment in the art of industry and commerce, named after Canadian painter (member of the Painters Eleven) and illustrator Oscar Cahén (1916–1956).
During the 1950s, ADCT exhibitions of advertising and editorial art were held at the Art Gallery of Toronto, now the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO).

Archival history

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Content and structure area

Scope and content

Fonds consists of Art Directors Club, Toronto official records, correspondence, records of club meetings, committee reports, membership records, exhibitions and awards dinner records, and other material.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

No further accruals are expected

System of arrangement

The original order of files and items in the fonds is unknown. Materials have been arranged by the archives.

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

Open. Access to Special Collections is by appointment only.

Conditions governing reproduction

Copyright is held by the creator. It is the researcher’s responsibility to obtain permission to publish any part of the fonds.

Language of material

  • English
  • German

Script of material

Language and script notes

Physical characteristics and technical requirements

Finding aids

Allied materials area

Existence and location of originals

Existence and location of copies

Related units of description

The institutional archives of the Art Gallery of Ontario holds exhibition records of the Art Directors Club, Toronto from the 1950s. The AGO Library holds issues of the Annual of advertising and editorial art in its main collection.

Related descriptions

Notes area

Note

Source of title proper: Title based on the provenance of the fonds.

Note

Gift of Barbara Mercer, 1998

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Description control area

Description identifier

Institution identifier

Rules and/or conventions used

Status

Level of detail

Dates of creation revision deletion

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Sources

Archivist's note

Prepared by Gary Fitzgibbon, 2017. Uploaded and adapted by Nirvana Chainani, 2019

Accession area

Related subjects

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