Collection consists of David Milne Project administrative records created chiefly in the 1980s and 1990s in the Project office at Massey College in the University of Toronto for the purpose of producing a catalogue raisonné of the paintings of Canadian artist David Brown Milne (1882-1953). Collection also includes photocopied materials assembled for researching the artist’s life and works for a biography of Milne (1996) by David Silcox and the catalogue raisonné (1998) by his son David Milne Jr and David Silcox. The activity of the Milne Project ceased after the publication of the catalogue raisonné in 1998.
Milne Project administrative records (series 1 and series 21-40) document the steps taken in developing the catalogue raisonné. They begin in the late 1970s and include research forms created to organize and record data on Milne’s paintings for the two-volume work, files of correspondence, fundraising, financial, editorial/production, book launch, and marketing/publicity materials, some on computer disks; and records of Milne researcher Blodwen Davies.
Research material (series 2 to series 20) consists of photocopies made chiefly in the 1980s of primary sources such as David Brown Milne’s correspondence, essays, diary, autobiography and similar records from Library and Archives Canada, Milne Family records and other sources, and includes photocopied lists of paintings, records of the Picture Loan Society in Toronto and other art dealers and institutions relating to the sale and exhibition of Milne paintings; photocopied clippings from newspapers and magazines; and transcripts of recollections and interviews provided by David Brown Milne’s relatives and contemporaries.
