Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1931-1972 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
7 cm of textual records 111 photographs
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Charles Shaw Band (1885-1969) was a Toronto business executive, philanthropist and collector of Canadian art. He was born in Thorold, Ontario and educated at Upper Canada College in Toronto. In 1914 he married Helen Huntington Warren (whose mother Sarah Trumbull Van Lennep Warren was a founder of the Art Gallery of Toronto) with whom he began collecting artworks. During his career, he worked with many Canadian firms, including Canadian Surety, Goderich Elevator and Transit Co. Ltd., Manufacturers Life Insurance, Toronto General Trust, as well as Gutta Percha and Rubber Limited of Toronto.
In addition to his business interests, Band was affiliated with various community organisations including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, the John Howard Society, the Red Cross, the Art Gallery of Toronto, and the National Film Board.
Band was a friend of members of the Group of Seven, especially Lawren Harris and Fred Varley. He was President of the Art Gallery of Toronto 1945-1948 and again in 1964-1965. In 1948 he was made Officier d’Académie by the French government for his role in bringing an exhibition of French masters to Canada the previous year. The noted Collection of Mr and Mrs Charles S. Band was the subject of exhibitions in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Vancouver, Los Angeles and other cities. C. S. Band died in Toronto in 1969, leaving the bulk of his collection to the Art Gallery of Ontario.
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
The C.S. Band correspondence was donated by Helen W. Band in 1970 and 1971. The photographs appear to have been donated at that time.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Fonds consists of correspondence with art galleries, artists and others regarding the acquisition and lending of artworks, as well as general correspondence with members of the Canadian arts community. Correspondents include André Bieler, B.C. Binning, E.J. Hughes, Jean-Paul Lemieux, Arthur Lismer, J.W.G. MacDonald and Frederick Varley (including a 1951 filmscript on Varley by Allan Wargon). The fonds also comprises two pen or pencil sketches by Arthur Lismer of C.S. Band, photographs of him and his friends, photographs of his collection, and installation shots of his artworks in exhibitions along with several exhibition catalogues. Fonds is comprised of the following series: Photographs Correspondence, galleries Correspondence, artists Correspondence, F.H. Varley Correspondence, general Miscellaneous
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
No further accruals are expected.
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Open
Conditions governing reproduction
Copyright is held by the creator or his heirs. Copyright belonging to other parties, such as that of photographs, may still rest with the creator of these items. It is the researcher’s responsibility to obtain permission to publish any part of the fonds.
Language of material
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
Notes area
Note
Previously known as the Charles S. Band collection.
Alternative identifier(s)
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Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
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Dates of creation revision deletion
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Archivist's note
Prepared by Amy Marshall Furness with assistance from Gary Fitzgibbon, 2003.
Uploaded and adapted by Nirvana Chainani, 2019.