Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- [ca.1966]-[ca.2017] (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
128 cm of textual records
149 photographs
2 video reels
2 art multiples
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Elke Town was a curator, writer and arts administrator based in Toronto. Born in 1944, Bromberg, Germany (now Bydgoszcz, Poland), she moved to Toronto and studied at York University from 1963 to 1966. In her varied career she worked at Video Ring, A Space, Art Metropole and Telefilm Canada, and headed her own script consulting business, Storyworks. She was employed as Special Projects Officer in the Art Gallery of Ontario’s Extension Services department, 1977-1980, a period of high activity during which the “Artists With Their Work” and Festival Ontario programs were developed. During the 1970s and 1980s, Town’s work as an independent curator brought her together with a number of significant artists and art organizations.
Archival history
Material was transferred directly from Elke Town to the Art Gallery of Ontario on September 14, 2016. A subsequent transfer of material was made by Robert Fones on February 15, 2024.
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
AGO Credit Line: Gift of Elke Town, 2016; Gift of Robert Fones, 2024
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Fonds documents Elke Town’s activity in the visual arts in Toronto between the years 1974 and 1991. The files are related to various positions she held, beginning with A Space in 1974, and the curatorial work she carried out at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Gallery 76 at OCAD, Art Metropole and as an independent curator. There are also files related to her writing about visual art and video for numerous publications such as C Magazine, Vanguard, Parachute and Canadian Art.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
No further accruals are expected.
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Open. Access to Special Collections is by appointment only. Please contact the reference desk for more information.
Conditions governing reproduction
Copyright is held by the creator or her 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
- English
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
A preliminary inventory with a list of file titles is available in the administrative file for this fonds.
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Alternative identifier(s)
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
Created 4 October 2018
Language(s)
- English
Script(s)
Sources
Archivist's note
Description prepared by Amy Marshall Furness