‘Partially provided’: geography at the University of Toronto, 1844–1935

Abstract

In universities, as in everyday life, there is a fundamental need for geographical knowledge, even when no formal departments exist to provide instruction. This need was true in the University of Toronto during the decades before Griffith Taylor was appointed in 1935 to the first university Chair in geography in English‐speaking Canada. Using matriculation and annual university course examinations, university calendars and the papers of President Falconer and Professors James Mavor and Harold Innis, I trace the development of geography at the University of Toronto from the mid‐nineteenth century to the arrival of Taylor. Courses taught in selected aspects of physical and human geography in the Departments of Geology, Political Economy and History are particularly significant. Underlying this instruction, and also the desire to establish a geography department, was an acute awareness of the fundamental importance of geography to help understand a large regionally complex homeland, and a wider world.

Taking the pulse of the dead: History and philosophy of geography, 2008-2009

“…Miraculously, he still got the job. In 1935 Taylor was made the founding Head of Canada's first university geography department at the University of Toronto (Strange and Bashford, 2008: 206-13;Warkentin, 2008).…”

Luminaries … and teaching

“…L'article lumineux de Cole Harris publié dans ce numéro brosse la synthèse d'une carrière en recherche consacrée à l'interprétation des diverses géographies passées du Canada, à ce qui les distinguent du modèle américain et leur intérêt dans les débats actuels. Par ailleurs, Cole mentionne dans son avant‐propos le succès de son manuel scolaire (1974) rédigé en collaboration avec John Warkentin (2008) qui se passionne également pour l'enseignement de la géographie. Il mentionne aussi les efforts exceptionnels qu'il a fourni pour réaliser l'Atlas historique du Canada (un manuel scolaire basé sur la cartographie) qui s'adresse aussi bien aux universitaires qu'à un public plus large.…”

“…In this issue, Cole Harris's luminary article synthesizes a research career devoted to the interpretation of Canada's diverse past geographies, their distinctiveness from the American model and relevance for present debates. Moreover, in his ‘personal preamble’, Cole mentions a widely read (1974) textbook he wrote with John Warkentin (2008), the latter himself strongly interested in the teaching of geography, and the extraordinary efforts he expended in developing the Historical Atlas of Canada (a cartography‐based textbook) that has reached an audience well beyond academia. If not about specific public policy issues, Cole's research surely feeds into all kinds of debates (policy related and otherwise) regarding Canadian geography and society.…”