The family of John William Dawson, geologist and Principal of McGill
University, may be followed through four generations. For John William
Dawson's papers as Principal, see Record Group 2. For Dawson's private papers
and those of his son-in-law, B.J. Harrington, see Section I, McGill Teaching
and Research. For the papers of George Mercer Dawson, see Section IV, Medicine
and Science. Family members include James Dawson, a Scots immigrant to Nova
Scotia, printer, stationer, unsuccessful investor and zealous Presbyterian;
his son John William, the McGill principal from 1855 to 1893; John William's
wife Margaret Mercer and their children, George Mercer Dawson, explorer,
geologist, and Director of the Geological Survey; William Bell Dawson, an
engineer; Rankine Dawson, M.D.; and Anna Lois Dawson: Also represented are her
husband B.J. Harrington, consulting chemist and Professor at McGill University
and their children; and Eva Dawson and her husband Hope Atkin.
UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES
Originals, Photographs, 1800-1917, 3.8 m (M.G. 1022)
The whole collection provides a detailed picture of the internal life of this
Victorian family. Although the papers largely consist of correspondence, it
also contains approximately 30 cm of photographs, mostly in albums, depicting
various events of the life of the family and its members.
JAMES DAWSON, 1800-1861, 30cm (c.45-c.47)
The papers of James Dawson contain a few letters from family and friends in
Scotland, and later, some correspondence with his son John William and his
grandson George, but the bulk of his correspondence is concerned with his
business interests and legal affairs. This includes deeds to land in Pictou,
authorizations, copies of wills, and other legal documents; correspondence
concerning publishing ventures and other money-making schemes, as well as
government economic policy; and finally, bills, invoices with books titles and
receipts from his book and stationery store. These files also contain
correspondence, reports and notes on Dawson's involvement in Bible and
missionary societies. James Dawson also wrote two autobiographies: a
"Narrative diary" from 1849-1861, and the more formal "Incidents of a Life",
ca 1859.
MARGARET MERCER DAWSON, 1836-1907, 40 cm (c.50-c.53)
The papers of Margaret Mercer Dawson (c.50-c.53) consist of 6 cm of letters
from her husband, 1848-1873; 14 cm from her children, 1858-1906; 13 cm from
her Scottish relatives and friends, 1836-1907; and 35 cm (approximately
one-third undated) from friends, 1855-1906.
ANNA DAWSON HARRINGTON, 1851-1917, 40 cm (c.61-c.64)
Anna Dawson Harrington's papers comprise 1.5 cm of letters from J.W. Dawson,
1868-1896; 3 cm from Margaret Mercer Dawson, 1870-1902; 10 cm from George
Mercer Dawson, 1865-1901; 7 items from William Bell Dawson, 1868-1876; 5 items
from Rankine Dawson, 1871-1899; 15 items from Eva Dawson Atkin, 1880-1896; 13
cm from her husband B.J. Harrington, 1876-1906; 2 cm from her children,
1892-1913; 1 cm of congratulatory letters at the time of her marriage,
1875-1876; 13 letters from friends and associates, 1867-1911; 4 cm of letters
of sympathy on the death of her husband, 1907; 2 cm of letters concerning
subscriptions for his portrait, a girlhood diary, 1866-1871 and some notes for
biographies of J.W. Dawson and George Mercer Dawson.
WILLIAM BELL DAWSON, 1854-1944, 1 cm (c.68)
William Bell Dawson's papers contain 6 items of family correspondence,
1868-1899, and photographs. There are also photographs and a few items of
correspondence belonging to his daughter Cristall.
RANKINE DAWSON, 1863-1913, 5 cm (c.68)
The papers of Rankine Dawson comprise 2 cm from J.W. Dawson, 1881-1899; 8
items from Margaret Mercer Dawson, 1882-1893; 2.5 cm from his brothers and
sisters; and some general correspondence.
OTHER DAWSON FAMILY MEMBERS, 10 cm (c.68-c.69)
Eva Dawson Atkin is represented by four items of correspondence, 1870-1896 and
her husband Hope Atkin by three items (1889-1891). Papers belonging to the
children of Anna Dawson Harrington and B.J. Harrington are distributed as
follows: Eric Harrington, 3 items of family correspondence, 1883-1894; William
Harrington, 3 cm of letters from his mother, 1899-1910; Bernard Harrington, 4
items of family correspondence, 1900; Ruth Harrington, 2 cm of letters,
largely from her mother, 1894-1912; Edith Harrington, 1 letter from her
father, 1888; Clare Harrington, 1 cm of family correspondence, 1889-1907; and
1 cm of letters of sympathy on the death of her mother; Lois Harrington
Winslow-Spragge, 2 cm of family letters largely from her mother (1898-1917)
and 2 cm of notes and extracts on family history. All items in this collection
are indexed; correspondence is indexed by author, recipient, and date.
RARE BOOK DEPARTMENT
JAMES DAWSON, 1800-1861, Originals, 1828-1861, 8 cm (CH380.S342-4)
James Dawson's papers fall into two series. Business correspondence largely
concerns his Lloyd's agency and his book and stationery shop. Private
correspondence includes letters from two nieces, Agnes Stewart and Jane
Morrison.
DAWSON, JOHN WILLIAM, 1820-1899
William Dawson, geologist, educator and Principal of McGill University (1855-1893) was an
important scientific figure in nineteenth-century Canada, and one of the few of truly international
stature. Born and educated in Pictou, Nova Scotia, he early showed a predilection for geology and
palaeontology, and began collecting fossil plants from the coal fields in the Pictou area. During a
period of study in Edinburgh in 1840-1841, he formed important friendships with Sir Charles
Lyell, one of the pioneers of modern geology and with William Logan, shortly to become the first
director of the Geological Survey of Canada. On his return to Nova Scotia, he began to publish and
lecture on scientific topics. An appointment as Nova Scotia's first Superintendant of Education
(1850-1853) entailed the extensive travel which enabled him to gather material for his Acadian
Geology.
In 1854, in the midst of his unsuccessful application for the chair of Natural History at Edinburgh,
Dawson was offered the Principalship of McGill. He found the University on the verge of financial
collapse. By a combination of scientific and entrepreneurial talents, he established it on a very
sound footing and stamped it with a particularly scientific character. As a scientific educator,
Dawson was highly progressive, and introduced a wide range of subjects into the undergraduate
curriculum. His belief in the alliance of scientific and commercial concerns, seconded by the
financial support of Sir William Macdonald, launched McGill's innovative programmes in applied
scences. However, on the question of the higher education of women, his stance against
co-education generated much controversy.
In his early years at McGill, Dawson taught almost all the sciences; later, as Logan Professor, he
could concentrate on his main fields of geology and palaeontology. His early researches in the
Maritimes leaned towards palaeobotany, but were also closely connected with iron and coal
mining. Following the move to Montréal, his interests shifted to the Laurentian region and fossil
fauna; he was deeply embroiled in the controversy over Eozoon canadense, whose zoological
origins he championed. Apart from his extensive scholarly writings, Dawson published many
popular works, particularly on the relations of science and religion. He himself was deeply
fundamentalist and a vigourous opponent of Darwinism.
As time passed, Dawson's research yielded to his involvement in scientific administration. He was
the first president of the Royal Society of Canada (1882), the first to serve as president of both the
American (1882-3) and the British Association for the Advancement of Science (1886), and a
fellow of numerous other learned societies. He was knighted in 1884, following the Montréal
meeting of the BAAS which he organized.
UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES
Originals, Photocopies, Photographs, Printed Materials, Pencil and Ink Sketches, ca 1830-1899, 8
m (M.G. 1022)
The papers described here are overwehlmingly scientific and scholarly in character, with some
admixture of papers reflecting other aspects of Dawson's career, particularly educational work and
religious controversy. Originally received as many smaller accessions, the correspondence has
been arranged in chronological order and is indexed by author/recipient as well as by date. The
lectures, scrapbooks and other papers are also listed individually.
1. Science, 1837-1899. 6 m
Of the 3.2 m of Dawson's general correspondence (c.1-c.19) covering the years 1837-1899, about
5,000 letters are on scientific subjects. With the passage of time, and particularly from the late
1870s onwards, the character of the correspondence becomes less substantially scientific, and
more administrative, institutional and formal; at the same time, there is a marked shift towards
North American correspondents. Perennial topics are geological exploration, the exchange of
mineral specimens, and research or theoretical problems, but these are eventually outweighed by
the business of learned societies, government science policy, demands for Dawson to lecture or
write, and reactions to his publications. In the 1880s, the Darwin and Eozoon controversies are
especially prominent. In 1891, there is correspondence relating to the meeting in Montréal of the
Royal Society of Canada. Dawson's correspondents include academics, officials of learned
societies, and a number of prominent researchers. There are substantial numbers of letters from Sir
Charles Lyell, J.J. Bigsby, Sir William Logan, Spencer Baird, James D. Dana, David Penhallow
and J.S. Newberry. Drafts of some of Dawson's outgoing correspondence are included.
The 72 cm of manuscript essays and addresses on scientific subjects fall into four categories: (1)
popular lectures, not only on geology, but also on biology, entymology, physics, archaelogy and
even linguistics; (2) mining, particularly of Nova Scotia coal, with some reports and maps; (3)
geology, largely of Nova Scotia, and (4) palaeontology. Some are drafts of material later
published, and these papers also contain 80 cm of Dawson's printed books and articles.
Approximately ten of Dawson's scientific notebooks are also available (c.29). Most are mere
pocket memoranda, but some are more discursive, such as a notebook on Nova Scotia geology and
one of geological notes from the 1860s and 1870s. Three scrapbooks bear directly on science:
"Scientific Scraps" is largely pictorial material; "Scraps relating to science and religion", despite
its title, is mostly Dawson's published articles on geology, education, and travel (c.39-c.40);
finally, a scrapbook of clippings programmes and photographs serves as a souvenir of Dawson's
presidential meeting of the BAAS in Birmingham, 1886 (c.77).
2. Education, ca 1850-ca 1900, 60 cm
As Superintendent of Education in Nova Scotia, Dawson kept two notebooks of journal entries and
general observations on Nova Scotia schools (c.30). Some items amongst his general
correspondence also relate to this phase of his career, as well as to his applications to the
University of Edinburgh; most, however, stem from his years as Principal of McGill. These letters
discuss educational legislation and the activities of the Protestant Committee of the Council of
Public Instruction, consult on points of information and policy with other universities and inquire
about McGill's programmes. Noteworthy are the draft letters to Chancellor James Ferrier on the
administration of McGill during Dawson's absence in Europe and the Near East (1883-1884), and
an exchange of letters with Daniel Wilson of the University of Toronto on the question of
co-education.
About 35 cm of purely administrative materials (c.41-c.44) were retained by Dawson in his
private papers. Most of the correspondence concerns routine matters of Corporation business, staff
and student affairs, fund-raising and buildings, but there is a special file on the controversy with
Prof. J. Clark Murray over co-education in 1888. Other materials include copies of documents on
the early fortunes of McGill, Dawson's Normal School record book, with lists of students and
some financial accounts (1859), an office memorandum book (1863-1878), and manuscripts of
addresses delivered at university functions, including his resignation speech and a substantial
address on the education of women.
Dawson assembled an "Educational and Biographical" scrapbook, largely of newsclippings by
him or about his principalship (c.39). There are also a small number of essays and addresses on
student life (c.23).
3. Religion, ca 1850-ca 1900, 40 cm
Dawson's general correspondence contains some items, largely from
the Nova Scotia years, on his involvement with church affairs, missions and tract societies. Some
clergy, such as the Rector of Little Metis, where Dawson kept a summer house, are amongst his
regular correspondents. In later years there are inquiries from the general public on matters of
science and faith, and the occasional letter from a religious eccentric. Complementing these are 25
cm of manuscript essays and addresses on science in relation to Biblical criticism, theology and
archeology, on his travels in the Middle East, and on missions and temperance (c.23-c.24).
4. Private and Biographical, ca 1820-ca 1900, 1 m
Dawson's 30 cm of family correspondence include letters from Margaret Mercer Dawson,
1842-1845 and later; his son, George Mercer Dawson, on geological and personal matters; and
other family members, ca 1869-1899 (c.48-c.49). Dawson's juvenile writings are largely essays
on philosophical and religious topics, but also include the fictional "Indian Tale" (c.22-c.23).
Some scientific lecture notebooks survive from his student years in Edinburgh (c.29).
Dawson composed a short autobiography as well as a memoir of his father (c.22), but the major
biographical document is his scrapbook of "Family Records" (c.37), containing genealogical
materials, Dawson's Edinburgh lecture tickets, his marriage certificate and letter of appointment to
McGill, his C.M.G., certificates from learned societies, letters from scientists and public men,
printed articles and reviews, and domestic mementos. There is also an obituary scrapbook
compiled by his children Anna and William.
Dawson's skill as an amateur artist is revealed by 18 cm of pictorial materials, largely pencil or
ink sketches of Nova Scotia or Scottish landscapes. His travels in Europe and North America from
1855 to 1886 and briefly noted in pocket memorandum books (c.30), but his journey to the Near
East in 1883-1884 is more thoroughly documented in his "Eastern Travel" scrapbook (c.39).
Finally, his financial affairs are illustrated by letters amongst
his general correspondence concerning his mining interests in Nova Scotia, particularly with his
agent Howard Primrose and his partner E.A. Prentice. The numerous invoices and receipts are
largely for domestic expenses, but include the subscriptions for his lectures to the Natural History
Society of Pictou (1849), and bills for the printing and distribution of Dawson's publications.