Canadian Forum
The Canadian Forum was a literary, cultural and political publication and Canada's longest running continually published political magazine (1920–2000).[1]
Categories | Literary and political |
---|---|
Format | Magazine |
Publisher | Canadian Forum Limited |
Founded | 1920 |
Final issue | 2000 |
Country | Canada |
Language | English |
ISSN | 0008-3631 |
OCLC | 1553097 |
History and profile
editThe Canadian Forum, A Monthly Journal of Literature and Public Affairs, was founded on 14 May 1920[2] at the University of Toronto as a forum for political and cultural ideas. Its first directors were G. E. Jackson, chairman, Barker Fairley, literary editor, C. B. Sissons,[3] political editor, Peter Sandiford,[4] business manager and Huntly Gordon, press editor.[5] Throughout its publishing run it was Canadian nationalist and progressive in outlook.[1]
Politically, it was a forum for thinkers such as Frank Underhill, F. R. Scott, Ramsay Cook, Mel Watkins, John Alan Lee, Eugene Forsey[1] and Robert Fulford.[6] Poetry and short stories by Irving Layton, Earle Birney, A. J. M. Smith, Harold Standish, Helen Weinzweig, Margaret Atwood,[1] Al Purdy and E. J. Pratt,[7] appeared[6] as well as editorials,[8] reviews and articles discussing art and artists, sometimes written by the artists themselves, such as A. Y. Jackson,[9] or Lawren Harris.[10] J. E. H. MacDonald[11] and Bertram Brooker[12] even contributed their poetry.
The Forum prided itself on reproducing a picture by a Canadian artist in each issue, "selected by competent critics",[13] though leaning towards the progressive side in art, at least in the early years.[14] Art editors included Pegi Nicol MacLeod.[15] Among the artists who lent their work to the publication the most often used was Thoreau MacDonald but a pen sketch by Tom Thomson (now lost) also appeared.[16] It published the art work of the Group of Seven and many other artists in black-and-white, one work per issue. The full range of the artists published in the Forum was discussed in the Fiftieth Anniversary issue in a lengthy article by the then art editor (1970-1975) Joan Murray.[17]
In 1934, publisher Steven Cartwright purchased the periodical from J.M. Dent & Sons.[18] After owning it for about a year, Cartwright unloaded the money-losing venture for one dollar to Graham Spry a member of the socially progressive think tank the League for Social Reconstruction (LSR).[18] It was printed using Spy's printing press company, Stafford Printers, which also printed the Ontario CCF's newspaper The New Commonwealth.[18] Spry purchased the press with financial help from both the LSR and English socialist Sir Stafford Cripps, hence the name Stafford Press.[18] in 1936, the LSR bought the Forum for one-dollar from Spry, and assumed all its debts.[19] University of Toronto Classics professor George Grube, a member of the LSR, became the editor in 1937.[20] During his tenure, the periodical was the LSR's official organ.[21] Grube stepped down as editor in 1941, about a year before the LSR officially disbanded.[20] It has also been operated at times as a co-operative and was owned for a number of years by James Lorimer and Co.[1]
Editors have included Mark Farrell,[22] G. M. A. Grube,[20] J. Francis White, Northrop Frye, Milton Wilson, Abraham Rotstein, Denis Smith and the final editor Duncan Cameron.[1]
The magazine suspended publication following its summer 2000 issue.[6] The Canadian Forum Archives (1953-1978) is at Trent University Library and Archives in Peterborough, Ontario.[23]
Notes
edit- ^ a b c d e f Granastein, J. L. (2011). "Canadian Forum". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Toronto: The Historica-Dominion Institute. Retrieved 15 September 2014.
- ^ Roy Macskimming (11 January 2012). The Perilous Trade: "Book Publishing in Canada, 1946–2006". McClelland & Stewart. p. 76. ISBN 978-1-55199-261-7. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
- ^ Charles Bruce Sissons (1879–1965)
- ^ (1882–1941)
- ^ Canadian Forum, vol. 1, No. 1, Oct. 1920, p. 14 and No. 2, Nov. 1920, p. 45
- ^ a b c Fulford, Robert (2001-04-17). "The Canadian Forum: alive or dead?". National Post. Toronto. Archived from the original on 28 July 2011. Retrieved 16 August 2011.
- ^ E. J,. Pratt, "The Ice-Floes". The Canadian Forum vol. 2 (April 1922), pp. 591-593
- ^ "Editorial".The Canadian Forum 1 (November 1920 ), p. 27.
- ^ A. Y. Jackson, "Sketching in Algoma". The Canadian Forum vol. 1 (March 1921), pp. 174-175.
- ^ Lawren Harris, "Modern Art and Aesthetic Reactions". The Canadian Forum vol. 7 (May 1927), pp. 239-292.
- ^ J. E. H. MacDonald, "Poems". The Canadian Forum, vol. 2 (May 1922), p. 624.
- ^ Bertram Brooker, The Canadian Forum, vol. 10 (April 1930) p. 252p. 399; vol. 11 (Nv. 1930), p. 61.
- ^ The Canadian Forum vol. 3 (November 1922), p. 64.
- ^ Helen Frye, "Portrait of the Artist in a Young Magazine". The Canadian Forum vol. 22 (May 1942), p. 54.
- ^ G. Campbell McInnes, 'No. 8 - Pegi Nicol". The Canadian Forum vol. 17 (Sept. 1937), p. 202-203.
- ^ "Tom Thomson Catalogue Raisonné". www.tomthomsoncatalogue.org. Tom Thomson Catalogue Raisonné. Retrieved 3 March 2024.
- ^ Joan Murray, "Graphics in the Forum 1920-1951". The Canadian Forum, vol. 50 (April-May 1970), pp. 42-45.
- ^ a b c d Horn (1980), p.129
- ^ Horn (1980), p. 130
- ^ a b c Podlecki (1994), p. 237
- ^ Horn (1980), pp. 14, 202
- ^ Horn (1980), p. 131
- ^ "Fonds". archives.trentu.ca. Trent U. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
References
edit- Horn, Michiel (1980). The League for Social Reconstruction: Intellectual origins of the democratic left in Canada, 1930–1942. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0-8020-5487-0.
- Podlecki, Anthony J. (1994). Ward W. Briggs Jr. (ed.). Biographical Dictionary of North American Classicists. Wesport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-24560-6.
External links
edit- Archival papers of Gilbert Edward Jackson, Editor (1920–1925), are held at the University of Toronto Archives and Records Management Services