McGill Library
McLennan Library Building3459 rue McTavish
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 0C9
Cyrus John MacMillan Fonds
Fonds
68 cm of textual records.
Cyrus John MacMillan was born on September 12, 1878, in Wood Islands, Prince Edward Island and died on June 29, 1953. In Montreal in 1916, he married Margaret Eaton Brower, who attended McGill University. They had no children. MacMillan earned his B.A. in 1900 and his M.A. in 1903 from McGill. After receiving his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1909, he returned to McGill as a Lecturer in English. MacMillan served in the First World War with the 6th and 7th Canadian Siege Battery, which he helped to organize. In 1919, he was promoted to Associate Professor and was appointed Chair of the English Department in 1923. From 1940 to 1947, he was Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science. During this period, MacMillan pursued a second career as a politician. He was the Federal Minister of Fisheries in 1930, and federal M.P. for Queen's (P.E.I.) from 1940 to 1945. From 1943 to 1946, MacMillan was the Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of National Defence for Air and served on numerous government committees. MacMillan was a member of the Presbyterian Church of Canada and served as the sole lay delegate to the Church of Scotland assembly in Edinburgh. He also published a book about the history of McGill called McGill and Its Story, 1821-1921, as well as volumes of Canadian folktales and studies of Canadian literature. After 1945 he was chief editorial writer for the Charlottetown Patriot, until his retirement in 1947.
Fonds consists of correspondence and literary manuscripts, documenting all aspects of MacMillan’s career. Biographical background is provided by his own notes on his life and family history. From his student years come certificates and testimonials in support of his application for a Rhodes Scholarship (1904-1909). His war experience is recorded in letters from the front preserved by his family, and by a personal diary for 1917. There are also approximately twenty photographs of Macmillan and his family taken between about 1905 and 1940.
Macmillan's correspondence includes files of letters to his wife (1917-1936) on his war service and political affairs; personal and social letters (1923-1929); political correspondence, including several letters from McKenzie King (1926-1946); letters concerning McGill, including a number from Sir Arthur Currie and from Stephen Leacock (1920-1947); post-retirement correspondence on McGill and public affairs; and correspondence concerning his publications (1920-1960). There are also files of invitations to events at McGill and elsewhere.
The manuscripts fall into two categories: political speeches and literary manuscripts. Besides notes and texts for his own speeches, there are also texts of, and newspaper clippings about speeches written by Macmillan for Sir Arthur Currie and others (1920-1950). Drafts and typescripts of his literary works are supplemented by notes, clippings and correspondence.