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Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
David Landsborough Thomson Fonds
General material designation
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Title notes
- Source of title proper: Title based on contents of the fonds.
Level of description
Fonds
Repository
Reference code
CA MUA MG 2050
Edition area
Edition statement
Edition statement of responsibility
Class of material specific details area
Statement of scale (cartographic)
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Statement of scale (architectural)
Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
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1922-1963 (Creation)
- Creator
- Thomson, David Landsborough, 1901-1964
Physical description area
Physical description
2.1 m of textual records
24 photographs
Publisher's series area
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Archival description area
Name of creator
(1901-1964)
Biographical history
Scientist and university administrator David Thomson was born in Aberdeen, Scotland. He received his B.Sc. and M.A. from Aberdeen University and his Ph.D. from Cambridge in 1928. After a period of postgraduate study on the continent, he came to McGill in 1928 as a lecturer in biochemistry. He was appointed as full Professor in 1937 and was named Gilman Cheney Professor in 1947. In 1941, Thomson became Chairman of the Biochemistry Department and in 1942, Dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research. From 1955 until the tragic concussion that forced his retirement in 1962, Thomson served as McGill's Vice-Principal. Thomson's research work centred on endocrinology and metabolism. He was consultant to the Federal government on questions of nutrition, and was heavily involved with both learned bodies and inter-university organizations. A man of wide reading and ready wit, he was also a sought-after public speaker and radio broadcaster on topics both scientific and literary. He passed away in 1964.
Custodial history
Scope and content
Fonds documents Thomson's research, his consultations with government, and his involvement in learned societies and university associations. As well, a significant percentage of the material is of a nonprofessional and private nature, focussing on Thomson as a public speaker.
Papers devoted to research consist of 18 cm of background notes, summaries and extracts on nutrition, protein and carbohydrate metabolism, and vitamins. Approximately .6 m of card indexes contain summaries of Thomson's professional reading in the 1920s and 1930s. For the 1940s and 1950s, the papers deal mainly with consulting. They consist of correspondence and reports for the Defence Department (1942- 1946), the Canadian Council on Nutrition (1946-1955) and the Canadian Council on Dietary Standards (1950-1957). Nutrition and research in this field are also the subjects of correspondence with the Royal Society, the Medical Research Council, and the Canada Council during this period. Thomson's work as a university teacher is documented by lecture outlines and examination question papers. His administrative positions led to his involvement in the National Council of Canadian Universities. These correspondence files (1946-1949) deal with academic exchange, scholarships, travel funds and conferences.
Speaking engagements are recorded by correspondence (1953-1954) and in drafts for speeches delivered between 1950 and 1961. Only a few of these discuss scientific topics; most discuss the nature of education, the relation of science to society, and of science to literature. There are also book reviews and background files of quotations and humorous poetry. Correspondence files, which Thomson generated as the Chairman of the Nutrition Committee of the Montréal Council of Social Agencies, are also found here (1939-1944).
Financial affairs, personal purchases and charities, travel expenses, and publications (particularly his Life of the Cell) dominate the private papers (1925-1963). There are also correspondence files maintained by Thomson's secretary during his last illness.
Notes area
Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
Arrangement
Language of material
English
Script of material
Language and script note
Material in English.
Location of originals
Availability of other formats
Restrictions on access
Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication
Finding aids
Associated materials
For Thomson's files as Vice-Principal, see Administrative Records, Record Group 3, and for those created as Dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies, see Record Group 36.
Accruals
Alternative identifier(s)
Accessions
56, 223, 380, 382, 1132, 1419, 2049, 87-112