McGill Library
McLennan Library Building3459 rue McTavish
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 0C9
Stephen Butler Leacock Fonds
Fonds
2.10 m of textual records.
Stephen Leacock, humourist and professor of economics at McGill, was born in England, but emigrated in 1876 to Ontario. After graduating B.A. from University of Toronto in 1891, he taught at his old school, Upper Canada College, until 1899. At the University of Chicago, he pursued doctoral studies in economics and political science, and received his Ph.D. in 1903. Leacock taught economics at McGill from 1901 until his retirement in 1936, serving as department chairman from 1908 onwards. Leacock's scholarly writings on economics, political science, sociology, history and literature total more than a hundred articles and two dozen books. Moreover, he was a talented and popular lecturer. His fame, however, is based on his humorous writings; of his more than thirty books, the most famous are Literary Lapses (1910), Nonsense Novels (1911), Arcadian Adventures with the Idle Rich (1914), and especially Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town (1912).
Leacock's papers comprise manuscripts of books, articles, and speeches written ca 1913-1937: included are Leacock's history of Montréal, and comic pieces such as "Too Much College", "The Stamp Album World", "Simple Stories of Success" and "Bed-Time, Stories for Grown-Up People". Correspondence covers the period ca 1915-1944. There are also newspaper articles by and about Leacock; book orders and related correspondence; manuscripts of articles and speeches about Leacock; and correspondence concerning donations to the Leacock Collection (Approximately 1948-1960).
Originals and printed materials.