Fonds 35 - Audrey Hawthorn (MOA Curator) fonds

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Audrey Hawthorn (MOA Curator) fonds

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  • Source of title proper: Title based on provenance of fonds

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Fonds

Reference code

35

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Physical description

6.03 m of textual records and graphic materials

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Name of creator

(1917 - 2000)

Biographical history

Audrey Hawthorn was born November 25, 1917 in California. She was raised in New York City, and obtained a BA in 1939 at New College of Columbia University. Her thesis entitled "A curriculum for community studies in Habersham County Georgia", was completed under the supervision of Dr. Morris R. Mitchell, Professor, Community Planning. During 1939-1941 Audrey Hawthorn finished a thesis entitled "Socio Economic Appeals in Mass and Class Media", and was granted an M.A. degree. She also attended Yale Graduate School in Anthropology from 1940-1941. In 1941, Audrey and her husband, Dr. Harry Hawthorn, were given a joint fellowship in Latin American studies for coordinating the office of American Affairs and the Institute of Human Relations, Yale. Audrey Hawthorn was also a psychiatric case worker with the Family Services Agency in Yonkers, New York, in 1946 and 1947. Audrey came to the University of British Columbia in 1947 with her husband, who was appointed UBC's first anthropologist. She was appointed to the position of Honourary Curator. Audrey Hawthorn, a specialist in primitive art, was granted a regular appointment as curator in 1956. She was the first person, and the University of British Columbia the first institution in Canada, to begin the formal training of professional museum staff. From 1948 students from the Department of Anthropology voluntarily completed most of the work in the museum. By 1955, non-credit courses were offered to these students in order that they could actively pursue museum careers. In 1963, a credit course, Anthropology 331, Primitive Art, was added to the curriculum and in 1965 Anthropology 43 1, Museum Principles and Methods. For a number of years, these two courses were the only ones of their nature in Canada. Students were able to learn a great deal about the day-to-day operation of a museum by working with staff to complete a wide variety of activities. In recognition of her teaching responsibilities, Audrey Hawthorn was appointed Assistant Professor in 1966 and Associate Professor in 1971. Her most important publications are a study of Indian Arts and Crafts, commissioned by the Royal Commission on Arts, Letters and Sciences in 1951; "People of the Potlatch, the Art of the Kwakiutl Indians" and "A Labour of Love" (a history of the Museum of Anthropology). Due to deteriorating health, Audrey discontinued her museum duties in 1977. She formally retired in 1985. Audrey Hawthorn was awarded an honourary LL.D from the University of Brandon in May of 1984; received the Order of Canada in April of 1986; and an Honourary LL.D from UBC in 1986. Audrey Hawthorn died on November 18, 2000.

Custodial history

The original order of Audrey Hawthorn’s files was lost when the fonds was
arranged in 1997 before the arrival of a trained archivist. The description of the fonds was considered not to comply with Canadian standards for archival description, as well as being significantly different than the standard of description established at the MOA Archives and consequently, building upon previous work, a new description was created in 2007-2008. This entailed a revision of the numbering system used to access the material in the fonds. Consequently a conversion chart has been created in order that citations to the older system can be matched to the current alpha-numeric classification.

Scope and content

Fonds consists of records generated by Audrey Hawthorn in her positions as curator of the Museum of Anthropology.

The fonds is arranged into ten series:

1 - General
2 - Finances
3 - Human Resources
4 - Facilities and Services
5 - Collections
6 - Exhibitions
7 - Public Programmes
8 - School Programmes
9 - Teaching/Training/Research
10 - External Relations

These series are further divided into various subseries. The records include, but are not limited to, correspondence between Audrey Hawthorn and a variety of donors, scholars, and other parties associated with the museum; materials documenting collections acquisitions and loans; and records relating to visible storage, and the planning and development of the new museum building. There is extensive documentation concerning the acquisition, development and maintenance of the museum collections. The fonds also includes records of Harry Hawthorn, who formally held the position of Director of the museum, during much of his wife’s tenure as Curator, though often it was Audrey Hawthorn who took on the responsibilities of the directorship. Records in this fonds take the form of correspondence, memoranda, ephemera, newspaper clippings, photographs, sketches, plans slides financial documents, schedules, notes, and forms.

See attached pdf document for full finding aid and box/file list.

Notes area

Physical condition

Immediate source of acquisition

The records were transferred to the MOA Archives in 1980 from the office of Audrey Hawthorn. This was accomplished by Marjorie Halpin, who took over the office at that time. The records remained untouched for eleven years prior to their description.

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Restrictions on access

Access to some files may be restricted due to Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy (FIPPA) legislation. Please consult archivist.

Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication

Finding aids

Generated finding aid

Associated materials

There are pre-1976 records that are not part of this arrangement which reside in various areas of the archives, such as the parallel accession files, the map cabinet, and the MOA general photographs filing cabinet. These records include museum history photos, slides and negatives, donations reports, insurance reports, acquisitions ledgers, catalogue cards, prints and transparencies.

For other related records, see Audrey Hawthorn fonds (private records) and the Director’s fonds.

Accruals

An accession of textual and graphic material was made in November 2002 [accession #2002-58]. Another accrual to the fonds was accessioned on February 9, 2007 [ac# 2007-07]. An addition of two files was added in October 2013 after the files were located interspersed with a separate donation.

General note

Previously known as part of the Audrey Hawthorn fonds or as the first curator’s records.

Alpha-numeric designations

BCAUL control number: UBCMOA-159

Physical description

Includes ca. 6.03 m of textual records, ca. 4,000 photographs and 6 glass plate
negatives.

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Revised December 8, 2015

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physical storage

  • Map cabinet: Map Cabinet drawer 15