University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections Acquires Kelvin Technical High School text on Macaulay owned by Marshall McLuhan

23Nov22

An Announcement by Howard R. Engel, Founding Director & C.E.O. of The Marshall McLuhan Initiative, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

On behalf of The Marshall McLuhan Initiative Board of Directors, I’m very pleased to report that Archives & Special Collections at the University of Manitoba (U. of M.), Marshall McLuhan’s first post-secondary alma mater where he earned a gold medal in Arts in 1933 and his M.A. in 1934, has recently acquired one of his Kelvin Technical High School (K.T.H.S.) texts, Macaulay’s Essay on Addison, edited by Charles Wallace French (New York: Macmillan, 1924).  McLuhan inscribed it himself, identifying his home room as no. 36.  This is corroborated by the K.T.H.S. yearbook from 1928 listing Marshall in that very same home room.

It is very noteworthy that McLuhan’s first and longest of some 14 essays he published in the U. of M.’s student newspaper, The Manitoban between 1930 and 1934 was “Macaulay– What a man!” (Oct. 28, 1930).  This bears eloquent testimony that the thoughts and writings of the English Whig politician and historian, Thomas Babbington Macaulay (1800-1859), perhaps best known for his tour de force, the five-volume History of England, published in stages between 1848 and 1859, was among the most important influences in McLuhan’s undergraduate student years in Winnipeg.  Incidentally, McLuhan’s essays in The Manitoban are freely available at the following link: https://libguides.lib.umanitoba.ca/c.php?g=703111&p=4998257.  The article at this link introducing McLuhan’s essays in The Manitoban was originally titled “McLuhan the Manitoban” and it was authored by my late MMI colleague and Co-Director, Richard J. Osicki (1946-2012).  The digitization of these articles along with a special print issue of The Manitoban (vol. 99 no. 00, July 6, 2011) that re-printed most of them, was another MMI project also in collaboration with Archives & Special Collections, this one just-in-time to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Marshall McLuhan’s birth on July 21, 1911.

I therefore commend to your attention the very fine article released today in the U. of M.’s newsletter, UM Today https://news.umanitoba.ca/rare-book-acquired-by-um-archives-features-marginalia-by-marshall-mcluhan/

It is by-lined by U. of M. Media Relations Officer Chris Rutkowski and was originally composed and submitted by MMI Board member, Brian Hubner who also serves as a U. of M. archivist with Archives & Special Collections.

The young McLuhan’s annotations in the textbook

McLuhan’s inscription in the textbook

Filed under: Academic, Announcement, Archive, Commentary, Education, Manitoba, Press Release, Remembrance, university   |  Closed