Showing 186 results

People and organizations
[ROM] New World Archaeology
Corporate body · 1977-

The Department of New World Archaeology was established in October 1977 just prior to the retirement of A. D. Tushingham, Chief Archaeologist. Until 1966 archaeological collections from the New World were under the care of the Ethnology Department. In 1966 the responsibility for most of the archaeological collections from Ontario were transferred to the recently formed Office of the Chief Archaeologist. In 1995/1996 the curatorial divisions were restructured with 17 departments being collapsed into 6. New World Archeology became part of the Anthropology Department. New World Archaeology reclaimed its name in 2004/2005 when the curatorial departments were reorganized into Natural History and World Cultures. New World Archaeology became part of the World Cultures Division. In 2021 World Cultures was renamed Art & Culture and NWA became known officially as Archaeology of the Americas.

NWA is responsible for the ROM’s archaeological collections from the Americas and for field research in the Americas.

The Department’s name was updated in 2021 to Archaeology of the Americas.

Corporate body · 1930-

The Registration department was formally established in 1930 and served the Museum of Art and Archaeology. In 1968 the department expanded to provide shipping, customs, and insurance services for the rest of the Museum. The Department checked all in coming and outgoing material for the Art and Archaeology Departments, produced card records for the curatorial departments, and maintained a book record system between 1920 and 1940, which later became a card record system.

[ROM] West Asian Department
Corporate body · 1966-

The West Asian Department was created in 1966, when the Near Eastern Department divided into Egyptian and West Asian.

Corporate body · 1992-

The ROM Foundation was incorporated on July 1, 1992 to co-ordinate all private-sector fundraising activities undertaken on behalf of the Museum and its affiliates. The objective of the Foundation is to raise funds available for enhancing exhibitions and public programs, research, acquisitions and capital projects. It operates under the name of The Royal Ontario Museum Governors.

Corporate body · 1961-

The Royal Ontario Museum Library was formalized in 1961 when departmental and divisional libraries were united under one librarian Elizabeth McCormick (married name Elizabeth Karrow). In 1960 Mr. Lionel Massey was appointed Director of Administration at the ROM. He reviewed the use of the ROM libraries and determined that efficiencies in space and staffing could be gained by united the libraries into one. The west gallery of Invertebrate Palaeontology was taken over for library purposes. The consolidation was noted in the March 18, 1962 Board of Trustee minutes. “Mr. Massey reported that since the consolidation of the Library its use by students had increased by about 45%. The librarians still had a big job of cataloguing to do and would be using the Library of Congress method.”

The Far Eastern Library remained under the control of the Division of Archaeology and remained an independent library with its own head until 2015 when the two libraries were united administratively under Brendan Edwards.

The Library was renamed the Richard Wernham and Julia West Library in 2017. The Far Eastern collection was renamed the Bishop White Committee Library of East Asia in 2017.

Head Librarians were as follows:
• Elizabeth (McCormic) Karrow (1958-1963)
• Eleanor (Feely) Fenton (1962-1969)
• Eileen (Taker) Kulbaba (1969-1973)
• Judith (Judy) Morgan (1974-[1977?])
• Gene Wilburn ([1977]-1982)
• Julia Matthews (1985-20XX)
• Arthur Smith (20XX-2015)
• Brendan Edwards (2015-2020)
• Max Dioniso (interim 2020-2022)
• Charlotte Chaffey (interim 2022-present)

http://viaf.org/viaf/138088259 · Corporate body · 1912-1955

The Royal Ontario Museum of Archaeology (ROMA) was created in 1912 by a bill in the Ontario legislature, ‘An act to provide for the establishment of provincial museum’, known as ‘The Royal Ontario Museum Act. By-laws under that act allowed departments of the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) to be designated as the ‘Royal Ontario Museum of…’. The ROMA was one of the five museums making up the Royal Ontario Museum.

The ROM was controlled and managed by a Board of Trustees, with each department headed by a director. Charles Trick Currelly was the first director of ROMA. In 1955 the ROM was reorganized, and the separate museums became divisions, with ROMA becoming the division of Art and Architecture, supervised by a head.

Corporate body · 1912-1955

The Royal Ontario Museum was established in 1912 through the signing of the Royal Ontario Museum Act in Ontario legislature, and officially opened to the public in 1914. At the time of its opening it consisted of five separate museums, that of the Royal Ontario Museum of Archaeology (headed by C. Currelly), Palaeontology (headed by Dr. W.A. Parks), Mineralogy (headed by Dr. T.L. Walker), Zoology (headed by Dr. B.A. Bensley), and Geology (headed by Dr. A.P. Coleman). Each of these museum directors had been professors in their respective fields at the University of Toronto, with each department director granted no authority of decision, but merely recommendations to be presented by the secretary to the Board of Trustees.

The Royal Ontario Museum of Geology director A.P. Coleman's 1922 retirement brought in Dr. E.S. Moore as director. Moore would continue his directorship through a 1946 merging of the two Museums of Geology and Mineralogy, remaining director of the joint museums until his eventual retirement in 1949, where he would be succeeded by Dr. V.B. Meen. In the period prior to the merging of the two museums, the Royal Ontario Museum of Mineralogy passed from the directorship of Dr. T.L. Walker into that of Dr. A.L. Parsons from 1937, where he would remain until the 1946 merger. The Walker Mineralogical Club is founded in 1938.

Following a meeting of the Museum Board of Trustees, and joint determinations made by the government of Ontario and the University of Toronto, the Royal Ontario Museum Act of 1947 dissolved the ROM as corporation, incorporating it rather into the administrative and financial control of the University of Toronto. This relationship would continue until the 1955 ammendment of the Royal Ontario Museum Act which would see the amalgamation of all component museums under a single director, beginning with T.A. Heinrich until his dismissal in 1962.

Following the 1955 amalgamation, the museums and their collections were organized into three divisions: the Division of Art and Archaeology, the Division of Geology and Mineralogy (later changed to Earth Sciences in 1959), and the Division of Zoology and Palaeontology (later changed to Life Sciences in ca. 1958), with a fourth Education Division, each with their respective division heads. V.B. Meen acted as head of the Division of Geology and Mineralogy from 1955 to 1959, and later the Division of Earth Sciences from 1959 to 1964. Each division additionally employed curators, associate curators, and preparators.

In July 1968 a new Royal Ontario Museum Act is passed to formalize the separation of the ROM and University of Toronto.

Corporate body · 1912-1955

The Royal Ontario Museum of Mineralogy was created in 1912 by Bill 138 in the Ontario Legislature. By-laws under that act allowed departments of the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) to be designated as the ‘Royal Ontario Museum of…’. The Museum of Mineralogy was one of the five museums making up the Royal Ontario Museum.

The ROM was controlled and managed by a Board of Trustees, with each department headed by a director. The first director of the Royal Ontario Museum of Mineralogy was Professor Thomas Leonard Walker. In 1955, the ROM was reorganized, and the separate museums became divisions, with the Museum of Mineralogy becoming the division of Geology and Mineralogy (later changed to the Life Sciences division.)

Corporate body · 1912-1950

The Royal Ontario Museum of Palaeontology (ROMP) was created in 1912 by Bill 138 in the Ontario Legislature. By-laws under that act allowed departments of the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) to be designated as the ‘Royal Ontario Museum of…’. The Museum of Palaeontology was one of the five museums making up the Royal Ontario Museum.

The ROM was controlled and managed by a Board of Trustees, with each department headed by a director. The first director of the ROMP was Professor William Arthur Parks. In 1955, the ROM was reorganized, and the separate museums became divisions, with ROMP becoming the division of Zoology and Palaeontology (later changed to the Earth Sciences Sciences division.)

http://viaf.org/viaf/158195413 · Corporate body · 1912-1955

The Royal Ontario Museum of Zoology (ROMZ) was created in 1912 by Bill 138 in the Ontario Legislature. By-laws under that act allowed departments of the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) to be designated as the ‘Royal Ontario Museum of…’. The Museum of Zoology was one of the five museums making up the Royal Ontario Museum.

The ROM was controlled and managed by a Board of Trustees, with each department headed by a director. The first director of the ROMP was Professor William Arthur Parks. In 1955, the ROM was reorganized, and the separate museums became divisions, with ROMZ becoming the division of Zoology and Palaeontology (later changed to the Earth Sciences Sciences division.)

Russell, Loris S.
http://viaf.org/viaf/111864719 · Person · 1904-1998

Loris Shano Russell was born April 21, 1904 in Brooklyn New York; his mother, Matilda Shano, was from Newfoundland and his father, Milan Winslow Russell was from New York. At the age of four, Russell and his family moved to Calgary, Alberta where he grew up. Russell received a BSc in Geology from the University of Alberta in 1927, and two graduate degrees from Princeton University: an MA (1929) and a PhD (1930).

Russell worked as an assistant palaeontologist with the Geological Survey of Canada from 1930-1936, an assistant geologist in 1937. Russell was then an assistant director of the Royal Ontario Museum of Paleontology. During the Second World War, Russell served with the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals, and was transferred to the Canadian Militia after the war, retiring with the rank of major.

Russell served as the director of the Royal Ontario Museum of Paleontology from 1946 to 1950, before working at the National Museums of Canada in multiple roles: Chief, Zoology Section (1950-1956); director, Natural History (1956-1963); and acting director, Human History (1958-1963). Russell once again returned to a newly amalgamated ROM to lead the Life Sciences division in 1963, and a year later was appointed the museum’s chief biologist along with a professorship in geology at the University of Toronto. Russell officially retired in 1971 but continued to work out of his office in the ROM daily. He would also return to Alberta for fieldwork each summer well into his eighties.

Russell's discoveries concerning dinosaurs and early mammals were particularly important. His 1965 paper, “Body Temperature of Dinosaurs and Its Relationship to Their Extinction,” marked the first time someone suggested that dinosaurs might have been warm blooded. An interest in material history also led him to research oil lamps, making original and fundamental contributions to the history of lighting and material culture in 19th-century North America. The books resulting from this research include A Heritage of Light (1968), Handy Things to Have Around the House (1979) and Every Day Life in Colonial Canada (1980).

Russell died in Toronto on July 6, 1998 at the age of 95.

Samuel, John Hughes
Person · d. 1911

John Hughes Samuel was a Canadian Ornithologist who died in 1911.

Saunders, Richard M.
http://viaf.org/viaf/115635495 · Person · 1904-1998

Dr. Richard (Dick) Merrill Saunders (1904-1998) was a history professor and a bird watcher in the Toronto area.

Dr. Saunders was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and educated at Clark University. He received his PhD at Cornell University, and taught at the American University in Beirut, Lebanon. From 1931-1971, Saunders was a professor in the history department at the University of Toronto.

Saunders was a member of the Toronto Field Naturalists’ Club, writing and editing their newsletter for many years. He was also a member of the Toronto Ornithological Club, who made him an honorary member in 1992.

Saunders did much of his bird-watching in Cedarvale ravine, near his home on McMaster Avenue, Toronto. For many years, he conducted bird walks in the ravine for the Toronto Field Naturalists’ Club.

Saunders published two books on bird watching, Flashing Wings (McLelland and Stewart, 1947) and Carolina Quest (University of Toronto Press, 1971), as well as collaborating with Mary Ferguson on two books on Canadian wildflowers. Dr. Saunders died on June 25, 1998.

Person · 1861-1943

William Edwin Saunders (1861-1943) was field naturalist and a pharmacist in London, Ontario and held the position of Professor of Practical Chemistry in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Western Ontario.

Saunders was born in London, Ontario June 28, 1861, to William Saunders, a prominent pharmacist, and Sarah Agnes Robinson, daughter of a Methodist minister. The elder Mr. Saunders was a founder of both the Ontario College of Pharmacy and the Entomological Society of Ontario, a professor at the University of Western Ontario, and first director and driving force behind the Federal Experimental Farm in Ottawa, the first of its kind in North America.

He was very interested in nature and wrote many scientific articles on plants, birds, mammals, and other animals, mostly from Southern Ontario. He was one of the founding members of the Ornithological Section of the Entomological Society of Ontario (now the McIlwraith Field Naturalists) and the Federation of Ontario Naturalists. He was respectively the first Chairman and President of those organizations. He was also the first Canadian President of the Wilson Ornithological Club (now Society), and one of seven Canadians who were elected to ‘active’ membership in the American Ornithologist’s Union.

Saunders was considered a very important field naturalist of the London area. He has been named the “dean of Ontario field naturalists” and “dean of Ontario Ornithologists” for his influence over the careers of many who became naturalists.

He died June 28, 1943 in London, Ontario.