Fonds F036 - Elizabeth Thorn fonds

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Title and statement of responsibility area

Title proper

Elizabeth Thorn fonds

General material designation

  • Textual record
  • Moving images

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

Level of description

Fonds

Reference code

CA ON00408 F036

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)

  • 1917-2002, predominant 1970-1995 (Creation)

Physical description area

Physical description

16.4 cm of textual records (65 v.)
10 videocassettes

Publisher's series area

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Archival description area

Name of creator

Biographical history

Elizabeth Thorn was a Professor of Education at Nipissing University and an internationally-renowned Language Arts expert. Born in North Bay in 1930, Thorn received her Ontario Teacher’s Certificate from North Bay Normal School in 1948 and worked as a teacher at Powassan Public School from 1948 to 1959. She graduated from the University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1958, and subsequently completed her Master of Arts degree (1960) and doctorate (1967) at the University of Chicago. She worked as a Teaching Master at North Bay Teachers’ College from 1960 until 1973 when she joined the Faculty of Education at Nipissing College after the teachers’ college was integrated into it. In 1974 Thorn was tenured and became a Professor of Education, a post she held until her retirement in 1998.

Thorn was an internationally-recognized expert in Language Arts, pioneering new methods and developing many widely-adopted curriculum guidelines for the teaching of reading at the primary level. She contributed greatly to the development of the education program at Nipissing University and established the Nipissing Language Conference, a major gathering of Language Arts educators that was held for over twenty years. She also made major donations to Nipissing University which funded a scholarship and a research chair in literacy and language arts in her name. Thorn received many awards for her contributions to education, including the Ontario Council of Teachers of English’s Teacher of the Year Award (1975), the Order of Ontario (1994), and an honourary Doctor of Education degree from Nipissing University (2002). Elizabeth Thorn died in 2002.

Custodial history

Scope and content

Fonds reflects Thorn's work as a Professor of Education at Nipissing University. Arranged into two series, the fonds contains publications that Thorn authored, co-authored, or contributed to; videocassettes of her lectures and awards ceremonies; and children's books that she collected.

Notes area

Physical condition

Immediate source of acquisition

Arrangement

Language of material

  • English

Script of material

    Location of originals

    Availability of other formats

    Restrictions on access

    Open

    Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication

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    General note

    The photograph linked to this description is a faculty portrait titled "Elizabeth Thorn - B.A., M.A., Ph.D. - Language Arts," [199-]. The photograph is from the Office of Marketing and Communications (Nipissing University) fonds.

    Alternative identifier(s)

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    Control area

    Description record identifier

    elizabeth-thorn-collection

    Institution identifier

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    Status

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    Dates of creation, revision and deletion

    Created April 17, 2015 by Peter Houston

    Language of description

    • English

    Script of description

      Sources

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