The Archives of C. L. Bennet: A Guide
Collection Number: MS-2-486Collection processed and finding aid written by Dale Blake, April 2003
Finding aid edited and electronic version prepared by Kathryn Harvey, April 2003
Collection Level Description
Title: C. L. Bennet fonds
Dates: 1919-1957, bulk 1930s-1950s
Extent: 1.6 m of textual records. -- 11 photographs. -- 1 engraver's plate
Charles L. ("Ben") Bennet was a New Zealand veteran of World War One who came to Dalhousie University from Jesus College, Cambridge, to teach English in 1922. He was Head of the Dalhousie University English Department and the George Munro Professor of English from 1931 to 1958. He also served as Secretary of the Dalhousie Senate, Dean of Arts and Science, Vice-President of Dalhousie University from 1958 to 1961, Registrar, Counsellor of the Department of Veterans' Affairs, and supervisor of Dalhousie's veterans' programs. As well, he was an editor of the series,
Canada Book of Prose and Verse, from 1933 to 1951.
He was also involved in the organization and management of the Down Under Club from 1941 to 1942, and of the Anzac (Australia and New Zealand Army Corps) Club from 1941 to 1944.
C.L. Bennet was a member of the editorial board of the
Dalhousie Review. The journal was founded in 1921 by its first editor, Herbert L. Stewart, a Professor of Philosophy at Dalhousie University. The journal situated itself between academia and the popular press, and Stewart edited it for 26 years, during which time it published contributions by many notable Canadians writers. From 1947 to 1997, the journal went through numerous changes, including, in the 1950s, the printing of works of short fiction. It continues to be a "journal of criticism," as its founding editor envisaged it.
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The material was loaned to Dalhousie University Archives in 1983; later, in 1993, it was donated to the Archives by Jim Bennet, son of C. L. Bennet.
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The fonds contains considerable material from the
Dalhousie Review
from 1950 to 1953-correspondence, book reviews, articles pending; correspondence relating to Dalhousie University Faculty of Graduate Studies and Senate; examinations and papers of Dalhousie students (bulk in 1930s); correspondence, outlines, and galley proofs of the Canada Books, I to VI, 1933-1951; correspondence and other material relating to the Down Under Club and Anzac Club, 1940s; personal papers, including Bennet's course notes and exams from his days as a student at Harvard; copies of acting scripts; photos of local theatre productions, School for the Blind, Dalhousie University English Department; photo of the first Soviet war bride in England (Nora Murray); copies of Archibald MacMechan's
Late Harvest
and E. Ritchie's
In the Gloaming.
Dalhousie University / 1950-1958
Canada Book / 1933-1951
Down Under and Anzac Clubs / 1941-1944
University-Related Personal Papers / 1919-1929
Miscellaneous Personal Papers / 1922-1949
The correspondence in Box 3, Folder 20 and Box 8, Folders 13-17 is closed.
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[Identification of item], C. L. Bennet fonds, MS-2-486, Box [box number], Folder [folder number], Dalhousie University Archives and Special Collections, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
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Combined Series and File Level Descriptions
Dates: 1950-1958
Extent: 42 cm of textual records. -- 1 engraver's plate. -- 1 photograph
Scope and Content:
The series consists of
Dalhousie Review
correspondence and articles organized chronologically within alphabetical ranges of surnames (1951-53)-includes correspondence and a photo from Nora Murray, Dalhousie University Graduate Studies and Senate correspondence (1951-57), papers and exams of Dalhousie students (1925-56), and notes of professors of various English courses. It also includes the engraver's plate from the invitation to the Dalhousie University convocation, 1958.
Arrangement:
Files are listed alphabetically.
Access Restrictions:
Correspondence in Box 3, Folder 20 is closed.
File Level Descriptions
Boxes 1 and 2
Dalhousie Review
Folder - 2.9
Articles pending
1951-1953
Folder - 2.6
Articles rejected-correspondence, A-L
1950-1952
Folder - 2.7
Articles rejected-correspondence, M-Z
1950-1953
Folder - 2.8
Book reviews-correspondence
1950-1953
Folder - 1.1
Contributors correspondence, A-D
1951-1953
Folder - 2.1
Contributors correspondence, E-H
1951-1953
Folder - 2.2
Contributors correspondence, I-L
1951-1953
Folder - 2.3
Contributors correspondence, M-O
1951-1953
Folder - 2.4
Contributors correspondence, P-S
1951-1953
Folder - 2.5
Contributors correspondence, T-Z
1951-1953
Folder - 2.10
Correspondence Imperial Press
1953
Folder - 2.11
Correspondence General
1951-1953
Box 1
Graduate Studies and Senate
ca. 1950s
Folder - 1.2
Faculty of Graduate Studies-institution of graduate degrees
1951
Folder - 1.3
Senate
1952-1957
Box 1
Exams
n.d.
Folder - 1.5
Miscellaneous
1927-1928, 1935
Folder - 1.6
Elizabeth Clark Atkins, English 5, English 12, English 17
ca. 1930s and 1940s
Folder - 1.7
J.B.H., English 17
ca. 1930s and 1940s
Folder - 1.8
Tom Haberman, John A. MacEwen (English 12), Carolyn Marshall (English 2 and English 12), Gerald McCarthy (English 12)
1940s
Folder - 1.9
H.R. Millard (English 2), I.E. Millie (English 2), John D. Misick (English 17), E.A. Mosher (English 5)
ca. 1930s and 1940s
Folder - 1.10
David Roe (English 5, English 12), Irvine Tingley (English 2)
ca. 1930s and 1940s
Folder - 1.11
Unidentified (3)
ca. 1930s and 1940s
Boxes 1-3
Student Exercise Booksca. 1920s to 1940s
Folder - 1.12
Carolyn H. Sandford-English 4
1932
Folder - 3.21
Harold K. Sandford-Mechanical Engineering 2 and 4
ca. 1920s
Folder - 3.1
Harold K. Sandford-Physics
1924
Folder - 2.3
English 9 exams
1925-1943
Folder - 3.2
Ralph Ephraim-William Morris: From Art to Socialism
1936
Folder - 3.3
Mary Faulkner-Matthew Arnold and the River Theme
ca. 1920s to 1940s
Box 3
Student Papers
ca. 1930s to 1950s
Folder - 3.4
J.E. Keyston-Means to an End
1956
Folder - 3.5
Alice B. Lewis-The Beginnings of Literature in Nova Scotia 1752-1837
1934
Folder - 3.6
Alice B. Lewis-A Detailed Investigation into the Sources of Tennyson's Idylls of the King
1934
Folder - 3.7
Alice B. Lewis-reference letter
ca. 1930s
Folder - 3.8
W.G. MacDonald-Past and Present in Matthew Arnold
1936
Folder - 3.9
Stuart MacLeod-Three Reformers of the Victorian Era
1936
Folder - 3.10
Margaret Montgomerie-The Clothes Metaphor in the French Revolution
ca. 1930s
Folder - 3.11
Murray Raphael-The Political Economy of John Ruskin
1936
Folder - 3.12
Kathleen Rex-"Time has no flight"-Collier
1940
Folder - 3.13
Joseph B. Schepps-Charles Dickens, Educational Reformer
ca. 1930s to 1950s
Folder - 3.14
Unidentified-Matthew Arnold as Educationalist
ca. 1930s to 1950s
Folder - 3.15
Unidentified-A Study of the Works of John Donne, with Special Reference to The Extasie
ca. 1930s to 1950s
Box 3
Course Notes
Folder - 3.16
Professors' notes-English 13: History of the English Language
Folder - 3.17
Miscellaneous notes
Box 3
Convocation
Folder - 3.18
Valedictory address
1956
Folder - 3.19
Engravers' plate for invitation (Lord Beaverbrook speaker)
Oct. 29, 1958
Box 3
Correspondence
Folder - 3.20
Carleton Stanley
CLOSED
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Dates: 1933-1951
Extent: 42 cm of textual records
Scope and Content:
This material consists of galley proofs, outlines, and correspondence relating to the editing and proofreading of the series, Canada Book of Prose and Verse, specifically Books I to VI. These books were meant for Canadian junior high and high school students.
Access Restrictions:
Correspondence from Box 1, Folder 14 and Box 5, Folders 1 and 2 is closed and has been moved to Box 8, Folders 15 to 17.
File Level Descriptions
Box 4
Canada Book I
Folder - 4.1
Outline
Box 4
Canada Books II and III
Folder - 4.2
Book II and III-outlines and corr.
1948
Folder - 4.3
Book III-outline
ca. 1948
Box 1
Canada Book IV
Folder - 1.13
Outlines and correspondence, Ryerson Press
1946-1948
Boxes 4 and 5
Canada Book V
Folder - 4.4
Correspondence, Ryerson Press
1947
Folder - 1.14
Correspondence, Ryerson Press
1948
Folder - 8.15
Personal and confidential letters
1948
Removed from Box 1, Folder 14. CLOSED
Folder - 5.1
1949
Folder - 8.16
Personal and confidential letters
1949
Removed from Box 5, Folder 1. CLOSED
Folder - 5.2
Correspondence, Ryerson Press
1950
Folder - 8.17
Personal letter
Jan. 26, 1950
Removed from Box 5, Folder 2. CLOSED
Folder - 5.3
Correspondence, Ryerson Press
1951
Folder - 5.4
Notes and aids
ca. 1930s-1950s
Folder - 5.5
Outlines
1948-1949
Folder - 4.5
Readings, part 1, sections 1-4 and part 2, beginning
ca. 1930s-1940s
Folder - 4.6
Readings, part 2, cont.
ca. 1930s-1940s
Folder - 4.7
Readings, part 3
ca. 1930s-1940s
Folder - 4.8
Readings from history
ca. 1930s-1940s
Folder - 4.9
Poems returned
ca. 1930s-1940s
Folder - 4.10
Leftovers
ca. 1930s-1940s
Folder - 5.6
Galleys (A)
ca. 1930s-1940s
Folder - 5.7
Galleys (B)
ca. 1930s-1940s
Folder - 4.11
Galleys (C)
ca. 1930s-1940s
Folder - 5.8
Galleys (D)
ca. 1930s-1940s
Boxes 6 and 7
Canada Book VI
Folder - 6.1
Correspondence, Ryerson Press
1933-1935
Folder - 7.1
Correspondence, Ryerson Press
1936
Folder - 6.2
Outlines and notes
ca. 1930s
Box 7
Canada Books
1930s
Folder - 7.2
Index, biographical and correspondence
1933
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Dates: 1941-1944
Extent: Approximately 13 cm. of textual records
Scope and Content:
The two clubs began in Halifax for members of the Australian and New Zealand Air Forces and their friends and supporters. The Down Under Club started first and later evolved into the Anzac Club. Much of the series consists of correspondence relating to the management of the clubs.
Access Restrictions:
Some correspondence moved from Box 6, Folders 6 and 7 is closed and has been moved to Box 8, Folders 13 and 14.
File Level Descriptions
Box 7
Down Under Club
Folder - 7.3
Down Under Club
1941
Folder - 7.4
Australian Air Force
1941-1942
Folder - 7.5
New Zealand Air Force
1941
Boxes 6-8
Anzac Club
Folder - 7.6
Anzac Club
1941-1943
Folder - 6.3
Australia
1941-42
Folder - 6.4
Australia
1943
Folder - 6.5
New Zealand
Nov. 1941-Dec. 1942
Folder - 6.6
New Zealand
1943-1944
Folder - 8.13
Personal letters, 1943 (removed from Box 6, Folder 6)
CLOSED
Folder - 6.7
Reports, etc.
1941-1944
Folder - 8.14
Personal letters
1943
Removed from Box 6, Folder 7. CLOSED
Folder - 6.8
Closing
1943-1944
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Dates: 1919-1929
Extent: 5 cm of textual records
Scope and Content:
These papers consist of notes, examinations, and a bibliography of various English and Philology courses taken while Bennet was a graduate student.
File Level Descriptions
Folder - 7.7-8
Courses-English literature notes
1919-1920
Boxes 7 and 8
Harvard University Graduate Courses
1920s
Folder - 7.9
Bibliography
1920s
Folder - 7.10
Chaucer
1920s
Folder - 7.11
Gothic
1920s
Folder - 8.1
Middle English
1920s
Box 8
Harvard University Examinations
1929
Folder - 8.2
Comparative Philology 2ahf
1929
Folder - 8.3
English 8
1929
Folder - 8.4
English 54
1929
Folder - 8.5
Miscellaneous
1920s
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Date:1922-1949
Extent: 4 cm of textual records
Scope and Content:
This material consists of books by MacMechan and Ritchie (1934, 1936); 2 black and white photographs of a local theatre production; miscellaneous instructors' notes and correspondence (1946); poems and offprints (1945).
Arrangement:
Files are listed chronologically.
File Level Descriptions
Folder - 8.12
Photographs-theatre production
n.d.
2 black and white prints.
Folder - 8.10
Poems
n.d.
Folder - 6.9
Papers-acting script-Jonson, Epicoene: part of Sir Dauphine Eugenie
ca. 1920s-1940s
Folder - 8.6
Instructor, Mount St. Vincent Academy courses-English 2
1922-1923
Folder - 8.9
MacMechan, Archibald-Late Harvest
1934
Folder - 8.11
Ritchie, E.-In the Gloaming
March 12, 1936
Folder - 8.7
Papers-article, Halifax Conservatory of Music Journal D-9, v. 1.4
1937
Folder - 6.10
Offprints, miscellaneous
1945
Folder - 8.8
Correspondence, miscellaneous
Jan. 14, 1946
Folder - 6.11
Saturday Review
article
ca. 1950s
Removed from Box 2, Folder 11.
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