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Abstract
This article examines one aspect of Canada's early cultural diplomacy. During the late 1940s, the Department of External Affairs frequently received requests for Canadian books from foreign libraries. At the same time, many officials were eager to promote Canadian culture abroad. The Annual Book Presentation Programme was inaugurated with the intention of creating “repositories of Canadiana” which might stimulate interest in Canada among foreign readers. Although the budget for the program was always modest, over the years the department's book gifts did fulfill their aim, creating a basis for the later growth of Canadian studies in universities abroad.
Notes
1. Memo for the minister, 31 August 1959, Library and Archives Canada (hereafter LAC), RG 25, Vol. 4433, file 12569-1-40.
2. Mary Dench, memo to A. R. Wright, 5 October 1962, LAC, RG 25, Vol. 5545, file 12569-5-40.
3. Oslo to External letter 353, 12 October 1960, LAC, RG 25, Vol. 7796, file 12569-40.
4. See “Cultural Affairs Division,” External Affairs 22, 4 (April 1970): 120–24. This article provides a short overview of the department's cultural activities between 1966 and 1970. The book program is mentioned on 122.
5. Ninkovich (Citation1981, 2–5). For an expression of this ideology that dates from the same period as the Canadiana program, see McMurry and Lee (Citation1947).
6. Fulgence Charpentier, memo to Saul Rae, 31 March 1948, LAC, RG 25, Vol. 4033, file 10425-40.
7. Hilliker and Barry (Citation1995, 10–11).
8. PC 472, 5 February 1947, LAC, RG 25, Vol. 4033, file 10425-40.
9. Glassco report, quoted in D'Avignon (Citation1972, 69).
10. Circular Document 99, 8 August 1949, LAC, RG 25, Vol. 4332, file 12569-40, FP 3.
11. Circular Document 99, 8 August 1949, LAC, RG 25, Vol. 4332, file 12569-40, FP 3.
12. Foreign service officers “rotated” between work in Ottawa and postings abroad. “Non-rotational” employees like Beattie remained in Ottawa.
13. Minutes of meeting, 23 September 1949, LAC, RG 25, Vol. 4332, file 12569-40 FP 2. On the Robins anthology, see Gerson (Citation2006).
14. Circular Document B17, 21 February 1950, and enclosure, LAC, RG 25, Vol. 4332, file 12569-40 FP 3.
15. The USIA, in contrast, developed an elaborate ranking scheme in which books were classified according to their degree of conformity with American foreign policy. See Maack (Citation2001).
16. See minutes of meeting, 17 August 1951, and Circular Document 26/51, LAC, RG 25, Vol. 4332, file 12569-40 FP2. On the Massey Commission, see Royal Commission (Citation1951) and Litt (Citation1992).
17. R.W. Murray, memo to N. F. Berlis, 25 October 1961, LAC, RG 25, Vol. 7797, file 12569-1-40.
18. Minutes of meeting, 20 September 1950, LAC, RG 25, Vol. 4332, file 12569-40 FP 1.
19. Victor Odlum to Rogers, March 13, 1950, LAC, RG 25, Vol. 4332, file 12569-40 FP 3.
20. S.C.H. Nutting, memo for file, 25 June 1952, LAC, RG 25, Vol. 4332, file 12569-40 FP 2.
21. Day received his BA and MA from the University of Toronto. He studied linguistics and philosophy in Paris before moving on to London for his PhD. He taught at the University of Toronto (1929–31), McMaster University (1931–32) and Queen's University (1934–37). During the Second World War, he saw action in Holland and rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. Day joined External Affairs in 1947, then left to work with the Massey Commission. After returning to External in 1951, he served as minister-counsellor in Paris (1952–54).
22. Archibald Day, “Notes on the Information Division” (memo for the under-secretary of state for external affairs), 3 February 1955, LAC, RG 25, Vol. 6543, file 10425-40.
23. Circular Document 164/54, 3 December 1954, LAC, RG 25, Vol. 4433, file 12569-40.
24. Archibald Day, memo for the acting under-secretary, 21 November 1951, LAC, RG 25, Vol. 8425, file 11255-40.
25. See LAC, RG 25, Vol. 8425, file 11255-40.
26. During his 1961 visit to Japan, Prime Minister Diefenbaker visited the center and presented an additional book gift, a set of the Encyclopedia Canadiana. See “Mr. Diefenbaker Visits Japan,” External Affairs 13, 12 (December 1961): 408.
27. Clipping from the newsletter of the Canadian National Committee for UNESCO, 7 May 1959, LAC, RG 25, Vol. 7796, file 12569-40.
28. McClelland to Dench, 2 November 1960, LAC, RG 25, Vol. 7797, file 12569-3-40.
29. Jules Léger to Secretary of Treasury Board, 17 February 1956, LAC, RG 25, Vol. 4433, file 12569-1-40.
30. Jules Léger to Secretary of Treasury Board, 17 February 1956, LAC, RG 25, Vol. 4433, file 12569-1-40.
31. A.J. Andrew, “Note for the Under-Secretary's Statement Before the Standing Committee on External Affairs,” LAC, RG 25, Vol. 7797, file 12569-2-40.
32. Léger to Secretary of Treasury Board, 17 February 1956, LAC, RG 25, Vol. Vol. 4433, file 12569-1-40.
33. In one of the few instances where the files provide evidence of a suggested book being rejected, Dench wrote a firm “No” beside Simone de Beauvoir's The Mandarins. List attached to memo for the minister, 4 June 1956, LAC, RG 25, Vol. 7797, file 12569-2-40.
34. Norman Robertson, memo to the minister, 31 August 1959, LAC, RG 25, Vol. 4433, file 12569-1-40.
35. Another book program for the Colombo Plan area was a much greater success. On the recommendation of Dr. Wilder Penfield, $220,000 was set aside from the regular Colombo Plan funds for the donation of textbooks to medical schools. See memo to minister, 12 July 1960, LAC, RG 25, Vol. 7797, file 12569-2-40.
36. See LAC, RG 25, Vol. 7220, file 9899-AU-1-40.
37. Diefenbaker to Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, 27 September 1960, LAC, RG 25, Vol. 5545, file 12569-5-40.
38. N.F. Berlis, memo to African and Middle East Divisions, 31 October 1961, LAC, RG 25, Vol. 5545, file 12569-5-40.
39. External to Lagos letter J-384, 21 December 1961, LAC, RG 25, Vol. 5545, file 12569-5-40.
40. No details on the gift to Uganda could be found in the files. There were a number of later book gifts during the 1960s, to Malawi ($5000), Zambia ($5000), Guyana ($10,000), and Barbados ($5000). Information from Cabinet Conclusions (LAC, RG 2), online version at http://www.collections.canada.gc.ca/archivianet/conclusions. Again, the details do not seem to have been preserved.
41. Yaoundé to External letter 228, 2 November 1962, LAC, RG 25, Vol. 5545, file 12569-6-40.
42. Norman Robertson, Memo for Heads of Division, 1 February 1960, LAC, RG 25, Vol. 7272, file 10425-40.
43. “Report on Information Division,” April 1963, LAC, RG 25, Vol. 5372, file 10425-40.
44. Quoted in D'Avignon (Citation1972, 69).
45. Symons (Citation1975, 45).
46. Cowley (Citation1976, 27–32). See also Tovell (Citation1976) and Graham (Citation1976). For a summary of cultural programs during the 1970s, see Schafer (Citation1979).