Archives

The Archives serves as the institutional memory of the Toronto Metropolitan (formerly Ryerson) community by appraising, preserving, and providing access to a broad range of primary source materials. The collections housed in the Archives provide an administrative, academic, fiscal, legal, social, and cultural record of Toronto Metropolitan University from its inception up to the present day.

Services & Facilities

• Research assistance and support
• Reading room
• Computerized finding aids
• Rotating Displays

Mandate

Founded in 1971 on a recommendation by the Smyth Commission on Ryerson Polytechnical Institute’s governance and organization, the University Archives mandate is to acquire, preserve and make available through a comprehensive archival collection, records essential to the understanding of the University’s purposes and operation or having other historical or archival value.

Within its mandate, the University Archives acts as a resource facility which documents the history of Toronto Metropolitan University (1948 to the present) and its antecedent institutions at St. James Square, known as the cradle of education in the province of Ontario.

These institutions include primarily the Toronto Normal School (1852-1941), the R.C.A.F. No. 6 Initial Training Centre and Dominion-Provincial War Emergency Training Program (1941-1945) and the Toronto Training and Re-establishment Institute (1945-1948).

The Archives also maintains a small collection of records and information on Egerton Ryerson and the Ryerson Family.

Please note that unauthorized reproduction of images contained on the Toronto Metropolitan University Archives and Special Collections web site, without express written consent (asc@torontomu.ca), is strictly prohibited. If permission is granted, credit shall be given to the Toronto Metropolitan University Archives in any case where material is reproduced. More information on copyright is available here

Information regarding donations to the University Archives can be found here

Holdings

The records in the Toronto Metropolitan University Archives collection date from 1783, with the majority of records dating from 1948 to the present. As a reflection of the Archives mandate and collecting policy, the primary documentary focus of the records in the collection is on the University and its predecessor institutions. The archives’ holdings include:

• Records of senior-level, administrative and academic departments
• Minutes and agenda of various university committees, including the Board of Governors and Academic Council
• Financial records, including statements and budget and audit records
• Human resources records
• Records of student, faculty, staff and alumni organizations
• Annual reports
• Contracts, agreements and other legal documents
• Policy and procedure manuals
• Publications
• Student, staff and faculty newspapers and newsletters
• Manuals and handbooks
• Course calendars
• Yearbooks
• Photographs, including prints, negatives, transparencies and digital images
• Motion picture films and video tapes
• Sound recordings
• Cartographic and architectural records
• Paintings, drawings and prints
• Artifacts
• Electronic records
• Speeches and addresses
• Subject files, including primarily secondary source material on TMU-related topics
• Private papers and manuscripts
• Published books and articles by members of the TMU community (The Ryerson Authors Collection)

We love to share our passion for primary sources! See Learning and Teaching with Archives & Special Collections for more information about class instruction.