FOR THE RECORD
A forward-looking gift has secured Trinity’s ability to care for its past. Through a $1-million gift to the Strength to Strength Campaign, Ottawa alumna Ruth Bell ’56 has ensured that the position of archivist will be endowed for the future.
The gift is timely in many ways: It coincides with the near-completion of the Campaign’s $15-million goal, and it celebrates not only the career of Henri Pilon, archivist since 1969 who retires June 30, but also the appointment of Sylvia Lassam as the College’s new archivist.
Pilon, trained as a historian, gained a thorough knowledge of the Trinity collection through his long association with the College over the terms of no fewer than seven provosts – starting with Derwyn Owen. He succeeded George W. Spragge, who became the College's first Archivist in 1963.
Lassam is an adjunct professor in the Faculty of Information Studies at the University of Toronto. She has held positions with the Archives of Ontario, the City of Toronto Archives, the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Osborne Collection of Early Children's Books. “I think my varied experience in historical and institutional collections, my preservation background, and my experience working with original art will all be useful here at Trinity,” she says. “I feel that I've found my ideal job.”
The archivist will be renamed The Rolph-Bell Archivist in honour of three people: The first is Ruth Bell’s first husband, Professor William Rolph ’40, whose early death was seen as a grave loss to the study of Canadian history. Second is his uncle, Frederick Rolph, who received his medical degree in 1905 at Trinity College when the College still had a medical faculty. “And of course, we honour Ruth Bell, whose imagination and generosity will help to preserve the history of this college – the history that was, and the history to come,” says Provost Andy Orchard.
Ruth Bell came to Trinity as a young woman after the death of her husband and completed a degree in political economy while serving as a don. A master’s degree in political science from Carleton University followed. Bell has been a passionate advocate of women’s rights all of her life. She was vice-president of the National Action Committee on the Status of Woman and in 1979 served on the first selection committee for the Governor General’s Award commemorating the 1929 Persons Case. The case forced the legal recognition that the “persons” referred to in the British North America Act included women as well as men. Bell herself became a recipient of the award in 2005, in recognition of her work to advance women’s rights.
A generous Trinity benefactor for many years, Bell also established the Frederick Rolph and William Rolph Award, a bursary for students of Canadian affairs, as well as the Rolph-Bell Donship.
