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In 1829, Egerton Ryerson鈥攚hose name would later grace our university鈥攆ounded The Ryerson Press, which would chronicle Canada鈥檚 art, culture and history for over a century. In 1970, the company鈥檚 sale to McGraw-Hill Education would spark controversy and debate over American ownership of Canadian culture (leading to the creation of the Writers Union of Canada).

Now, that collection is coming home. McGraw-Hill Ryerson Limited (part of McGraw-Hill Education) has donated 3,000 books and 2,000 archival materials to 鈥檚 . Valued at nearly $1 million, the McGraw-Hill Ryerson Press Collection represents the largest single donation ever received by the university library.

鈥淭he breadth and depth of the collection is what makes it so outstanding,鈥� said Val Lem, Ryerson librarian. 鈥淚t covers such a wide period of Canadian history, and many areas of our cultural heritage. There are books on politics and history; there鈥檚 literature, including fiction and poetry; there鈥檚 material for children, including textbooks and readers.鈥�

Stretching from 1862 to 1970, the donation includes first-edition work by Canadian authors and artists including Alice Munro, Lucy Maud Montgomery, Al Purdy, Norval Morrisseau, and Gwendolyn MacEwan, as well as catalogues, author contracts and other documentation.

The collection also offers insight into Canada鈥檚 culture, Lem added. 鈥淭he editor for 40 years was Lorne Pierce, who was very adamant that he wanted Canadian literature and art to be better-known to Canadians. He had books on Canadian art with coloured lithographs. Some of the earlier material is quite religious in nature, but there is a lot of social history too, with topics like the temperance movement.鈥�

The collection traces the Ryerson Press鈥檚 evolution from a Methodist press to its later output of fiction, poetry, sports and cookbooks. The collection includes such items as The Canadian Cookbook (one of the country鈥檚 first of its kind), Alice Munro鈥檚 debut book Dance of the Happy Shades (and her original author鈥檚 contract), and numerous Canadian history books and poetry chapbooks.

鈥淭here are a lot of different researchers who might be interested, but if you鈥檙e studying the history of publishing in Canada, it could be a very rich resource,鈥� said Alison Skyrme, librarian for Special Collections. 鈥淚n addition to the books, we have a lot of the dust covers, which is unusual for some of the early ones. We also have a lot of the archival material鈥攃ontracts and correspondence鈥攖hat will be of interest for those investigating authors and publishing practices.鈥�

鈥淚t is a collection that鈥檚 really going to put Ryerson鈥檚 Archives and Special Collections on the map,鈥� said Ruth Panofsky, professor of English. 鈥淚t is significant in terms of Canadian publishing history. It鈥檚 significant for what it contains, in terms of Canadian literary and cultural history. It鈥檚 significant for the fact that it bears Egerton Ryerson鈥檚 name. And it鈥檚 going to be very useful for charting the publication and dissemination of significant Canadian writers.鈥�

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