|
|
|
||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Canadian photographer, writer, art critic and historian, and antiquarian book dealer Richard Beaufort Simmins was born on October 14, 1924 in Ottawa, Ontario. Served as a gunner in Royal Canadian Artillery in W.W. II. Received a B.A. and M.A. in art history from the University of Toronto. Worked as curator of The Norman MacKenzie Gallery, Regina, Saskatchewan (1952-1957); Director of Exhibition Extension Services, National Gallery of Canada (1957-1962) where he organized the first exhibition of the Regina Five in 1961; Director of Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia (1963-1967); freelance art critic at Vancouver Province (1968-1972); director of The Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia (1973-1975) where he commissioned Images of Stone : B.C. : Thirty Centuries of Northwest Coast Indian Sculpture in 1975; owner-operator of Richard Simmins Books and The Old Book Cellar in Ottawa, Ontario (1979-1992); and freelance photographer (1989-1999) specializing in photo-cards documenting his daily life. A prolific correspondent, he often wrote hundreds of letters a year. Died November 5, 1999 in Ottawa.
Fonds consists of correspondence; family papers; journals; manuscripts of prose, poetry and novel; published works; photographs; miscellaneous; and works by others.
Includes: ca 50 photographs, ca 33 contact sheets, ca 600 photo-cards.
Donated by R. Simmins' children Zoë Landale, Geoffrey Simmins and Marjorie Simmins in 2002 and 2007.
Text in English.
Some items restricted.
File level inventory available at repository.
Related fonds are Zoë Landale fonds (Acc 741/03.6, 820/07.10) and Simmins family fonds (Acc 742/03.7).
Further accruals expected.
Acc 726/02.13, 822/07.12