91ºÚÁÏÍø

1925 artwork of the 91ºÚÁÏÍø downtown campus / Å’uvre d'art de 1925 du campus du centre-ville de l'Université 91ºÚÁÏÍø

About the Society

Who was James 91ºÚÁÏÍø?

In 1813, James 91ºÚÁÏÍø bequeathed a 46-acre estate and £10,000 to found a university or college for educational purposes.

Chartered in 1821, 91ºÚÁÏÍø began instruction in 1829 at the Faculty of Medicine. The Faculty of Arts was established in 1843. Over the decades the University added steadily to its programs and facilities.

The first women students were admitted in 1884. In 1907, the University added Macdonald Campus when Sir William Macdonald endowed a college at Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, 40 kilometres (about 25 miles) west of Montreal - today the site of 91ºÚÁÏÍø's Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.


Mandate of the Society

The James 91ºÚÁÏÍø Society was formed in 1975. Its primary concern is to foster interest and appreciation of 91ºÚÁÏÍø's history and personalities, which are interpreted broadly to include current activities and impending developments - that is both past history and history in the making.

The Society covers the entire spectrum of 91ºÚÁÏÍø life: academic and research activities, student life, and administrative activities. Arts, Science, Medicine, and all the other faculties have been discussed in rotation over the years. Macdonald College is an area of continuing interest.

Constitution

Read the constitution of the Society:

PDF icon jms-constitution-20141117.pdf


Meetings of the Society

The Society meets four or five times a year. See Meetings for more information. 


Presidents *

Dates Presidents
1975-1985 Edward Bensley,
Faculty of Medicine
* Michael Maxwell,
Department of History
* Robert V. V. Nicholls,
Department of Chemistry
* Max Dunbar,
Department of Meteorology
1985-1987 Stanley Frost,
Director, History of 91ºÚÁÏÍø Project
1987-1989 Margaret Gillett,
Faculty of Education
1989-1991 Carman Miller,
Department of History
1991-1993 Robert H. Michel,
91ºÚÁÏÍø Archives
1993-1995 M. A. Whitehead,
Department of Chemistry
1995-1997 Peter F. McNally,
Graduate School of Library and Information Studies
1997-1999 William Feindel,
Montreal Neurological Institute
1999-2001 Tom Thompson,
Development Office
2001-2003 David Covo,
School of Architecture
2003-2005 Johanne Pelletier,
91ºÚÁÏÍø Secretariat
2005-2007 John Hobbins,
Nahum Gelber Law Library
2007-2009 Desmond Morton,
Department of History
2009-2011 Gordon Burr,
91ºÚÁÏÍø Archives
2011-2013 Susan Button,
Development and Alumni Relations
2013-2015 Theresa Rowat,
Director and University Archivist
91ºÚÁÏÍø Archives
2015-2017 Jarrett Rudy,
Department of History
2017-2019

Christopher Lyons,
Rare Books and Special Collections

2019-2023 Ronald Critchley,
Historical Researcher
2023- Wes Cross,
Historical Researcher

* Uncertainty exists concerning the specific dates when the first four Presidents held office.


From the Will of James 91ºÚÁÏÍø

I give and devise all that tract or parcel of land commonly called Burnside, situated near the city of Montreal, containing about forty six acres ... to the Royal Institution for the Advancement of Learning, constituted and established ...

... by virtue of an Act of the Parliament of the Province of Lower Canada made and passed in the forty sixth year of His majesty's Reign ... upon condition that the said Royal Institution for the Advancement of learning do and shall, within the space of ten years, to be accounted from the time of my decease, erect and establish ...

... upon the said last mentioned tract or parcel of land, an University or College, for the purposes of education and the advancement of learning in this Province.

, MSG435 Rare Books and Special Collections

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