The 100-year history of Douglas Chair, of Queen's
University, Ontario, Canada, - both the physical armchair and the
original endowment that has long-since disappeared - was brought to life
at its centenary celebration in the fall of 2010.
In 1910, James Douglas, the university's third chancellor and one of its
major early benefactors, donated the money to endow a chair in what he
called 'colonial history.'
He also commissioned an actual chair to accompany the endowment, which
was carved in India of Burmese teakwood by the daughter of one of his
friends.
Over the years, the title of the chair transformed to the Douglas Chair
in Canadian and Colonial History to reflect the country's maturation.
And that's not all that changed. The endowment provided by James Douglas
disappeared. Research by PhD student Rob Dennis found that after Mr.
Douglas' death in 1918, the university's trustees used the money to
leverage a matching grant from Andrew Carnegie in order to support a
capital campaign.
The plan worked; however, the money was never returned to the History
Department. From then on, the Douglas Chair "received a title, his usual
salary from the History Department budget, and the questionable
privilege of sitting on the large piece of hand-carved furniture that
had come all the way from India," said Don Akenson, holder of the
Douglas Chair in 2010. Dr. Akenson delivered the chair's centenary
lecture entitled 'Arithmetic, Purpose, and Liberal Arts Education' at
the celebration.
The armchair has been restored by the Art Conservation Department. After
languishing in the top floor meeting room of Watson Hall, the massive
piece of Queen's history is now displayed in the special collections
rooms of Douglas Library.
The Douglas Chair played a role in bringing to Queen's some of the
pioneers who created the very field of Canadian history and who were
almost as important as the railroad and the First World War in forging
Canada as a nation. Past holders of the Douglas Chair include W.L.
Grant, J.L. Morison, Duncan McArthur, R.G. Trotter, A.R.M. Lower, and
Roger Graham. |
