Series 1 (Cases 1-5)


Genealogy, early education, family correspondence, and family records. -- 1915-1975, predominant 1934-1965. -- 62.5 cm. (5 cases).

This series consists of genealogical material, family correspondence and records, newspaper clippings, lecture notes, programmes, income tax forms, and photographs.

A substantial portion of this series comprises handwritten and typescript family correspondence from 1915 to 1974. Case 2 File 1 contains handwritten correspondence between Dr. Pacey's parents, William and Mary. Much of this correspondence consists of letters written during their engagement, when William was in New Zealand and Mary was in England. William Pacey served with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force and died in battle in France on 27 March, 1918, less than a year after Desmond Pacey's birth.

Desmond Pacey and his mother Mary moved to Newark, England in 1924, where he later attended Magnus Grammar School and Mary worked as a nurse. Several of Pacey's report cards from Magnus Grammar School, 1928-1931, are contained in Case 2 File 2. The Paceys came to Canada in 1931, settling in Granford Station, Ontario, where Mary remarried (Mrs. Boulton). Desmond attended Caledonia High School. Case 2 File 2 includes his 1932-1934 examination results and school reports, together with early nineteen thirties correspondence between his mother and T.J. Hicks, the principal of Caledonia High School, and D. Campbell Miller, Headmaster of Magnus Grammar School in Newark England.

In 1934, Pacey won several entrance scholarships to the University of Toronto, where he studied English, History, and Philosophy at Victoria College from 1934-1938, and was a member of the Debating Parliament and editor-in-chief of the college magazine Acta Victoriana. Case 2 File 2 contains correspondence between Pacey and his parents and letters of recommendation written by University of Toronto professors in support of Pacey's applications for post-graduate scholarships. The 1938 letter announcing his nomination for a Massey Fellowship also is housed in Case 2 File 2.

Pacey met Mary Carson at the University of Toronto, and Case 2 File 2 contains the telegram of his 1939 marriage proposal to Mary. Following postgraduate studies in Cambridge, Pacey secured a teaching position at Brandon College, Manitoba in 1940. Letters of recommendation from Cambridge professors are included in Case 2 File 2.

Family correspondence between 1941 and 1944 (Case 2 File 3) is primarily between the Paceys and Desmond's grandmother Pacey in New Zealand. 1941 correspondence between Doris Allison of Cheshire and her niece Mary Boulton in Glanford Station contain news of the war and air raids on England. Interspersed with these family letters is 1943 correspondence from Cyril Clemens, president of the International Mark Twain Society, which was devoted to stimulating international literature studies, announcing Pacey's election to honourable membership in the Society in recognition of his contribution to Henry James Scholarship. In 1943, Pacey offered his services to the Royal Canadian Air Force, but a doctor pronounced him medically unfit for military service. The 1943 correspondence from John Grierson of the Wartime Information Board in Ottawa chronicles Pacey's efforts in building up the Wartime Information Board's Religious News Service and his role as editor of Canadian Churches and the War.

Pacey was offered a position as professor and head of the Department of English at the University of New Brunswick (UNB) in 1944, and travelled to Fredericton alone to find living accommodations for his family. Much of the correspondence in Case 2 Files 4 and 5 is between Desmond and his wife Mary and young son Philip, in which Mary shares family news, indicating the birth of their first daughter, and Desmond describes his first encounters with UNB. Among the names mentioned in his correspondence are C.C. Jones, Brigadier Milton F. Gregg, Joseph W. Sears, Frances Firth, Betty Brewster, Peggy Nichol, Alfred Bailey, Frank Toole, and Lucy Jarvis.

Much of the correspondence in Case 3 File 5 and Case 4 Files 1-2 is written by Pacey to his family and parents during conference trips. He records encounters with E.J. Pratt, Northrop Frye, Carl Klinck, Fred Cogswell, Irving Layton, Eli Mandel, Malcolm Ross, James Reaney, Miriam Waddington, and Roy Daniels. Letters to his parents primarily chronicle family life and academic life at UNB. In 1962 he writes of Earle Birney's visit to UNB (Case 4 File 1) and about Roy Daniels, and later correspondence (Case 4 file 2) mentions UNB's writer-in-residence Norman Levine, Ethel Wilson, and Dorothy Livesay. Many of the letters in Case 4 File 3 contain parental advice to his children. Case 5 contains report cards for the seven Pacey children - Philip, Mary Ann, Patricia, Peter, Margaret, Michael, and Penelope.

Included in Series 1 is a typescript (ca. 150 p.) genealogy of the Pacey Family, "The Lords of Pacy," (Case 1 File 3), written by a distant cousin, Lorene M. Pacey. A two page photocopy of Gertrude Stirling's article, "Count Almaviva at the Rectory," (Case 1 File 3), which appeared in the March 16, 1951 issue of Country Life, refers to Dr. Pacey's ancestor the Rev. Robert Lowe. In a handwritten note accompanying the article, Pacey speculates that Lowe was his great-great-grandfather, since his parental grandmother was Annie Lowe from Bingham.

Lecture notes and examination questions (Case 1 File 2) from Pacey's undergraduate degree at Victoria College, University of Toronto, 1934-1938, highlight his educational training in philosophy, anthropology, and English. Also included in Case 1 File 2 are Faculty of Arts class and prize lists from the University of Toronto, 1935-1938, the Commencement program for June 10, 1938, listing Pacey's first class Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy and English, and the program for the 1937 sixty-fifth annual "Bob,"an annual tradition at Victoria College.

Case 1 File 4 of Series 1 contains an assortment of general newspaper clippings about Dr. Pacey and his career, spanning four decades. An early 1934 clipping from the Caledonia Sachem details University of Toronto entrance scholarships won by Pacey. Another clipping from 1943 describes his receipt of a grant from the American Council of Learned Societies to research the relationships between Dickens and Washington Irving. Other newspaper articles chronicle Dr. Pacey's popularity as a guest speaker during the functions of various groups and organizations and his involvement with the newly formed Institute of Canadian Studies in 1961. Several newspaper clippings (Case 1 File 4) mention Dr. Pacey in conjunction with prolific Canadian writers such as Earle Birney, Louis Dudek, who spoke at UNB in 1962, and Frank Underhill. A copy of Dr. Pacey's death notice, July 4, 1975, and tributes to him also are included in Case 1 File 4.

Case 1 File 1 comprises Dr. Pacey's income tax returns and receipts from 1943-1964.

Series 1 (Case 1 File 6) also contains 1 colour and 16 black and white photographs dated from 1916 to 1973. Included in this file is a photograph of William Pacey, Desmond's father, en route to France in 1916 with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. Early photographs of Desmond Pacey as a young child also are found in Case 1 File 6, together with a photograph of St. Clair Beach, Dunedin New Zealand, near where Pacey grew up from 1917-1924. Two photograph postcards show St. Michael's Church, Stanton Harcourt, Oxford, where Pacey was a choirboy. High school (1934) and university (1938) graduation photographs of Pacey are included in this series, accompanied by group photographs of the staff of the Victoria College magazine Acta Victoriana (1937-1938) and the Victoria College Debating Parliament (1937-1938). The remaining photographs document Pacey's later life, and include two family photographs at a nightclub in Athens in 1968, a black and white snapshot of Pacey with students at Brandon University in 1968, and a colour photograph of Pacey receiving an honourary DLitt. degree from Mount Allison University in May, 1973.

Files in Case 1 are arranged alphabetically according to file titles. Newspaper clipping files are organized chronologically, with undated clippings placed at the end of the file. Photographs (Case 1 File 6) are arranged in chronological order, and descriptions are based on notes written by Pacey. The correspondence files are listed chronologically, and the report cards for the Pacey children in Case 5 are sorted by birth order of each child, and then chronologically.

File titles are taken from original files and from the file contents.



File Listings for Series 1


Case 1:   Genealogical material, clippings and photographs

File 1:   Income tax forms. -- 1943-1964, 1970.

File 2:   Lecture notes from Pacey's early education and University
          of Toronto programmes. -- 1935-1938.

File 3:   "The Lords of Pacey," by Lorene M. Pacey and "Count
          Almaviva at the Rectory," by Gertrude Stirling. --
          [n.d.], 1951.

File 4:   Newspaper clippings about Dr. Pacey, 1934-1975. -- 1934-1975.

File 5:   Newspaper clippings on the Pacey family members. -- 1948-1962, some undated.

File 6:   Photographs. -- 1916-1973

          (i)       Photograph of Pacey's father en route to
                    France in 1916 with the New Zealand
                    Expeditionary Force. -- 1916. -- 1 photograph
                    : b&w; 12.5 cm. x 15 cm. on 17 cm. x 23 cm.
                    sheet.

          (ii)      Photograph of Desmond Pacey, age 7 months, and
                    his mother. -- 1917. -- 1 photograph : b&w;
                    13.7 cm. x 8.6 cm.

          (iii)     Photograph of Desmond Pacey as a child. --
                    [before 1920]. -- 1 photograph : b&w; 14 cm. x 
                    9 cm.

          (iv)      Photograph of Pacey, about age 10, and his
                    mother. -- [ca. 1927]. -- 1 photograph : b&w;
                    12.7 cm x 7.6 cm.

          (v)       Postcard of St. Clair Beach, Dunedin, New
                    Zealand, near where Pacey grew up from 1917-1924. --
                    [n.d.]. -- 1 postcard: col.; 15 cm. x  10 cm.

          (vi)      Postcard-photograph of St. Michael's Church,
                    Stanton Harcourt, Oxford, where Pacey was a
                    choirboy in 1925-1926. -- [n.d.]. -- 1
                    photograph : b&w; 14 cm. x 9 cm.

          (vii)     Postcard-photograph of Stanton Harcourt Church
                    and Pope's Tower, Oxon. -- [n.d.]. -- 1
                    photograph : b&w; 14 cm. x 9 cm.

          (viii)    Photograph of a young Desmond Pacey. --
                    [1934?]. -- 1 photograph : b&w; 15 cm. x 10
                    cm. on 27 cm. x 18 cm. sheet.

          (ix)      Graduation photograph of Desmond Pacey. --
                    1938. -- 1 photograph : b&w; 16.5 cm. x 13 cm.

          (x)       Photograph of staff of Victoria College
                    magazine "Acta Victoriana, 1937-1938."--
                    1938. -- 1 photograph : b&w; 9 cm. x 24 cm. on
                    19 cm x 30 cm. sheet.

          (xi)      Photograph of Victoria College Debating
                    Parliament, 1937-1938.-- 1938. -- 1
                    photograph : b&w; 9 cm. x 22 cm. on 19 cm. x
                    30 sheet.

          (xii)     Photograph of Dr. Graham S. Mackenzie, Head,
                    Department of Geology. -- 1960. -- 1
                    photograph : b&w; 25 cm. x 20 cm.

          (xiii/    Photographs of the Paceys at a nightclub in
          xiv)      Athens. -- 1968. -- 2 photographs : b&w; 13
                    cm. x 18 cm.

          (xv)      Photograph of Pacey with some students of
                    Brandon University after his lecture on
                    Canadian Literature, October 1968. -- 1968. --
                    1 photograph : b&w; 19 cm x 11 cm.

          (xvi)     Photograph of Pacey and Dineen with Secretary
                    of Board of Research Studies, Cambridge, June
                    1970. -- 1970. -- 1 photograph : b&w; 20 cm. x
                    25 cm.

          (xvii)    Photograph of Pacey receiving honorary DLitt.
                    degree from Mount Allison, May 1973. -- 1973.
                    -- 1 photograph: col.; 20 cm. x 25 cm.   


Case 2:   Family correspondence 1915-1944 Oct. 17

File 1    Family correspondence 1915-1918. -- 1915-1918.

File 2    Family correspondence 1926-1940. -- 1926-1940.

File 3    Family correspondence 1941-1944. -- 1941-1944.

File 4    Family correspondence 1944 Sept. -- 1944.


File 5    Family correspondence 1944 Oct. 2-17. -- 1944.


Case 3:   Family correspondence 1944 Oct. 20-1961

File 1    Family correspondence 1944 Oct. 20-31. -- 1944.

File 2    Family correspondence 1944 Nov. -- 1944.

File 3    Family correspondence 1945-1955. -- 1945-1955.

File 4    Family correspondence 1956-1959. -- 1956-1959.


Case 4    Family correspondence 1962-1974, and undated

File 1    Family correspondence 1962. -- 1962.

File 2    Family correspondence 1963-1965. -- 1963-1965.

File 3    Family correspondence 1966-1970, 1974. -- 1966-1970,
          1974.

File 4    Family and personal correspondence, undated. [n.d.]


Case 5    Pacey children - report cards

File 1    Pacey children - report cards.


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UNB Archives
email address archives@unb.ca
Last Update:12/12/95