Accession Number

2015-7-2

Material Format

multiple media

Physical Description

1 folder of textual records and other materials

Date

[197-]-2015

Scope and Content

Accession consists of records documenting personal and professional achievements of Morley S. Wolfe. It includes a photograph of Morley being introduced as B'Nai Brith Toronto Regional Council president, and a photograph of Morley addressing a group at B'Nai Brith Canada. Also includes two medals, one from Harbord Collegiate and a Peace Medal from the YMCA. There is a paper copy of a family tree created on the internet, a letter to the Toronto Star editor written by Wolfe, an article he wrote about jobs, a speech from his daughters for his 75th birthday, B'Nai Brith Central region mailing lists, material related to a donation to the Osgoode collections library from Morley Wolfe and the Osgoode class of 1955, two of Morley Wolfe's passports, a "Harbord Romeos" members list, a form nominating Karen Mock for the William Hubbard Award, and the text for a League for Human Rights of B'Nai Brith Canada brochure.

Administrative History

Morley S. Wolfe was born in Winnipeg in 1928 to Cecil (b. 1895) and Betty (nee Davidow) Wolfe. He spent his early childhood in various cities in Saskatchewan and Manitoba until moving to Toronto in 1940. Soon after graduating from Osgoode Hall Law School in 1955 he started his own practice as a senior member of the law firm Burt, Burt, Wolfe and Bowman. In 1971 he was appointed Queen’s Council, and from 1973 to 1977 he served as counsel for B’nai Brith Canada. After his retirement from practice in 1993, the Province of Ontario appointed him presiding Justice of the Peace for Ontario and Deputy Judge in Small Claims Court. His first marriage was to Sandra Newman in 1958 and they had three children together: Leslie, Lee, and Melanie. He later married Joan and became the step-father to her daughter, Erin. Throughout his life Morley was passionate about fighting prejudice and discrimination and became involved with organizations, such as the Canadian Council of Christians and Jews and the Urban Alliance on Race Relations. He was also a member of the Toronto Police Services Board Committee on Race Relations, served as Chair of the North York Committee on Community, Race and Ethnic Relations, and was appointed to the Canadian Multiculturalism Council. In addition, he was the founding president of Toronto Residents in Partnership (TRIP) from 2003 to 2006. His involvement extended to Jewish organizations. He served as national president of B’nai Brith Canada (BBC) from 1982 to 1983 and was a founding member of its League for Human Rights. He was also president of BBC’s Toronto Regional Council and Wilson Heights Lodge No. 1998, and of the Jewish Camp Council of Toronto as well as many other organizations. Morley’s hard work and involvement in the community earned him many awards, including, City of Toronto’s William P. Hubbard Race Relations Award, the YMCA Canada Peace Medal, B’Nai Brith Canada Service Award, and the Province of Ontario’s Senior Achievement Award. Around 2002, Wilson Heights Lodge No. 1998 began filing a series of appeals with B’nai Brith International (BBI) over concerns that BBC’s national executive was governing undemocratically. Morley played a key role in filing these appeals and was the centre of one appeal filed after BBC censured him without advance notice or the opportunity for a hearing. These appeals were not all successful. Around 2006, Morley became involved in another appeal against BBC that was filed by a group of members who called themselves the Concerned Members of B’nai Brith Canada (CMOBBC). They alleged that BBC’s national executive had too much centralized power, was not governing transparently, failed to provide members with audited financial statements at multiple annual general meetings (AGMs), passed a constitution that members had defeated at the 2005 AGM, and was threatening and harassing some members. BBI’s appeal court rendered its verdict in 2007 in favour of BBC. Soon after this judgment was made BBC took steps to expel all the members of CMOBBC. In response, Morley resigned from the organization. Morley currently resides in Brampton.

Subjects

Human rights

Name Access

Wolfe, Morley, 1928-

Source

Archival Accessions

Accession Number

2015-7-5

Material Format

multiple media

Physical Description

3 cm textual records

7 photographs

Date

1955-2005

Scope and Content

Accession consists of records documenting the professional achievements of Morley S. Wolfe. It includes academic certificates and awards, plaques and certificates honouring his service to the community, a composite photograph of his graduating class at Osgoode Law School, and photographs of Morley Wolfe with notable people. Idenitifed in the photographs: Jean Chretien, Hilary Weston and Rosa Parks.

Administrative History

Morley S. Wolfe was born in Winnipeg in 1928 to Cecil (b. 1895) and Betty (nee Davidow) Wolfe. He spent his early childhood in various cities in Saskatchewan and Manitoba until moving to Toronto in 1940. Soon after graduating from Osgoode Hall Law School in 1955 he started his own practice as a senior member of the law firm Burt, Burt, Wolfe and Bowman. In 1971 he was appointed Queen’s Council, and from 1973 to 1977 he served as counsel for B’nai Brith Canada. After his retirement from practice in 1993, the Province of Ontario appointed him presiding Justice of the Peace for Ontario and Deputy Judge in Small Claims Court. His first marriage was to Sandra Newman in 1958 and they had three children together: Leslie, Lee, and Melanie. He later married Joan and became the step-father to her daughter, Erin. Throughout his life Morley was passionate about fighting prejudice and discrimination and became involved with organizations, such as the Canadian Council of Christians and Jews and the Urban Alliance on Race Relations. He was also a member of the Toronto Police Services Board Committee on Race Relations, served as Chair of the North York Committee on Community, Race and Ethnic Relations, and was appointed to the Canadian Multiculturalism Council. In addition, he was the founding president of Toronto Residents in Partnership (TRIP) from 2003 to 2006. His involvement extended to Jewish organizations. He served as national president of B’nai Brith Canada (BBC) from 1982 to 1983 and was a founding member of its League for Human Rights. He was also President of BBC’s Toronto Regional Council and Wilson Heights Lodge No. 1998, and of the Jewish Camp Council of Toronto as well as many other organizations. Morley’s hard work and involvement in the community earned him many awards, including, City of Toronto’s William P. Hubbard Race Relations Award, the YMCA Canada Peace Medal, B’Nai Brith Canada Service Award, and the Province of Ontario’s Senior Achievement Award. Around 2002, Wilson Heights Lodge No. 1998 began filing a series of appeals with B’nai Brith International (BBI) over concerns that BBC’s national executive was governing undemocratically. Morley played a key role in filing these appeals and was the centre of one appeal filed after BBC censured him without advance notice or the opportunity for a hearing. These appeals were not all successful. Around 2006, Morley became involved in another appeal against BBC that was filed by a group of members who called themselves the Concerned Members of B’nai Brith Canada (CMOBBC). They alleged that BBC’s national executive had too much centralized power, was not governing transparently, failed to provide members with audited financial statements at multiple annual general meetings (AGMs), passed a constitution that members had defeated at the 2005 AGM, and was threatening and harassing some members. BBI’s appeal court rendered its verdict in 2007 in favour of BBC. Soon after this judgment was made BBC took steps to expel all the members of CMOBBC. In response, Morley resigned from the organization. Morley currently resides in Brampton.

Subjects

Human rights

Name Access

Wolfe, Morley, 1928-

Source

Archival Accessions

Accession Number

2003-8-1

Material Format

multiple media

Physical Description

6.6 m of textual records and graphic materials

Date

[198-]

Scope and Content

Accession consists of records relating to Markson's design work for the Holocaust Centre, for Jewish Family & Child Services, and for the film, Growing up in America. These records include textual records, slides, negatives, photographs, films, and sound recordings in various formats.

Use Conditions

Donor retains copyright. Material can be made available for viewing and reference at the OJA. Researchers who require copies for personal use or publication must obtain permission from donor first.

Records in off-site storage; advance notice required to view.

Subjects

Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)

Name Access

Markson, Morley

Source

Archival Accessions

Part Of

Harold S. Kaplan fonds

Level

Fonds

Fonds

27

Material Format

multiple media

Date

[ca.1910]-1968

Physical Description

345 architectural drawings and other material

Admin History/Bio

Harold Solomon Kaplan (1895-1973) was a Toronto-based architect who, in partnership with Abraham Sprachman in the firm Kaplan & Sprachman, was well-known for the design of Art deco and Art moderne movie theatres in the 1930s and 1940s and for designing buildings for Jewish communities across Canada from the 1930s to the 1960s.

Kaplan was born 10 Sept. 1895, in Bucharest, Romania. At the age of three, he and his widowed mother, Tillie Hohan, moved to London, England, and in 1902 they moved to Toronto where his mother subsequently married Frank Kaplan. While in his teens, Kaplan spent time in Philadelphia living with an uncle and studying draftsmanship. Upon returning to Toronto, Kaplan attended Toronto Technical School where he took courses in architecture and building construction. He also served an apprenticeship with the architect Henry Simpson. In 1919-1920, Kaplan worked for the firm of Page & Warrington, before establishing Kaplan & Sprachman with Abraham Sprachman in 1922. In 1923, he married Dorothy Spain. They had two daughters, Phyllis (Pepper) and Ruthetta (Reiss).

Kaplan & Sprachman were best known for their more than 300 movie theatre projects completed from the 1920s to the 1960s, designing and renovating theatres across Canada in progressive "modern" styles and using innovative building materials. In 1937, they were awarded the bronze medal in the Sixth Biennial Toronto Exhibition for their interiors to the Eglinton Theatre (400 Eglinton Ave. W.) in Toronto, considered to be the finest example of their Art deco design work.

Over the course of their careers, they designed many synagogues for the Jewish community, such as the Anshei Minsk and Shaarei Shomayim synagogues in Toronto, Beth Israel Synagogue, Edmonton, and Beth Israel Synagogue in Vancouver. They also designed the new Mount Sinai Hospital, the Oakdale Golf & Country Club, the Jewish Home for the Aged (Baycrest), and the Jewish Community Centres of Toronto and Hamilton. Their design for the Oakdale Golf & Country Club was chosen as a Canadian entrant in the Arts Competition of the 14th Olympic Games in London, 1948.

In addition to the projects already mentioned, Kaplan & Sprachman worked on retail stores, warehouses and factories, apartment buildings, and single family residences. Their partnership continued until 1965, when the firm of Kaplan & Sprachman was dissolved as of 30 October 1965. Kaplan continued to work as an architectural consultant for several years after this date. Harold Kaplan died 1 April 1973 in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Kaplan was a member of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, the Ontario Association of Architects, and the Province of Quebec Association of Architects. Kaplan & Sprachman's contribution to the architecture profession was recognized by the Ontario Association of Architects when both Kaplan's and Abraham Sprachman's names were entered on the Honor Roll for prominent members of the profession, established by the association in 1989.

Scope and Content

The fonds documents Kaplan's work as an architect from the 1930s to the 1960s with Kaplan & Sprachman and some of the consulting work he undertook after the dissolution of the partnership in 1965, primarily through architectural drawings and photographs. The preponderance of the materials relates to a series of renovations of Loew's Yonge Street Theatre (189 Yonge St., Toronto, now the Elgin Theatre) and the Uptown Theatre (764 Yonge St., Toronto, just South of Bloor St.) between the 1930s and 1960s, and Kaplan & Sprachman's design of the Primrose Club (Russell Hill Rd at St. Clair Ave., Toronto) in 1958-1959. There is also a large number of photographs by commercial photographers of movie theatres designed or renovated by Kaplan & Sprachman.

Project records are arranged chronologically, with sub-sub-series defined for successive projects at the same site. Some of the materials document project proposals which were not carried out (e.g., proposed renovations of the Winter Garden Theatre).

Other series in the fonds contain business correspondence and newspaper clippings concerning Kaplan & Sprachman projects, and a small amount of personal material such as family photographs, awards Kaplan received over the years for his design work and a colour photocopy of the invitation to Kaplan's stag party in 1923.

Notes

Includes: 132 photographs (131 b&w, including 8 negatives; 1 col.), 8 cm of textual records, and 1 bronze medal.

Name Access

Kaplan, Harold S., 1895-1973

Kaplan & Sprachman (Firm)

Loew's Yonge Street Theatre (Toronto, Ont.)

Primrose Club (Toronto, Ont.)

Uptown Theatre (Toronto, Ont.)

Winter Garden Theatre (Toronto, Ont.)

Physical Condition

Some of the blueprints and drawings are torn or water-damaged. All of the architectural drawings are currently stored in rolls.

Related Material

Accession 2003-7-1 contains additional photographs of buildings designed or renovated by Kaplan & Sprachman, as well as a copy of a published inventory of Kaplan & Sprachman movie theatre projects, compiled by Mandel Sprachman from Kaplan & Sprachman records

Mina Sprachman, widow of Abraham Sprachman, discusses Kaplan & Sprachman in oral history recording AC-142

Kaplan & Sprachman records can also be found in the Mandel Sprachman fonds, at the City of Toronto Archives

Creator

Kaplan, Harold S., 1895-1973

Accession Number

2003-6-1

2004-3-4

Source

Archival Descriptions