Part Of

Morley Torgov fonds

Level

Fonds

Fonds

108

Material Format

textual record

graphic material

object

Date

1938-2011

Physical Description

5.2 m of textual records and graphic material

Admin History/Bio

Morley Torgov (b. 1927) is a Canadian novelist and short story writer and former commercial lawyer.

Torgov was born in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario to Allan (b. Russia, 8 July 1895-1964?) and Janey (née Colish) Torgov (b. England, 1901-d. Sault Ste. Marie, July 1926). Allan Torgov owned and operated a clothing store in Sault Ste. Marie named Allan's. Morley married Anna Pearl (née Cohen) in 1948 and had two children, Sarah Jane Steinberg and Alexander Torgov (b. 1959-d. 2009), and four grandchildren.

Torgov was educated at the University of Toronto, receiving his bachelor of laws degree from Osgoode Hall and was called to the bar in 1954. He became a partner in the law firm Olsch, Torgov, Cohen and specialized in commercial law. While practicing law in Toronto during the 1960s, he turned to writing. Torgov's first book, A Good Place to Come From (1974), a comic memoir of growing up Jewish in Sault Ste. Marie, was made into a CBC miniseries and won the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour. Torgov continued to write other books including the Outside Chance of Maximillian Glick (1982), which won him his second Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour. The CBC produced a television series based on this work and the book was published in several languages. This success was followed by St. Farb's Day (1990), which won the Toronto Book Award and the National Jewish Book Award for fiction. Other published works include the Abramsky Variations (1977), the War to End All Wars (1998), Stickler and Me (2002), Murder in A-major (2008), and the Mastersinger from Minsk (2012).

Torgov's writings also include several screenplays for television and film and numerous essays and articles for the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, the Montreal Gazette, the Canadian Lawyer and the New York Times Sunday Magazine. Torgov has been honored by the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, naming their annual award the TORGI after Torgov, the first recipient of that award in 1984. In 2005, he received the Order of Mariposa, a lifetime recognition award from the Leacock Society. In 2010, he received the Order of Canada as an acknowledgement of his contributions to Canadian society.

Scope and Content

Fonds consists of material related to the life and work of Morley Torgov. Included are literary drafts and working papers, reviews, speeches, presentations, public addresses, memorabilia, sketches and drawings, photographs, correspondence, newspaper and magazine articles, and Torgov's original file folders with jottings of ideas and references for future use.

Notes

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE: The scope and content for most of the file level descriptions are taken verbatim from the original description provided by Mr. Torgov at the time of donation and therefore is written in the first person.

Name Access

Torgov, Morley, 1927-

Subjects

Authors

Related Material

Researchers should consult the Morley Torgov fonds at the Sault Ste. Marie Public Library for other records.

Arrangement

Records were arranged at the file level by the creator. This original arrangement has been maintained by the archivist.

Places

Sault Ste. Marie (Ont.)

Accession Number

1984-12-8

1986-12-6

1989-12-7

1990-12-10

1992-12-4

1995-12-4

1998-12-2

1999-12-3

2000-12-2

2002-12-6

2003-12-4

2004-12-1

2005-3-2

2005-12-3

2006-12-6

2007-12-16

2008-12-7

2011-12-3

2018-8-18

Source

Archival Descriptions

Level

Item

Item

6014

Material Format

graphic material

Date

May 1990

Physical Description

1 photograph

Notes

Aquired May 1990.

Name Access

Nemal ha-te ufah Ben-Guryon

United Jewish Appeal

Subjects

Airports

Immigrants--Israel

Jews--Soviet Union

Repro Restriction

Copyright may not be held by the Ontario Jewish Archives. It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain permission prior to use.

Places

Israel

Accession Number

1991-9-1

Source

Archival Descriptions

Level

Item

Item

6015

Material Format

graphic material

Date

May 1990

Physical Description

1 photograph

Notes

Acquired May 1990.

Name Access

Nemal ha-te ufah Ben-Guryon

United Jewish Appeal

Subjects

Airports

Immigrants--Israel

Jews--Soviet Union

Repro Restriction

Copyright may not be held by the Ontario Jewish Archives. It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain permission prior to use.

Places

Israel

Accession Number

1991-9-1

Source

Archival Descriptions

Level

Item

Item

6016

Material Format

graphic material

Date

May 1990

Physical Description

1 photograph

Notes

Acquired May 1990.

Name Access

Nemal ha-te ufah Ben-Guryon

United Jewish Appeal

Subjects

Airports

Immigrants--Israel

Jews--Soviet Union

Repro Restriction

Copyright may not be held by the Ontario Jewish Archives. It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain permission prior to use.

Places

Israel

Accession Number

1991-9-1

Source

Archival Descriptions

Level

Item

Item

6018

Material Format

graphic material

Date

May 1990

Physical Description

1 photograph

Notes

Acquired May 1990.

Name Access

Nemal ha-te ufah Ben-Guryon

United Jewish Appeal

Subjects

Airports

Immigrants--Israel

Jews--Soviet Union

Places

Israel

Accession Number

1991-9-1

Source

Archival Descriptions

Part Of

United Jewish Welfare Fund fonds

Level

Fonds

Fonds

67

Material Format

multiple media

Date

1936-2010, predominant 1938-1976

Physical Description

14.3 m of textual records

5593 photographs, 25 x 20 cm and smaller, and other media

Admin History/Bio

The Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of Toronto (FJPT) was incorporated in Ontario in March 1917 to coordinate the fundraising activities of Jewish charitable, philanthropic, and social service agencies in Toronto. In 1918, ten separate agencies were funded by the FJPT. By 1937, fourteen agencies were funded. The Great Depression of the 1930s and the development of several newer Jewish aid, education, and medical care organizations created both increased need for resources and growing competition for ever-more scarce dollars. Within a very few years, this funding crisis forced a major review of the organization.

During 1936, a series of special meetings of leading individuals were held to examine the income and expenditures of all Toronto Jewish agencies and also to speculate about the need for a new Toronto Jewish "community chest" as the sole fund-raising organization for a federation of all Jewish agencies, including the FJPT. In 1938, the new United Jewish Welfare Fund was formally constituted. Added to the FJPT's previous list of Toronto client agencies in 1938 were: the Canadian Jewish Congress, the Hebrew National Association, the Jewish Immigrant Aid Association, the Mizrachi Society, the Toronto Free Loan Association, the Geverkshaften, and Old Folks Home, and the United Palestine Appeal, raising the total number of agencies to twenty-two.

When the State of Israel was established in 1948, the UJWF's annual fundraising campaign was combined with the CJC's United Palestine appeal to form a new, combined campaign named the United Jewish Appeal (UJA). In 1967, the UJA name was legally changed to the United Jewish Appeal of Metropolitan Toronto.

In mid-1976, the organization's public name was changed to the Toronto Jewish Congress. Although initially thought of as a merger between the UJWF and the CJC, the actual result was the expansion of the UJWF responsibilities to include local education and welfare services previously shared with the Canadian Jewish Congress, Central Region. The UJWF, however, remained the legal senior entity.

In 1991, the public name was again changed to the Jewish Federation of Greater Toronto and, in 1999, to UJA Federation of Greater Toronto. By this date, over thirty beneficiary and affiliated agencies, forty-nine affiliated schools and five federation departments were fully or partly funded by the federation.

In June 2010, the organization altered its legal structure, with the senior legal entity becoming the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto.

Scope and Content

Fonds consists of 25 series: Annual Meetings, Annual Reports, Board of Directors, Constitution Committee, Executive Committee, Officers Committee, Budget and Finance Committee, Administration Committee, Social Planning Committee, Committee on Capital Needs and Planning, Central Committee on Scholarships in Aid, Joint Committee of the BJE and UJWF Study on Jewish Education, Nominations Committee, Pension Fund Committee, Coordinating Committee, Special Ad Hoc and Temporary Committees, Annual Campaign, Client Agencies, Joint Committee of the CJC and the UJWF, Committee on Community Organization, Sub-Committee on Construction and Administration of Community Schools, Joint Committee on Fundraising, Personnel Committee, Community Leadership Development Council, and Israel at Fifty Community Celebration.

Over 4500 photographs and a variety of other media are managed within Series 17, Campaign records.

Notes

For exact details about the contents of individual series and sub-series, please review their scope and contents notes.

Name Access

United Jewish Welfare Fund

Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of Toronto

United Jewish Appeal

Toronto Jewish Congress

Jewish Federation of Greater Toronto

UJA Federation of Greater Toronto

Subjects

Charities

Fund raising

Access Restriction

Partially closed. Researchers must receive permission from the OJA director prior to accessing some of the records.

Related Material

For records of the predecessor of the UJWF, see Fonds 66, the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of Toronto fonds.

Further detailed documentation of the proposed merger between the UJWF and the CJC (creation of the TJC) may be found in Fonds 67, Sub-sub-series 5-5-1, Files 171 and 221.

Further documentation on the United Jewish Welfare Fund may be found within Fonds 9, Series 7, records of the Jewish Immigrant Aid Society.

For further detailed records of a key community leader's involvement with the UJWF see Accession 1982-8-8, the records of Samuel Godfrey, 1943-1972.

Creator

United Jewish Welfare Fund (1938-)

Places

Toronto (Ont.)

Source

Archival Descriptions