Part Of

Gilbert Studios fonds

Jewish community events series

Level

Series

Fonds

37

Series

7

Material Format

graphic material

Date

1936-1979

Physical Description

8 negatives : b&w ; 11 x 13 cm

Scope and Content

Series consists of photographs taken by Al and/or Nathan Gilbert that document Jewish events held in the city of Toronto. The kind of events included are dedication ceremonies, groundbreaking ceremonies, city council meetings, dinners and walks.

Places

Toronto (Ont.)

Source

Archival Descriptions

Part Of

Gilbert Studios fonds

Jewish community events series

Level

Item

Fonds

37

Series

7

Item

7

Material Format

graphic material

Date

[ca. 1936]

Physical Description

1 negative : b&w ; 11 x 13 cm

Admin History/Bio

The Pride of Israel Sick Benefit Society was founded in 1905 to provide assistance to newly arrived immigrants and to promote a prosperous Jewish community. The Pride of Israel Sick Benefit Society's Ladies Auxiliary was founded in 1922 with Mrs. Sophie Torno as the first Chairlady. The Ladies Auxiliary assisted the Society in collecting funds for various philanthropic causes. Moreover, they organized lectures and entertainment.

Scope and Content

Item is a negative of the the Pride of Israel Sick Benefit Society's Ladies' Auxiliary parade. The image depicts a group of women walking down a street carrying a large banner with the inscription: "Pride of Israel Sick Benefit Society Ladies Auxiliary, Friendship, Established 1921." The women have sashes with Pride of Israel across them and 15th Jubilee.

Name Access

Pride of Israel Sick Benefit Society Ladies' Auxiliary

Subjects

Parade

Societies

Women

Repro Restriction

Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.

Source

Archival Descriptions

Part Of

Philip Givens fonds

Level

Fonds

Fonds

51

Material Format

multiple media

Date

[192-]-1990

Physical Description

1.35 metres of textual records (20 vols.) and other material

Admin History/Bio

Philip (Phil) Gerald Givens, QC, (1922–1995) was a Canadian politician, judge, police commissioner, and active Jewish communal leader. He is is largely remembered as the fifty-fourth mayor of Toronto.

Phil Givens was born in Toronto, the only son of Hyman and Mary Gevertz (Gewercz). As a youth, he attended Harbord Collegiate and graduated from the University of Toronto in political science and economics in 1945. In 1947, he married the former Minnie “Min” Rubin. They had two children together: Eleanor and Michael.

Givens graduated as a lawyer from Osgoode Hall Law School in 1949; however, shortly thereafter, he decided to enter politics, running as a municipal school board trustee in 1950. In 1951, he was elected as alderman for Ward 5, serving in this capacity until 1960, when he was subsequently elected as a controller.

Givens was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1962.

Following the sudden death of Mayor David Summerville in 1963, Givens was appointed by City Council as the mayor of Toronto and was officially elected to the position in 1964, winning a close race against Allan Lamport. As mayor, Givens was automatically a member of the Metropolitan Toronto Executive and Council, the Metropolitan Toronto Police Commission, the Consumer’s Gas Company Executive, the Toronto Hydro Commission and the governing boards of Toronto’s major hospitals.

Givens was publicly seen as an affable and populist mayor, but his tenure was not without controversy. His support for the construction of the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts and his decision to acquire Henry Moore’s bronze sculpture The Archer for the new Nathan Phillips Square were both highly controversial during his term in office. In particular, the Moore sculpture sparked intense controversy and public debate amongst council members and citizens alike, because traditional and representational public art pieces were the norm in Toronto at the time and The Archer sculpture was considered expensive, bold, and unrelatable. The controversy surrounding the statue’s purchase was still partly to blame for Givens’ 1966 election defeat to William Dennison. Ultimately, the sculpture was purchased with privately solicited donations and has become one of Toronto’s beloved and recognized landmarks.

Givens ran for the House of Commons of Canada in the 1957 and 1958 federal elections but was defeated in his bid to become member of Parliament for Spadina. In 1967, Givens entered national politics for the second time, winning a seat as a Liberal in Toronto’s York West riding. In 1971, he stepped down before the end of his term to campaign for a seat in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. Again, running under the Liberal banner, Givens won his seat in York-Forest Hill. In the 1975 provincial election, he was re-elected as a member of Provincial Parliament in the Armourdale constituency.

In 1977, Givens retired from politics and was appointed as a provincial court judge and chair of the Metropolitan Toronto Police Commission, serving in both capacities until 1985, when he left the Commission but continued in the judiciary as a civil trial judge until officially retired from public life in 1988.

In addition to his political career, Givens also worked briefly as a current affairs commentator for local radio broadcaster CHUM 1050 AM.

Givens was an ardent Zionist and a prominent leader of several Jewish communal organizations. He was the founder and first president of the Upper Canada Lodge of B’nai Brith and sat on the executives of the Canadian Jewish Congress, the United Jewish Welfare Fund, the Talmud Torah Eitz Chaim, the Zionist Organization of Canada, the Toronto Zionist Council, Jewish National Fund, State of Israel Bonds, and the Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care. He was chair of the United Israel Appeal-Israel Emergency Fund in 1967 and the United Jewish Appeal-Israel Special Fund in 1968. From 1973 to 1985, he was the national president of the Canadian Zionist Federation. In the 1990s, he served as the national chairman of the Committee for Yiddish of the Canadian Jewish Congress.

Givens was the honouree of the Jewish National Fund’s Negev Dinner in 1968. He received the Human Relations Award from the Canadian Council of Christians and Jews in 1969 and the Award of Honour from the Toronto Regional Council of B’nai Brith in 1972.

Givens was also known to be a passionate sailor and was a member of both the Royal Canadian and the Island Yacht Clubs in Toronto.

Custodial History

The records were in the possession of Phil Givens until they were donated to the Archives in September 1990 by his wife.

Scope and Content

Fonds consists of records documenting the personal, professional and communal activities of Phil Givens. The bulk of the material is graphic and most of the photographs relate to his tenure as Mayor of Toronto and to his Jewish communal work. The records also include general correspondence, speeches, campaign material, scrapbooks, cartoons, certificates and awards, biographical writings, audio and visual materials and artifacts. The records have been arranged into nine series representing Givens’ various roles and activities and have been described to the file level and item level when necessary. These series are: 1. Personal life; 2. City of Toronto Alderman; 3. City of Toronto Controller; 4. City of Toronto Mayor; 5. Metropolitan Toronto Police Commissioner; 6. Provincial politics; 7. National politics; 8. Legal career; 9. Jewish communal service.

Notes

Physical Description Note: Includes ca. 915 photographs, 14 drawings, 1 print, 1 presentation piece, 27 objects, 4 DVD’s, 4 videocassettes and 1 audiocassette.

Physical Extent Note: Fonds was reduced from 5.5 m of records to 2.6 m of records. Please see accession record for further details regarding the records that were culled.

General Note: Previously cited as MG6 B

Associated material note: City of Toronto Archives: “Philip Givens fonds” (fonds 1301) and Series 363, Sub-series 2 “Mayor' Office journals” (fonds 200). Library and Archives Canada: “Correspondence and subjects” series (R4942-1-1-E) in the Stuart E. Rosenberg fonds (R4942-0-X-E); Henry S. Rosenberg fonds (R3946-0-9-E); Jewish National Fund of Canada fonds (R4347-0-1-E), “Subject series: Givens, Judge Philip G. – Toronto” (R4347-7-4-E); “Correspondence, memoranda, minutes, reports” series (MG31-H67), Zdzislaw Przygoda fonds (R6257-0-0-E) [Sir Casimir Gzowski monument committee records –chaired by Phil Givens]; B'nai Brith Canada fonds (R6348-0-9-E); Canadian Zionist Federation fonds (R9377-0-6-E).

Name Access

Givens, Phillip, 1922-1995

Givens (nee Rubin), Min

Subjects

Law

Politicians

Related Material

See Fonds 2: Benjamin Dunkelman fonds

See Fonds 18: Gordon Mendly fonds

See Fonds 28: Zionist Organization of Canada fonds

See Fonds 37: Gilbert Studios fonds (Negev dinners series, Zionist Building series, Portraits series).

Creator

Givens, Philip, 1922-1995

Accession Number

1990-9-7

Source

Archival Descriptions

Part Of

Philip Givens fonds

Personal life series

Level

Series

Fonds

51

Series

1

Material Format

textual record

graphic material

graphic material (electronic)

Date

[192-]-1988

Physical Description

3 cm of textual records

74 photographs : b&w and col. (8 negatives) ; 36 x 26 cm or smaller

Scope and Content

Series consists of textual records and graphic material related to the personal life of Phil Givens. This includes general correspondence, family portraits and personal snapshots, school materials and biographical writings.

Source

Archival Descriptions

Part Of

Philip Givens fonds

Personal series

Level

File

Fonds

51

Series

1

File

2

Material Format

graphic material

Date

1922-1945

Physical Description

16 photographs : b&w (6 negatives) ; 25 x 20 cm or smaller

1 photograph : hand col. ; 13 x 8 cm (sight) in frame 19 x 12 cm

Scope and Content

File consists of family portraits of the Gevertz family, portraits of Phil Givens as a young child, a military portrait of Givens taken while he was serving in the Canadian Officer Training Corps., a portrait of Givens as a young man, and graduation portraits of Givens from the University of Toronto. Several of the early family portraits are copy prints made from the negatives in this file.

Source

Archival Descriptions

Part Of

Philip Givens fonds

Personal series

Level

File

Fonds

51

Series

1

File

3

Material Format

graphic material (electronic)

Date

[ca. 1925] - [ca. 1963]

Physical Description

2 photographs : b&w and col. (tiff)

Admin History/Bio

Fanny Rubin (née Machtinger) immigrated to Toronto with her family from Drildz, Poland in 1909. Prior to immigrating, Fanny had begun dating Paul Rubin. In 1910, Paul immigrated to Toronto from Lodz, Poland to be with Fanny and they married soon after in 1911. Paul worked as a ladies coat and suit designer and had a "Twix-teen" clothing line for petite women.

Paul and Fanny had four daughters: Nelly (b. Aug. 1913), Sarah (b. 10 Aug. 1915), Pauline "Peppy" (b. 21 Feb. 1920), and Minnie "Min" (b. 17 Feb. 1924). Nelly later married Joe Allen, Sarah married Gordon Donsky, Minnie married Phil Givens and Pauline married Sol Mandlsohn, the founder of Bay Bloor Radio.

Scope and Content

File consists of two family portraits of the Rubin family. Included is one early portrait [ca. 1925] and one later portrait [ca. 1963] that includes grandchildren and spouses.

Source

Archival Descriptions

Part Of

Philip Givens fonds

Personal series

Level

File

Fonds

51

Series

1

File

4

Material Format

graphic material

Date

1927-1941

Physical Description

7 photographs : b&w (2 negatives) ; 25 x 20 cm or smaller

Scope and Content

File consists of Phil Givens's school photographs. Included are Givens's grade-one class photograph from Charles G. Fraser Public School, a group photograph of the cast of a Parkdale Collegiate school play, photographs of Givens in his Harbord Collegiate football uniform, and a photograph of Givens in the Harbord Cadet Corps. The photographs of Givens in his football uniform are copy prints made from the negatives in this file.

Source

Archival Descriptions

Part Of

Philip Givens fonds

Personal series

Level

File

Fonds

51

Series

1

File

5

Material Format

graphic material

Date

1937-[194-]

Physical Description

3 photographs : b&w and sepia toned ; 7 x 12 cm or smaller

Scope and Content

File consists of photographs of Phil Givens with his friends. Included is a photograph of Givens posing in a car and in a field with friends, as well as a photograph of Givens with friends during track and field day at the CNE stadium. Identified in the CNE photograph are (left to right): Max Rosenfeld (holding the megaphone), Morris Gay (?), [unidentified], [unidentified], [unidentified], Phil Givens (on the bike), and Markus (?). The CNE photograph is signed by Max Rosenfeld.

Source

Archival Descriptions

Part Of

Philip Givens fonds

Personal series

Phil Givens and friends file

Level

Item

Fonds

51

Series

1

File

5

Material Format

graphic material

Date

1937

Physical Description

1 photograph : sepia toned ; 7 x 9 cm

Scope and Content

Item is a group photograph of Givens with friends during track and field day at the CNE stadium. Identified in the CNE photograph are (left to right): Max Rosenfeld (holding the megaphone), Morris Gay (?), [unidentified], [unidentified], [unidentified], Phil Givens (on the bike), and Markus (?). The photograph is signed by Max Rosenfeld.

Repro Restriction

Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.

Source

Archival Descriptions