Fonds consists of 146 scrapbook albums (ca1919-1974) assembled by David E. Lewis, containing his personal and business correspondence; clippings of articles written by or about him; book reviews; personal, family and work-related photographs; legal documents such as teaching contracts; and memorabilia including plane tickets and pay stubs from stories sold. These are interspersed among clippings of newspaper and magazine articles, printed jokes, comic nude cartoons, and images of entertainers, selected for their relevance to Lewis’ life experiences and/or emotional state at the time.
Arrangement is roughly chronological, with some albums covering 1 month in a year and others cover a range from the 1940s to 1970s.
Fonds also includes a diary of his trip to McClelland and Stewart publishers in Toronto (1972), a sketchbook of portraits (1948?), a cash book of personal and bookstore expenses in Montreal (1956-1961), a file of teaching aids for high school English Literature (1950s?), and his university degrees (1940, 1951).
Fonds also includes a notebook of proverbs and lists of books read and movies seen (with annotations) belonging to David E. Lewis’ mother Isabelle Jean (Laing) Lewis (1939-1947) and a typescript of a thesis about David E. Lewis written by Andrea Robbins (2000).
David E. Lewis