Fonds consist of David McKnight’s Canadian Little Magazine and Small Press archive, reflecting his interest in documenting the history of this genre of Canadian publishing, and include the pioneering work in the field done by Wynne Francis whose research files form part of the fonds. Through both of their collecting, the David McKnight fonds consists of materials which cover the history of Canadian small press publishing from 1923-2010.
The designation of the series was arrived at after considering the ordering of the material as it was received at Bruce Peel Special Collections. It was clear that there was an original ordering of the files, often according to an alphabetical or chronological scheme, and the files had titles. David McKnight separated his files broadly into those associated with his mentor and advisor, Wynne Francis, and his own research/collection files, and as much as possible, this structure is maintained. Series titles were arrived at after considering the collection in its entirety, and the apparent order implied by McKnight’s file listings and comments. The material was received in two shipments, but was intended as one donation, so some assignment of series and file titles, combining the material in the two shipments, was necessary. The records are almost all textual, although there are three microfilm reels, two cassette tapes, and two photographs.
Taking into consideration both the information provided by David McKnight in a letter to the Head of Bruce Peel Special Collections, and the contents of the records received, six series and several sub-series were established to better facilitate access to the collection.