Archive

Typically, an archive is an accumulation of historical records containing primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of a lifetime. They are kept in order to show someone’s role in the world. Assembling an archive for Jacques didn’t occur to me until after a certain amount of material—correspondence, photographs, books, original reel-to-reel tapes that I’d had digitized, etc. had been recycled, distributed, or otherwise moved out of the house. What remained is still substantial, but not complete. In any case, no history is more than one version of a story and this story is missing plenty of pieces. But it’s a start.

What is contained in Jacques’ archive at the University of Toronto, which is already being used for research purposes, is nearly 800 hours of recorded music that includes tapes of recitals from Jacques’ teens to recordings from his sixties, and everything in between. There are nearly 100 hours of film and video from television shows and interviews, photographs, correspondence, every program and datebook, sporadically kept salon guest books, reviews and newspaper clippings, assorted memorabilia, and all of his dedicated scores and marked parts. 

To access the archive, please contact Brock Silversides at brock.silversides@utoronto.ca

Music Library

The University of Toronto music library has been given approximately 2000 unmarked parts/scores from Jacques' library and about 200 books (the rest remain at home).