Fonds P220 - Gerald Clark fonds

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Title proper

Gerald Clark fonds

General material designation

  • Multiple media

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  • Source of title proper: Title based on the content of the fonds.

Level of description

Fonds

Reference code

P220

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Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)

Dates of creation area

Date(s)

  • 1939-2001 (Creation)
    Creator
    Clark, Gerald

Physical description area

Physical description

2.7 m of textual records
ca. 900 photographs
65 compact cassettes
5 microcassettes
4 audio reels
2 audio discs
8 videocassettes
1 film reel

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Archival description area

Name of creator

(1918 - 2005)

Biographical history

Gerald Clark was born in Montreal in 1918. He died in 2005. He was married and had a daughter, Bette. In 1939 he graduated from McGill University, where he had been editor of the college daily.

In 1940 he began his newspaper career working for The Standard of Montreal as a parliamentary correspondent in Ottawa. In 1943 he went overseas as a war correspondent and covered the Allied invasion of Normandy (D-Day) and the entry of Paris by the Free French. He was one of the 15 correspondents representing the world's press at the signing of the German surrender in Reims. Later he covered the Nuremberg and Pétain trials. A series of articles on the Soviet Union, accompanied by his own photographs, won a National Newspaper Award (1953). Gerald Clark took photographs on many of his trips, which served to illustrate his articles. For two years he was The Montreal Star's correspondent in New York, covering the United Nations. As the Star's Chief Foreign Correspondent, 1955-1960, he was based in London and traveled widely in Europe and the Iron Curtain countries. He was a frequent contributor to Weekend magazine. In 1954 he made a lecture tour of Canada under the auspices of Weekend, describing his experiences in Russia. He became the editor of the Montreal Star, retaining the post until 1979 when the paper ceased publication. He contributed many articles to the Reader's Digest.

Among many other travels, in 1955 he joined the Hon. Lester B. Pearson, then Minister of External Affairs, on a round-the-world flight which included Asia, Russia, the Middle East, and Europe. In 1956 he covered the NATO Foreign Ministers' Conference in Paris and the Poznan riots in Poland. He also visited Budapest and Prague and wrote a series on Hungary and Czechoslovakia. In 1957 he reported from Brussels, Algiers and Cairo. In 1958 he traveled to Red China; he was one of only two Western correspondents reporting on Communist China from the inside. His dispatches ran in newspapers in Canada and the United States, including The New York Times. Upon his return, he wrote Impatient Giant: Red China Today. It was translated into Danish and German. He won an Emmy and a Sylvania award as the co-author of the hour-long CBC documentary The Face of Red China.

His other books were The Coming Explosion in Latin America (1964); Canada: The Uneasy Neighbour: A Lucid Account of the Political Manoeuvers and the Social and Economic Pressures Which Shape Canada's Future (1965); Montreal: The New Cité in English and French editions (1982); and For Good Measure: The Sam Steinberg Story (1986). His memoir No Mud on the Back Seat: Memoirs of a Reporter was published in 1995 by Robert Davies Publishing.

Custodial history

The documents were donated to the Concordia University Archives by Bette Clark and Barbara Clark, in 2007, 2008, and 2009. The fonds was transferred from Concordia University's Records Management and Archives Department to Concordia University Library's Special Collections February 18, 2016, March 16, 2016, April 13-14, 2016, April 19, 2016, April 21, 2016, April 27-28, 2016, May 4-5, 2016, and May 10, 2016.

Scope and content

The Gerald Clark fonds contains documents pertaining to the Gerald Cohen's professional life and documents current events occuring in the period that he was active as a newspaper correspondent.

The fonds is composed of research materials, notes, drafts of articles and books, clippings of articles, correspondence, and speeches, among other materials. It also includes recorded interviews with world figures.

Notes area

Physical condition

Immediate source of acquisition

Arrangement

Language of material

  • English

Script of material

    Location of originals

    Availability of other formats

    Restrictions on access

    Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication

    In most cases, reproductions are allowed for the purpose of research and private study. Materials pertaining to Two Gun Cohen cannot be copied without permission of the rights holder.

    Use of material in a publication may only be done with written consent of the copyright owner(s).

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    Status

    Final

    Level of detail

    Full

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      Script of description

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