General Information

Serial #

N/A

Part Number

45

Total Parts

76

AKA

N/A

Patents

N/A

General Description

copper plate/ wood base/ paper backing/ metal nails

Dimensions

Note: These reflect the general size for storage and are not necessarily representative of the object's true dimensions.

Length

9.2 cm

Width

5.6 cm

Height

N/A

Thickness

2.4 cm

Weight

N/A

Diameter

N/A

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Printing

Category

Image carriers

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

Unknown

Country

Unknown

State/Province

Unknown

City

Unknown

Context

Country

Canada

State/Province

Unknown

Period

According to the donor, these plates date from the early 20th century.

Canada

Frontier College was founded in 1899 by Rev. Alfred Fitzpatrick as the "Reading Camp Association". Its name changed in 1913 to Frontier College and it incorporated under that name in 1919. Its original mission was to make education available to the men who worked in remote or isolated mining, lumber, and railway camps across Canada. Students were selected from Canadian and American universities and trained as instructors and then sent to the camps as "labourer-teachers" for the summer months. They worked alongside the men during the day and taught reading and writing, lent reading materials, or advised long-distance students during the evenings. Frontier College depended upon the cooperation of the railway, mining and lumber companies and the financial support of donors to cover its expenses and develop and expand its program. Frontier College received a charter from the federal government in 1922 conferring on it the power to grant university degrees. Its role as a degree-granting institution was controversial, however, and in 1931 it relinquished this power. Since then Frontier College has concentrated its efforts on promoting and teaching literacy. The emphasis on remote work camps broadened in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s to include teaching in northern communities and urban "frontiers". New programs were developed to teach reading and writing in prisons and to ex-convicts, street youth in the inner cities, and others in need. The labourer-teacher program continued however, and farms and other agricultural operations have became a new focus of Frontier College's mission to expand literacy. Subsequent principals and presidents since Fitzpatrick have included Edmund W. Bradwin, Eric W. Robinson, Ian Morrison (the first president), Jack Pearpoint, and John Daniel O'Leary (Ref. 1).

Function

Used in a printing press to transfer images to paper using ink, probably for publications created by Frontier College. This plate is a photograph of men working on a railway track.

Technical

Unknown

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

blue typed lettering on backing reads "Frontier College/ "Frontier College Instructor/ working with his fellow navvies/ on a railway extra-gang."

Missing

complete

Finish

unfinished wood/ copper coloured plate/ white paper backing

Decoration

N/A