Gallery Guide Susan Morrison continues her multipart series on the contributions of the AGO’s Women’s / Volunteer Committees to the gallery’s collections.  This week: The Women’s Committee is formed.

Those of us who participate in Volunteer activities at the AGO would have a hard time recognizing ourselves in both the original group and mandate of the Women’s Committee that was formed on Sept 28, 1945 at Castle Frank, the home of Lady Kemp, its first president.

The initial idea of having an auxiliary committee was conceived of by Charles S Band, president of the Art Gallery of Toronto (AGT) from 1945-48. He asked Lady Kemp to organize a committee whose purpose would be twofold: to promote public interest in the AGT and to increase its membership. His wife was a founding member, as were Mrs George Drew (Mr Drew was Premier of Ontario from 1943-8) and Mrs Walter L Gordon (Clarkson Gordon and MP). Miss Margaret Machell, the membership secretary at the AGT, was there as a liaison between the gallery staff and the committee. When the group of 9 realized they needed more members in order to achieve their ambitious plans, they invited 6 more women, including Mrs Egmont Frankel (Frankel Steel), Mrs John David Eaton (of Eaton’s) and Mrs Edgar Burton (of Simpson’s) and the sole member from the Arts community, Miss Frances Loring. By the end of the first year, there were 25 active members.

In 1947, a fund was started to purchase works of art for the gallery with money raised specifically for this purpose by the Women’s Committee. By 1985, 40 years after its founding, almost 100 artworks had been purchased by the Volunteer Committee and Junior Volunteer Committee for the AGO. Ten years later, that number had tripled.

The Junior Women’s Committee (JWC)—limited to members under 30– was started in 1949 as a way of getting more helpers to assist with the various aspects of fund-raising. The JWC was especially instrumental in holding an annual Ball whose profit went directly into the Purchase Fund.

In 1974, the name of the Women’s Committee (WC) was changed to Volunteer Committee (VC), to reflect a more diverse constituency (i.e. men could now participate), and as such, it continued on until 1998, when the Gallery’s administration removed its fund-raising responsibilities, and placed it under the management of staff.

This explains why the VC stopped buying art for the AGO in 1996. However, the interest on the monies raised by the VC up to 1998 still belongs to the VC under the Volunteer Endowment Trust.  The VC is thus able to continue contributing to the gallery by annually allocating proceeds from the VET to fund AGO initiatives.

Next time:  Buying Trends Pt 1: All Things British

Read the previous installment here.