Portrait of Murray Adaskin, head, Department of Music, holding a violin.

Bio/Historical Note: Born in 1906 in Toronto to Jewish-Latvian immigrant parents, Murray Adaskin studied the violin with Alexander Chuhaldin at the Toronto Conservatory of Music. He began his career playing the violin in silent film presentations in his native city. Afterwards, he was a violinist with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra from 1923-1936. He married his first wife, soprano Frances James, around that time. From 1938-1952 he was with the Royal York Hotel trio. Adaskin attended the Music Academy of the West in 1950. By age 38, he had studied for seven years with John Weinzweig to become a composer. Other composers he studied with include Charles Jones and Darius Milhaud. He was head of the Department of Music at the University of Saskatchewan from 1952-1966, including four years as conductor of the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra. He then became the Composer-in-Residence until 1972, the first position of its type ever created at a Canadian university. Among his notable pupils were composers Boyd McDonald, Paul Pedersen, Rodney Sharman and Timothy Williams; and violinist Andrew Dawes. By 1972 he retired to Victoria where he started composing more than half his total of 130 compositions. Among his many honours were Saskatoon's citizen of the year for 1970, Officer of the Order of Canada in 1981, and an honourary Doctor of Laws degree from the U of S in 1984. Adaskin lost his first wife in 1988. In 1989 he remarried to Dorothea Larson, who was his helping hand in recording some pieces on their own label. He died in Victoria in 2002 at age 96, just before the release of two CDs of a five-disc collection in his memory. Adaskin Cove in the Arbor Creek neighborhood of Saskatoon is named in his honour.

Image of Walter C. Murray in a seated position, professor of Philosophy and lecturer in Education at Dalhousie University.

Bio/Historical Note: Walter Charles Murray, first president of the University of Saskatchewan, was born in Kings County, New Brunswick, in 1866 and received his BA with honours in 1886 from the University of New Brunswick. Having won the Gilchrist Scholarship for Canada, for continued studies overseas, he attended the University of Berlin and the University of Edinburgh, where he received his MA with first class honours in 1891. Later that year he joined the faculty at the University of New Brunswick as Professor of Philosophy and Economics. In 1892 he was appointed Professor of Philosophy and lecturer in Education at Dalhousie, where he remained until joining the University of Saskatchewan as president in 1908. Murray served as president for 29 years, retiring in 1937. Murray was successful in building a progressive university with a beautiful campus. His own work was in education and education history, but he was also a supporter of art and music. Murray served on numerous councils and commissions, including the National Research Council from 1916-1932. Murray married Christina Cameron (1866-1947), born in Fredericton, New Brunswick, in 1895. They had three daughters: Christina Cameron Murray, Lucy Hunter Murray and Jean Elizabeth Murray. Murray died in Saskatoon in 1945. The city of Saskatoon honours him with "Murray Place" in the Dundonald area; Walter Murray Collegiate Institute, opened in 1965 and located near Market Mall; the Murray Building on the University of Saskatchewan campus; and President Murray Park, located in the Varsity View neighbourhood.

Walter C. Murray, first University President, standing with Margaret Patricia Kirkpatrick and Margery Lucille Wilson, graduates of Music, in front of the [College Building]. Taken during Convocation.

Walter C. Murray, first University President, laughing while sitting in a wicker chair outdoors, Trees in background; perhaps in the yard of the President's Residence.

Walter C. Murray, honourary Doctor of Civil Laws recipient and first president of the University of Saskatchewan, seated in a garden wearing an academic gown.

Bio/Historical Note: Walter Charles Murray, first president of the University of Saskatchewan, was born in 1866 in Kings County, New Brunswick and received his BA with honours in 1886 from the University of New Brunswick. Having won the Gilchrist Scholarship for Canada, for continued studies overseas, he attended the University of Berlin and the University of Edinburgh, where he received his MA with first class honours in 1891. Later that year he joined the faculty at the University of New Brunswick as Professor of Philosophy and Economics. In 1892 he was appointed Professor of Philosophy and lecturer in Education at Dalhousie, where he remained until joining the University of Saskatchewan as president in 1908. Murray served as president for 29 years, retiring in 1937. Murray was successful in building a progressive university with a beautiful campus. His own work was in education and education history, but he was also a supporter of art and music. Murray served on numerous councils and commissions, including the National Research Council from 1916-1932. Murray married Christina Cameron (1866-1947) in 1895. They had three daughters: Christina Cameron Murray, Lucy Hunter Murray and Jean Elizabeth Murray. Murray died in Saskatoon in 1945. The city of Saskatoon honours him with "Murray Place" in the Dundonald area; Walter Murray Collegiate Institute, opened in 1965 and located near Market Mall; the Murray Building on the U of S campus; and President Murray Park, located in the Varsity View neighbourhood.

Prominent Saskatchewan men standing in front of a wooden building; location unknown. From l to r: Charles Dunning, Premier of Saskatchewan; Walter C. Murray, University President; Benjamin T. Chappell; General Superintendent of Canadian National Railways; S.G. Moore, Mayor of Melfort, Saskatchewan; and R. Beatty, Melfort-area pioneer.

Elevated view of Joe Griffiths, director of Physical Education, and Walter C. Murray, University President, wearing winter clothes and standing on ice surface; perhaps at [the Agriculture Students Ice Carnival].

Walter C. Murray, first University President, standing with A.S. MacKenzie in a field.

Two employees appear to be cleaning up [after a bookcase broke]. Male employee holding up a board; female employee on floor with piles of books scattered around. Bookcases in background.

Bio/Historical Note: Though the first recorded withdrawal from the University Library occurred in October 1909, nearly five decades passed before the Library had its own building. The early collection was housed either on the second floor of the College Building (later known as the Administration Building) or was scattered among a number of small departmental libraries. Plans for a new library building in the late 1920s were ended by the start of the Great Depression; but a dramatically reduced acquisitions budget was offset by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation in 1933. In 1943 the University hired its first professional Librarian. A combination of provincial grants and University fundraising financed the construction of the Murray Memorial Library. The library was named after the University’s first President, Walter C. Murray. Designed by noted Regina architect Kioshi Izumi working under H.K. Black, Architect, it marked a change in campus architecture away from the more angular and elaborate Collegiate Gothic style to that of the less expensive cube. Building materials included granite at the entrance and Tyndall stone as a wall cladding and window trim. In addition to the library, the building housed the College of Law, an office of the Provincial Archives and a 105-seat lecture theatre equipped with the latest in audiovisual teaching aids. The most dramatic transformation took place between 1970 and 1976 when a six floor south wing was added along with an extensive renovation of the 1956 structure. Designed by BLM, Regina, the south wing was unlike any other building on campus. Clad in Tyndall stone panels made to look like concrete (through a "bush hammered" finish), the grey almost windowless building is industrial and utilitarian in appearance. The University's master plan required buildings in the core of campus to be clad in stone. However, the "bush hammered" finish was used since the Library addition was built during a period that saw the flowering of "Brutalist" Architecture, so called because of the wide use of exposed concrete. The new (south) wing, originally called the Main Library, was officially opened on 17 May 1974, and also became the home of the Department of Art and Art History, the College of Graduate Studies and the University Archives.

Participants (including 12 women) of the second annual Engineering Institute of Canada convention, seated and standing at the doorway of College Building. Walter C. Murray, University President, seated in front row and holding a small child.

Walter C. Murray, University President, standing on a boardwalk talking with other dignitaries dressed in their academic gowns. [Church], cars, mail boxes and other buildings in background.