Ask half a dozen current students why Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션s celebrates 카지노게임사이트 Day and, after a few blank stares, you카지노 게임 컬렉션ll likely receive six different answers. Of those, it카지노 게임 컬렉션s a pretty safe bet that none will include the words 카지노 게임 컬렉션royal charter.카지노 게임 컬렉션
(Hint to our readers: 카지노게임사이트 Day, October 16, marks the date in 1841 when Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션s College at Kingston was incorporated by a royal charter issued by Queen Victoria.)
When I recently checked out the replica charter on permanent display in the JDUC's Upper Ceilidh, I had to ask the young woman perched beneath it to shift her laptop so I could squeeze in beside her to read the lettering. She politely complied, but showed not a whit of interest in the historic document directly above her head. Like the ceilidh카지노 게임 컬렉션s well-worn chairs and coffee tables, it was part of the furniture and therefore invisible.
Yet without that document, the prized Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션s degree for which she was working so hard would not exist, and she might instead be studying 카지노 게임 컬렉션 perish the thought! 카지노 게임 컬렉션 at the former King카지노 게임 컬렉션s College,
now 카지노게임사이트 of Toronto, 260 km up the road.
A charter challenge
At the other end of the spectrum from my accommodating view-blocker, Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션s conservator Margaret Bignell is intimately familiar with the university카지노 게임 컬렉션s charter. You might say she카지노 게임 컬렉션s had a hands-on relationship with it.
A graduate of Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션sMaster of Art Conservation program, Ms. Bignell returned to her alma mater in 1986 to ply her restorative skills in the 카지노게임사이트 Archives. Three years later, she and fellow conservator Thea Burns, also a graduate of the unique master카지노 게임 컬렉션s program, were presented with an intriguing project. They were asked to conserve the institution카지노 게임 컬렉션s royal charter 카지노 게임 컬렉션 three large sheets of creased and contracted parchment plus a badly deteriorated wax-resin seal.
With the university카지노 게임 컬렉션s 150th anniversary looming on the horizon, the sesquicentennial committee chaired by Professor Stuart Vandewater (Anesthesiology) was eager to resurrect the pivotal document that had ushered Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션s into existence. Unfortunately, the charter had not aged well. 카지노 게임 컬렉션When we first saw the seal, especially, broken in pieces and with the images of Victoria almost unrecognizable, it definitely posed a challenge,카지노 게임 컬렉션 Ms. Bignell says. 카지노 게임 컬렉션For such a treasure of the university, it was a bit of a mystery how the charter had become so badly damaged.카지노 게임 컬렉션
Signed, sealed, and delivered
The circuitous journey that brought this decrepit document into Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션s conservators카지노 게임 컬렉션 care began a century and a half earlier, and an ocean away, in the heart of Victorian London. Hired by a group of colonial clerics and politicians from Upper Canada, an agent had lobbied for almost a year to have Queen Victoria bestow her blessing on their proposed new institute of higher learning.
After lengthy negotiation and spiralling costs, the royal charter for Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션s College at Kingston was duly granted and signed on behalf of Victoria by Leonard Edmunds, Clerk of Commissioner of
Patents. (As a side note, Edmunds was forced to resign two decades later, when investigations revealed he had been skimming money from fees for charters and patents. This may account for the then-astronomical fee of close to £700 charged to Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션s 카지노 게임 컬렉션 far surpassing that paid in 1827 by Anglican Bishop John Strachan카지노 게임 컬렉션s group for a similar charter that created King카지노 게임 컬렉션s College at York, later to become the U of T.)
When Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션s first principal, a Presbyterian minister from Edinburgh named Thomas Liddell, crossed the Atlantic in December 1841 to assume his new position, he carried the school카지노 게임 컬렉션s expensive document in his luggage. The parchment sheets were rolled together with ribbons in one section of an oblong tin container called a 카지노 게임 컬렉션banjo box,카지노 게임 컬렉션 while the large round seal, attached to the papers by cord, was stored separately in its own compartment or 카지노 게임 컬렉션skippet.카지노 게임 컬렉션
Principal Liddell later complained in a letter that, while his employers had diligently insured the charter for this voyage, they had neglected to insure him!
An offer she couldn카지노 게임 컬렉션t refuse
Waiting anxiously in Kingston, for both their principal and his precious cargo, was the nascent institution카지노 게임 컬렉션s Board of Trustees, chaired by William Morris, businessman and staunch supporter of the Church of Scotland. The group was determined to provide a Presbyterian alternative to the Anglican-dominated King카지노 게임 컬렉션s College, but had recently expanded its original vision of training Presbyterian ministers to include instruction in the arts and sciences as well.
To become incorporated, however, they needed official recognition from the governing body of the land. 카지노 게임 컬렉션When the Upper Canada legislature sent the group카지노 게임 컬렉션s documentation to England to be vetted, it was deemed illegitimate,카지노 게임 컬렉션 notes Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션s Archivist Paul Banfield. 카지노 게임 컬렉션Everything came to a grinding halt until they turned to the example of John Strachan in the 1820s, who had been able to establish King카지노 게임 컬렉션s College with the help of a royal charter.카지노 게임 컬렉션
The board felt the name 카지노 게임 컬렉션Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션s카지노 게임 컬렉션 would not only distinguish them from their rivals to the west, but would also find favour with Victoria, who had assumed the throne just four years earlier. 카지노 게임 컬렉션They wanted to be as closely associated with the monarch as possible,카지노 게임 컬렉션 says Mr. Banfield. The plan worked; Victoria granted their request.
Help from a future PM
Although his name doesn카지노 게임 컬렉션t appear on the charter, one of the prime movers 카지노 게임 컬렉션 literally 카지노 게임 컬렉션 of the Kingston initiative was an up-and-coming lawyer named John A. Macdonald. At a December 1839
meeting in St. Andrew카지노 게임 컬렉션s Presbyterian Church, the 24-year-old Macdonald rose nervously from his seat to move the resolution for 카지노 게임 컬렉션a proposed college to be erected in this town.카지노 게임 컬렉션 Instead of the eloquent oration he카지노 게임 컬렉션d prepared, however, the future Canadian prime minister was rendered speechless and handed his papers to the meeting카지노 게임 컬렉션s chairman.
Sir John is nevertheless credited for either moving or seconding several motions in favour of establishing Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션s, and, according to Paul Banfield, may also be the main reason it is located in Kingston. 카지노 게임 컬렉션The original meeting that decided a Presbyterian college should be established took place in Montreal,카지노 게임 컬렉션 says the archivist. 카지노 게임 컬렉션Macdonald is reputed to have pushed very hard for the next meeting to be held in his hometown.카지노 게임 컬렉션
Two years later, when Principal Liddell was crossing the Atlantic with the cherished charter, that town had suddenly morphed from a military outpost to the first capital of the new Province of Canada.
The birth of a university
카지노 게임 컬렉션Kingston was an exciting place to be in 1841,카지노 게임 컬렉션 says public historian Arthur Milnes, a fellow of the School of Policy Studies. 카지노 게임 컬렉션Not only had it just been appointed the new national capital, but the future founding prime minister of the country was establishing his political roots there. While he later went on to build the country, at that time Macdonald played an important role in building a university!카지노 게임 컬렉션
Following the arrival of the charter, and in the first years of Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션s existence, Macdonald continued to assist the fledgling college. He undertook legal work and guided land acquisitions for the Board of Trustees; donated books to the school library (located in St. Andrew카지노 게임 컬렉션s Church tower); and helped negotiate the creation of Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션s medical faculty.
Although Kingston lost the capital after only three years, precipitating an economic depression, the early 1840s had been an exhilarating period of expansion and unprecedented growth. 카지노 게임 컬렉션It was also a crucial time in the development of Canada 카지노 게임 컬렉션 and much of this happened on what is now Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션s campus,카지노 게임 컬렉션 says Mr. Milnes, noting that Summerhill had been used as a residence and meeting space for members of the new parliament. And in those heady days leading up to Confederation, Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션s College at Kingston was born.
A charred charter?
The tightly rolled document and cracked seal in their banjo box, before conservation. (Credit: Queen's 카지노게임사이트 Archives)
A century and a half later, university conservators Margaret Bignell and Thea Burns contemplated the sorry state of the royal charter as they undertook to conserve it for the upcoming sesquicentennial celebrations. Because Victoria카지노 게임 컬렉션s great-great-great-grandson, Prince Charles, had accepted the university카지노 게임 컬렉션s invitation to receive an honorary doctorate at convocation, the Archives staff were also tasked with creating a replica charter and seal for the prince to unveil.
The mystery of how the charter 카지노 게임 컬렉션 and especially the seal 카지노 게임 컬렉션 had fallen into such disrepair may never be resolved. Initially stored in the vault of the university카지노 게임 컬렉션s bank (where it was listed as an asset in the account ledgers until 1909), the charter was moved at some point to Douglas Library카지노 게임 컬렉션s 카지노 게임 컬렉션Treasure Room,카지노 게임 컬렉션 a repository of rare books and artifacts, and finally, in 1981, to the 카지노게임사이트
Archives카지노 게임 컬렉션 new home in Kathleen Ryan Hall.
Ms. Bignell speculates that the banjo box in which the document resided may have been stored in the library of Old Meds when that building was damaged by fire in 1924. The lacquered metal container would have protected the charter카지노 게임 컬렉션s parchment sheets, but extreme heat could have cracked the seal and blurred the bas-relief images of Queen Victoria that adorn both sides. As well, each time the box was picked up by its handle, the seal would have rubbed against the unlined metal wall of the skippet. Add to this a lack of humidity and temperature controls in its many different storage locations, and the result was deterioration of both the delicate parchment and the wax-resin seal.
Repair and replication
To stabilize the three charter pages, Ms. Bignell and Ms. Burns first cleaned, then gradually 카지노 게임 컬렉션relaxed카지노 게임 컬렉션 them in an enclosed humidity chamber in the Art Conservation lab, until they could be safely unrolled. Next, the parchment sheets were delicately stretched back into their original configuration on a tensioning frame. Archives staff also constructed a new storage container with acid-free board, which allows the document to be stored flat in a map cabinet drawer.
Since the ribbons were badly deteriorated, the conservators decided not to line and reuse them. Instead they gently humidified, flattened, and placed them in an envelope attached to the new storage container. New ribbons were made from a comparable seam binding.
Repairing the seal 카지노 게임 컬렉션 dark green, to designate a constitutional document 카지노 게임 컬렉션 presented a greater challenge. Too brittle to permit the use of pins, the five broken pieces had to be tacked in place while wax-resin infills were applied. 카지노 게임 컬렉션You can see the darker places where we mended it,카지노 게임 컬렉션 says Ms. Bignell. 카지노 게임 컬렉션Unfortunately, Victoria카지노 게임 컬렉션s features are still quite hard to make out.카지노 게임 컬렉션
To create a replica seal, the university applied to the Patent Office in London, which retains a complete set of moulds from every seal ever produced there. Two duplicates were ordered: one now resides in JDUC with the replica charter, while the other is kept with the original seal in the Archives.
For the charter pages themselves, Ms. Bignell took digital photos of the originals and cut them to size. 카지노 게임 컬렉션It didn카지노 게임 컬렉션t look good on shiny resin-coated paper, so I lined it with matte Japanese paper to look more like parchment,카지노 게임 컬렉션 she explains.
The finished product was unveiled with a flourish in 1991 by HRH Prince Charles at a ceremony in the JDUC's Lower Ceilidh, and later placed in a glass-fronted wall cabinet on the second floor.
A charter worth celebrating
A replica of the original seal attached to the Queen's royal charter. (Credit: Queen's 카지노게임사이트 Archives)
On Saturday, Oct. 15, 2016, Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션s 카지노게임사이트 Archives staff were in Grant Hall, welcoming back alumni for Homecoming weekend. On the Archives display table were photos of the Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션s charter, pre- and post-conservation, and the archivists chatted with many curious visitors about the document that had helped create their alma mater. The following day, exactly 175 years after
Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션s College at Kingston came into being, Kingston카지노 게임 컬렉션s St. Andrew카지노 게임 컬렉션s Church held a service of thanksgiving for Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션s 카지노게임사이트, celebrating the original charter and the long history of Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션s in Kingston.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션s celebrated 카지노게임사이트 Day 카지노 게임 컬렉션 October 16 카지노 게임 컬렉션 with daylong festivities. Classes were cancelled and students celebrated with games and activities including a traditional Scottish caber toss. In 2016, the charter is certainly part of the anniversary celebrations. But the significance of a document dated Oct. 16, 1841 may not immediately resonate with many members of the Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션s community, at least not those who daily pass by the replica in the JDUC. Perhaps, though, the fact that it is out there as 카지노 게임 컬렉션part of the furniture카지노 게임 컬렉션 says something significant about the nature of Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션s itself.
Almost as accessible to members of the community is the original charter, safely housed in the 카지노게임사이트 Archives. 카지노 게임 컬렉션People are welcome to come to our reading room any weekday and ask to see the actual charter and seal,카지노 게임 컬렉션 says Paul Banfield. 카지노 게임 컬렉션A staff member will be happy to get it out for them.카지노 게임 컬렉션
The Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션s royal charter, passionately lobbied for in the 1840s and painstakingly repaired in the 1990s, remains an important part of the living story of Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션s 카지노게임사이트.
A living document
While its wording reflects both the language of the time and Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션s origins as a Church of Scotland institution, our charter is a 카지노 게임 컬렉션living카지노 게임 컬렉션 document not set in stone, says 카지노게임사이트 Secretary Lon Knox. In addition to a number of changes brought about through parliamentary amendments, from time to time Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션s seeks the input of legal experts (most recently two retired supreme court of Canada Justices) for their interpretation of charter language.
A case in point is the curious stipulation that the college카지노 게임 컬렉션s buildings be 카지노 게임 컬렉션no further than three miles from st. Andrew카지노 게임 컬렉션s Presbyterian church카지노 게임 컬렉션 in downtown Kingston. This was likely intended to ensure students would comply with their written declaration to attend church regularly 카지노 게임 컬렉션 and for the Scottish founders of Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션s, there was only one choice of denomination!
Although this wording has never been amended, Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션s obtained a legal interpretation that it didn카지노 게임 컬렉션t limit the university카지노 게임 컬렉션s ability to own property beyond the three-mile radius 카지노 게임 컬렉션 including, of course, Herstmonceux Castle in England.
To make the charter and its multiple amendments more accessible and understandable, the Secretariat has created a consolidated version, which, though not a legal document, contains those parts which have continuing force and validity. you can read it online at .
A transcription of the original charter text 카지노 게임 컬렉션 containing what Mr. Knox calls 카지노 게임 컬렉션the world카지노 게임 컬렉션s longest run-on sentences카지노 게임 컬렉션 카지노 게임 컬렉션 is also available on this site.
Advantages of a charter
Among many other distinctions, Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션s is one of the few universities in Canada still governed by a royal charter. And that raises the question, 카지노 게임 컬렉션Why?카지노 게임 컬렉션 For an answer, the Review turned to Lon Knox, Secretary of the university. 카지노 게임 컬렉션For well over a century, Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션s has considered itself a national university rather than a provincial or regional one. This provides our focus as we draw students from across the country,카지노 게임 컬렉션 says Mr. Knox. 카지노 게임 컬렉션So we think it fits our place in the national landscape to be governed in this unique way, where change can only be brought about through the House of Commons and the Senate of Canada.카지노 게임 컬렉션
Unlike the U of T, Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션s has chosen not to have its charter repealed (which would move oversight of the university to the provincial government, as stipulated in the Constitution Act of 1867). Pre-Confederation, we would have needed to petition the Queen directly for any changes to the charter, but post-Confederation, we send them to federal Parliament.
Legally, Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션s is called a 카지노 게임 컬렉션common law corporation카지노 게임 컬렉션 because we weren카지노 게임 컬렉션t created by an act of Parliament in either Canada or the U.K. We derive our authority directly through common law and are not registered at either the federal or provincial levels.
One advantage of our distinctive status is that we have no government appointees on our board, which helps maintain our autonomy, Mr. Knox notes. Another is that the province doesn카지노 게임 컬렉션t have authority to make us amalgamate with another university, or to dissolve us. (They do, however, wield considerable control through financial incentives.)
In all, Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션s has gone before Parliament nine times to petition changes to the charter, most recently in 2011. And while both the House of Commons and the Senate have accommodated all such requests to date, they are reluctant to get involved in what they perceive as provincial jurisdiction, notes Mr. Knox. 카지노 게임 컬렉션Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션s excellent government relations work has helped us approach
parliamentarians who will sponsor our legislation,카지노 게임 컬렉션 he says. 카지노 게임 컬렉션But the last time we did so, we were told it had been a challenging process. Basically, they said they hoped they wouldn카지노 게임 컬렉션t be seeing us again anytime soon!카지노 게임 컬렉션
Fortunately, Mr. Knox doesn카지노 게임 컬렉션t foresee having to return for more amendments in the near future, since he believes the charter now provides everything we need to govern the university. That said, it카지노 게임 컬렉션s reassuring to know there is a process in place, should further tweaks be required down the road, he adds.