Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
General material designation
- Textual record
- Moving images
- Graphic material
- Sound recording
Parallel title
Other title information
Title statements of responsibility
Title notes
Level of description
Reference code
Edition statement
Edition statement of responsibility
Statement of scale (cartographic)
Statement of projection (cartographic)
Statement of coordinates (cartographic)
Statement of scale (architectural)
Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
-
1951-2009 (Creation)
- Creator
- Smith, John Newton, 1943-.
Physical description area
Physical description
15.63 m of textual records
ca. 536 videocassettes
56 audio cassettes
ca. 434 photographs
ca. 114 DVDs
Title proper of publisher's series
Parallel titles of publisher's series
Other title information of publisher's series
Statement of responsibility relating to publisher's series
Numbering within publisher's series
Note on publisher's series
Archival description area
Name of creator
Biographical history
John Newton Smith, filmmaker, was born in Montréal in 1943 and received a Bachelor of Arts from McGill University in 1964. He first became involved in film-making while working towards a Master's of Political Science when he created a film for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) with a fellow student in 1967. In 1968, Smith went to work for CBC Toronto as a researcher. One year later, he moved to Hobel-Leiterman Productions where he worked as a producer/director for several television series on the CTV network. In 1972 he joined the National Film Board (NFB) as executive producer of its television unit. With its closure in the mid-1970s, Smith turned his attention to drama and produced several films for the NFB. He directed and co-wrote "Dieppe" and "The Boys of St. Vincent" for which he received a Gemini Award for Best Direction in a Dramatic Program in 1994. More recently, Smith has directed films and television miniseries such as "Dangerous Minds" (1995), "Random Passage" (2002), "Prairie Giant : The Tommy Douglas Story"(2006), "The Englishman's Boy"(2008) and "Love & Savagery"(2009).
Smith has a long history of defending free speech and artists' rights. He protested the delay in broadcasting "The Boys of St.Vincent" fighting to expand the legal definition of freedom of expression for artists. He also fought efforts to have his miniseries "Prairie Giant : The Tommy Douglas Story" repressed, raising public awareness about de-facto censorship by CBC executives due to protests about the depiction of James Gardiner in the work.
Custodial history
Scope and content
The fonds consists of material related to John Smith's personal life and to his professional career as a writer, producer and director. It includes screenplays, draft notes for works in progress, shot lists, story boards, call lists and shooting schedules, casting and contact lists, correspondence, research files, press clippings, financial records, and selected printing elements for 16mm and 35mm productions, rough assemblies, rushes and outs on VHS and Beta videocassettes and DVDs.
The fonds is organized into the following series:
Notes area
Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
Donated by John N. Smith in 1994, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2006 and 2010.
Arrangement
Language of material
Script of material
Location of originals
Availability of other formats
Restrictions on access
Access is generally open with some exceptions. Files 2010-034/001(02), 2010-034/001(06) and 2010-034/001(21) are closed, and written permission to consult these files must be obtained from John N. Smith and directed to the University Archivist, York University. All moving image material is accessible only for research use. Some material is located off-site and requests for access must be made in advance of your visit to the archives.
Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication
Copies of moving image material in the fonds are made for study purposes only and on an as-requested basis.
Finding aids
Associated materials
Related records are available in the Bernard Zukerman fonds (F0202).
Accruals
The fonds comprises the following accessions: 1994-039, 1996-002, 1998-012, 1999-018, 2001-030, 2006-007, 2010-034. Further accruals may be expected.
Alternative identifier(s)
Standard number
Standard number
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- National Film Board of Canada (Subject)
Genre access points
Control area
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation, revision and deletion
2002/04/08 Jizi Chen:. (Creation)
2002/04/08 Awaiting review by the Data Collection Archivist
2002/10/09 Shannon MacDonald. Update Biographical sketch, Scope and content, accruals, and 'other' notes.
2003/04/09 Shannon MacDonald. Added URL for online finding aid. Added series info to scope & content.
2003/11/24 Sean Smith. Corrected extents and dates of creation.
2003/11/24 Ken Hernden. Updated biographical sketch, accruals note, immediate source of acquisition, and provenance access point.
2006/03/02 Sean Smith. Updated fond level description to incorporate 2006-006.
2006/10/30 Dubeau. Corrected accession number to 2006-007.
2011/03/22 Anna St.Onge. Updated scope note. Updated biographical sketch to include activism re. freedom of information, repression of Prairie Giant broadcast.
2014/07/22 Migrated to AtoM
2019/02/25 KCP, N. Roz. Post-migration metadata clean-up. Addition of GMD and accession numbers. Published description and generated finding aid. Added general note to indicate off-site storage for audio-visual material.
2020/03/26 KCP, N. Somerset. Added subject access points.
2025/01/21 J. Grant. Updated access restrictions note and removed expired access restrictions from accession 1996-002.