Fonds 05-012 - Thomas H.B. Symons. Meta Incognita fonds

Thomas H.B. Symons was born at Toronto, Ontario 30 May 1929, son of Harry Lutz Symons and Dorothy Sarah Bull. He was educated at Upper Canada College, University of Toronto (B.A. 1951), and Oxford University (B.A. 1953, M.A. 1957). He married Christine Ryerson 17 August 1963 and with her had three children: Mary, Ryerson and Jeffery. Professor Symons held many posts as an educator, including Assistant Dean of Men, Trinity College and Instructor of History, University of Toronto 1953-1955; and Dean, Devonshire House, University of Toronto 1955-63. His most notable post, however, was as the founding President and Vice-Chancellor of Trent University, 1961-1972. Symons also held many presidencies, chairmanships and memberships in various organizations, mainly dealing with the topics of education, Canadian studies, Indigenous rights and human rights. From 1971 to 1973, Symons was the President of the Canadian Association in Support of Native Peoples. He was the author of several reports and articles and contributed chapters to many books including: "Political Education in Canada" 1988; "Archives Libraries and the Canadian Heritage" 1983; "A Century of Canada's Arctic Islands, 1880-1980" 1981; "A History of Peel County" 1967; and "Native Rights in Canada" 1970. Professor Symons resided in Peterborough, Ontario until his death on January 1, 2021.

Meta Incognita was a project initiated to bring new light to the Arctic voyages of Martin Frobisher and to show the significance of these voyages for the histories of North America and Britain. With the guidance of the Meta Incognita Project Steering Committee, an Archival Research Task Force (ARTAF) researched archival documents in Britain and Europe and compiled their research into a two volume publication Meta Incognita: A Discourse of Discovery: Martin Frobisher's Arctic Expeditions, 1576-1578. The publication was edited by the chair of the Steering Committee, Professor Thomas H.B. Symons, and was published in 1999. (Taken from Meta Incognita: A Discourse of Discovery: Martin Frobisher's Arctic Expeditions, 1576-1578. Vol. 1. Canadian Museum of Civilization, 1999).