It was a letter we had all been waiting for. On June 12 the Very Reverend Douglas Stoute, Dean of St. James’ Cathedral, Toronto, wrote Michael Manning, a director of The Friends, to say the Cathedral Corporation was willing to give Fort York the Colours of the Third York Militia held in its archives. Dean Stoute affirmed that these important survivors from the War of 1812 would be in good hands with The Friends and the fort.
Elsewhere in this newsletter (p. 5), Carl Benn tells the history of these venerable relics. It is an absorbing one involving many of the town’s citizens, both men and women, on the eve of the Battle of York. Later the colours were stored in the attic of the old Normal School on Gould Street and not rediscovered until the late 19th century. At that point they were taken carefully in hand for repair by Adelaide Allan, the wife of George William Allan of Moss Park, then given to St. James’ for safe-keeping.
It was Carl Benn who told us about the important decision faced by St. James: what to do with the colours as it prepared to empty the Parish House to undertake extensive renovations. They would have to be put in storage, but what then? Wouldn’t it be better to entrust them permanently to some organization that could take responsibility for conserving them at considerable expense? The Friends knew instinctively that the right place for the colours was in the fort’s collections so that, after conservation, they could be displayed to the extent their fragile condition allowed. And so, with the support of the board of directors, Michael Manning wrote St. James making the case for the fort being the most fitting place for the colours, and The Friends their champions who were committed to raising from private sources and government programs the tens of thousands of dollars needed for their conservation. We had no excuse for letting the colours go elsewhere. There is no doubt the costs of caring for the colours properly will be considerable. Very little, if any, conservation work has been done on them since Mrs. Allan’s time. Conservators have begun to study them but no estimates of expense have been made yet. Already, however, the Fort York Foundation has received one pledge of $10,000 towards the expenses of conservation, and other potential donors are being sought out.
Even when restored, the colours will be very fragile and cannot be exhibited in less than ideal lighting, environmental and stress-free conditions. It may be they will be best seen in sloped reposes, like Mae West. Perhaps they should not be on year-round display. The need for a gallery meeting the highest standards is recognized by those planning the proposed Fort York Visitor Reception Centre which is, for all practical purposes, the only building on the site where optimal conditions can be assured. A sense of trusteeship pervades the honour St. James has given us.
Neither the Friends of Fort York nor Toronto Culture bid for the Battersby portrait: the Friends because we were committed to support the restoration of the York Militia Colours if they came to the fort and hence could not spread ourselves too thin; Toronto Culture because since the early 1990s budgets to buy items for the collections at all its ten museums have spiraled down to zero.
Happily, Human Resources Minister Monte Solberg recognized his department’s mistake before it was beyond repair, and in late May informed many groups including the Friends of Fort York that their grant for 2007 would be in the same amount as they received in 2006. The grant for the Fort York Guard was restored to $13,500. Thank you, Mr. Minister.
In 2006 the cost of operating the Fort York National Historic Site was shared among the City of Toronto (68.1%), admissions and rentals (16.1%), the Friends of Fort York (9.5%), the Ontario Government’s museums grants program (4.8%), and the Government of Canada (1.6%).
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