by Scott Stephen
Parks Canada, Winnipeg
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I can think of no one better suited to writing the history of St. John’s College than Jack Bumsted. An award-winning historian of Red River and former President of the Manitoba Historical Society, Bumsted has been a Fellow of St. John’s since 1980. Furthermore, Bumsted had already made extensive use of St. John’s College’s archives in writing The University of Manitoba: An Illustrated History.
This book is “neither a celebratory romp through the past nor a huge tome with several hundred pages of footnotes,” but a “biography of the college.” As such, it contains tidbits of everyday college life (like the evolution of The Johnian), topics of importance within the college (such as the challenges of developing the college library), and issues of broader significance (like university education for veterans). It makes interesting and instructive reading not only for “old Johnians,” but for all who are interested in small colleges, large universities, the history of education, and the Anglican Church in western Canada.
The college’s roots lie deep in the surprisingly rich intellectual environment of the Red River Settlement. Under Bishop (later Archbishop) Robert Machray, St. John’s became an important part of the cultural infrastructure of early Winnipeg. It focussed on collegiate-level education and theological training, but soon added university-level secular education in the arts and sciences. St. John’s was a founding college of the University of Manitoba in 1877, although its role within the university’s structure quickly passed (and largely remains) outside of its control. The University of Manitoba was initially organized as a federation of autonomous denominational colleges: the university examined candidates and granted degrees, but lacked the resources to do anything more. The 20th century history of all of the founding colleges has been in many ways the story of adapting to the steady growth and centralisation of the institution they helped create.
The history of St. John’s College reflects the history of the larger university, but it also reflects the changing fortunes of education, the Anglican Church, and Winnipeg’s WASP establishment. The college’s role in Winnipeg and in western Canada was challenged by economic downturns, a major financial scandal, and two world wars. Perhaps the most serious setback was the defalcation of 1932, a financial and moral disaster in which the college and diocese together lost around $1 million. John Machray, bursar of the college and nephew of the late Archbishop, was arrested and sentenced to seven years for theft from the university. St. John’s was forced to slash faculty salaries, in most cases by more than 50%. The college pulled through, however: enrolment was up, the Depression had reduced the cost of living (and financial expectations), and the national church pitched in through the Restoration Fund.
The college reached another very low point in 1950, just before the appointment as Warden of Rev. Laurence Wilmot—still a legendary figure in the hearts and minds of Johnians—and the much-debated move to the U of M’s new Fort Garry campus. St. John’s rode the post-war educational and religious booms through the 1960s: the end of that wave, coinciding with changes in government funding structures and in the university’s organization, seriously undermined the college’s autonomy. In spite of these developments, and of the Anglican Church’s decision to train its ordinands elsewhere in western Canada, St. John’s “has continued to search, with various degrees of success, for ways to serve both the academic community and the church.”
This book is not without its flaws: in some places, for instance, the writing (or perhaps the editing) seems surprisingly unpolished. Although Bumsted paints a detailed picture of the defalcation, there are many people, events, and other topics about which the reader would like to learn a great deal more. That is a limitation that Bumsted places on himself in this book: his stated goal is to provide a lively and engaging narrative, not to overburden the reader with details and footnotes (although an index would have been nice). In his introduction, he expresses the hope that his account will be expanded upon in a future volume that takes full advantage of the college’s remarkable archives. As a Johnian myself, I share that hope.
Page revised: 15 February 2015
