Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1876-1988 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
5.66 m of textual records, drawings, ceramics.
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Canadian war veteran, artist, avid reader and book collector, William Robert (Bob) Gibson was born into a farming family in Springbank, Alberta, in 1908. Books and reading seized his imagination from early childhood; Jules Verne was an early favourite. Reading became even more important during a year-long period when scarlet fever kept him largely confined to his bed. Later, as a teenager, Bob would walk from Springbank into Calgary in order to borrow books from the downtown library.
Bob served with an artillery unit in the Second World War from 1939-45, in England, Sicily and Italy. On his return to Calgary he found an outlet for his artistic talents through drawing and ceramics. In addition to work as a part-time commissionaire, he taught ceramics classes through the Allied Arts Council and set up an artistic ceramics business in his garage, complete with two electric kilns. A few decades later a bicycle accident forced him to break a contract to deliver ceramic figurines and he never returned to it. Instead, he dedicated his weekdays to reading and collecting books and stayed on as a weekend commissionaire, an occupation that allowed him even more time to indulge his interests.
Bob died on January 8, 2001 at the age of 92.
Archival history
Donated by Andrew Gibson in 2002.
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Fonds consists of archival material from the Bob Gibson Collection of Speculative Fiction, primarily the lists and indexes to the over 35,000 books, periodicals and handmade anthologies B. Gibson collected over his lifetime, including index cards in four large (57 cm x 12 cm) hand-made wooden file boxes. Also includes correspondence with speculative fiction publishers, newsclippings, artefacts (writing implements and artist's tools), and material relating to Mildred Gibson including a folder of pencil sketches and watercolours, many signed W.H. Bos.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Fonds is intellectually arranged across all accessions
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
No restrictions an access.
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
Script of material
Language and script notes
Text in English.
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Note
Title based on contents of the fonds.