Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
General material designation
Parallel title
Other title information
Title statements of responsibility
Title notes
- Source of title proper: Title based on contents of the fonds
Level of description
Reference code
Edition area
Edition statement
Edition statement of responsibility
Class of material specific details area
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)
-
1945-2010 (Creation)
- Creator
- Taylor, James A., 1936-
Physical description area
Physical description
- 2.53 m of textual records
- 4 photographs
Publisher's series area
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
James Andrew Fair Taylor (Jim Taylor) was born in 1936 at Indore, in Central India. His parents, Dr. William S. and Mary Taylor were missionaries for The United Church of Canada. The family moved to Canada in 1947, and Jim's father became Principal of Union College in Vancouver in 1948. Jim spent his youth in Vancouver, attended UBC, and worked in television and radio broadcasting with CBC Vancouver. He and his wife, Joan, and two children moved to Prince Rupert in 1964, where he continued broadcast work. While there, he pursued writing courses through correspondence, and developed and taught courses for The Canadian Institute of Speech. In 1968, Taylor moved to Toronto, where he served as Managing Editor for The United Church Observer until 1981.
With Ralph Milton, he co-founded Wood Lake Books in 1980. The enterprise became Canada's largest independent religious publishing house. Taylor was also founding editor of the clergy journal, PMC: Practice of Ministry in Canada. In the field of editing, he is known as the originator and teacher of the Eight-Step Editing system. Taylor has authored over 20 books and has written countless articles and newspaper columns for well-known publications. He has also led writing and communication workshops for the United Church's lay training centres, and for many other religious and secular organizations.
In 1993, Taylor moved from Toronto to British Columbia's Okanagan region. In recognition of his ministry of writing and publishing, United Theological College in Montreal (an affiliate of McGill University) granted him an honorary Doctor of Divinity in 1991.
Custodial history
Scope and content
Fonds consists of records relating to Jim Taylor's writing, editing, and broadcasting work, as well as his liaison with colleagues and family members. Fonds comprises the following record series: Correspondence - JAFT to WST (1945-1998); Published articles and resources (1967-2006); Early writings (1959-1980); Personal correspondence (1966-1986); Academic writings (1958-1967); Newsletters (1984-1994); Regular newspaper columns (2007-2009); Manuscripts for monographs (1996-2001); Reference: books written or edited by James Taylor (1981-2010). Documentary forms include correspondence, research notes, interview transcripts, draft and published versions of magazine articles, play scripts, and full manuscripts of books. Also included is a copy of each published book.
Notes area
Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
Records were obtained directly from the records creator in the following installments:
January 20, 2012
March 20, 2012
September 13, 2012
Arrangement
Original physical order has been preserved. Small adjustments have been made to conceptual arrangement, as reflected in the file list.
Language of material
- English
Script of material
Location of originals
Availability of other formats
Restrictions on access
Access to family correspondence is restricted until further notice, per Deed of Gift agreement
Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication
Finding aids
File list available
Uploaded finding aid
Associated materials
W.S Taylor fonds
Accruals
Further accruals expected
Alternative identifier(s)
Standard number
Standard number
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Wood Lake Books (Subject)
- Taylor, William Stephens, 1905-1998 (Subject)
Genre access points
Control area
Description record identifier
Institution identifier
Rules or conventions
Rules for Archival Description
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation, revision and deletion
Created April 23, 2013
Language of description
- English