Item 0048 - Correspondence with George Woodcock

Ralph Barker Gustafson, poet and professor, was born at Lime Ridge, Quebec on August 16, 1909. He was educated at Bishop's University, earning a B.A. (1st class honours and winner of the Governor General's medal along with many other awards) in 1929 and an M.A. in 1930. He also completed a B.A. at Oxford in 1933, an M.A. in 1963, and has been awarded a D. Litt. from Mount Allison in 1973, a D.C.L. from Bishop's University in 1977, and a D. Litt from York University in 1991. Over the years Dr. Gustafson has held a number of posts. He was music master, Bishop's College School, 1920-30; teacher of English St. Alban's School for Boys, Brockville, Ontario, 1933-34; tutor and journalist, London, England, 1935-38; British Information Services, New York, N.Y., 1942-46; Professor and Poet-In-Residence, Bishop's University, 1963-79 and music critic, C.B.C., since 1960.Winner of a number of awards, including the Order of Canada and the Governor General's Award for Poetry, Dr. Gustafson has written over twenty volumes of poetry and prose as well as editing several anthologies of verse. He died in 1995.