Tom Thomson, Letter to Dr. M. J. McRuer, Oct. 17, 1912

[ Dr. J. M McRuer, I ]

Dr. J. M McRuer, I, Tom Thomson, 1912, Library and Archives Canada/Bibliotheque et Archives Canada, e002343708, Dennis Reid writes: (Tom) "Thomson first met John M. McRuer shortly after arriving in Toronto from Seattle — probably in 1905 — and before McRuer's graduation from the University of Toronto in 1907. They remained close friends until Dr. McRuer's death in June 1917, just before Thomson's drowning. Dr. McRuer practised medicine in Huntsville, a small town to the west of Algonquin Park, from 1907 until late in 1913. He had by then become seriously ill with tuberculosis and moved to Denver, Colorado, where he died." (See Dennis Reid "Photographs By Tom Thomson", "National Gallery of Canada Bulletin" 16/1970, pgs. 8-9.)

c/o W. S. Broadhead, Toronto

Hello Doc:

[...]

We started in at Bisco and took a long trip on the lakes around there going up the Spanish River and over into the Mississauga [Mississagi] water we got a great many good snapshots of game — mostly moose and some sketches, but we had a dump in the forty-mile rapids which is near the end of our trip and lost most of our stuff — we only saved 2 rolls of films out of about 14 dozen.

[...]

Yours truly,
Tom Thomson

[...]

Source: McMichael Canadian Art Collection Archives, Tom Thomson, Letter to Dr. M. J. McRuer, October 17, 1912. Notes: Date taken from postmark. Quoted, in full, in "Tom Thomson's Letters", [[italic]]Tom Thomson[[/]], Dennis Reid, ed. (Toronto, Ottawa: Art Gallery of Ontario, National Gallery of Canada, 2002), 297-8

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