Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
Geoffrey Pearson fonds
General material designation
- Textual record
- Graphic material
Parallel title
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Title statements of responsibility
Title notes
Level of description
Fonds
Reference code
GAHP
Edition area
Edition statement
Edition statement of responsibility
Class of material specific details area
Statement of scale (cartographic)
Statement of projection (cartographic)
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Statement of scale (architectural)
Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
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1904-2012 (Creation)
- Creator
- Pearson, Geoffrey
Physical description area
Physical description
- 13 m of textual records
- 37 photographs
Publisher's series area
Title proper of publisher's series
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Archival description area
Name of creator
(1927-2008)
Biographical history
Geoffrey Arthur Holland Pearson, OC was born on December 25, 1927 in Toronto, Ontario Canada. Pearson is best known as a Canadian diplomat and author. The son of former Prime Minister of Canada Lester B. Pearson and Maryon Pearson, Pearson was educated at Trinity College School in Port Hope, Ontario, the University of Toronto, and the University of Oxford. Pearson joined the department of External Affairs in 1952. He held diplomatic appointments at the Canadian embassies in Paris (1953-1957) and Mexico City (1961-1964), and at the High Commission in New Delhi (1969-1972). From 1980 to 1983, he served as the Canadian Ambassador to the Soviet Union (Moscow). He was also Ambassador to Mongolia from 1980 to 1983. In late 1983, Pearson was appointed as a special representative to then Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau for arms control, and in 1984 he was seconded to the Canadian Institute of International Affairs. In January 1985 he was appointed as the first executive director of the Canadian Institute for International Peace and Security, where he served for four years. In 1993, his book "Seize the Day" was published, chronicling his father's (Lester B. Pearson) diplomatic legacy. Pearson was a past president of the United Nations Association in Canada. In 2000, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada and in 2001 he wrote his memoirs entitled Anecdotage. Pearson died in Ottawa, Ontario on March 18th, 2008. He is survived by his wife, Senator Landon Pearson, and four of their five children.
Custodial history
Records were received from Landon Pearson in 2011 and 2012. Landon Pearson organized the material prior to deposit.
Scope and content
- Fonds consists of records created and accumulated by Geoffrey Arthur Holland Pearson throughout his personal and professional life. The fonds is comprised of two series: Lester B. Pearson and Geoffrey Pearson. The first series is comprised of material created by or pertaining to Lester B. Pearson. The series contains correspondence created by or received by Lester B. Pearson. The correspondence is arranged in four sub-series: Lester B. Pearson to Parents and Family; Lester B. Pearson to Maryon Pearson; Lester B. Pearson and Geoffrey A.H. Pearson; and Lester B. Pearson and William Spencer. This series also contains two scrapbooks.
- The second series is subdivided into the following areas: Geoffrey Pearson and Lester B. Pearson; United Nations; Soviet Union and Russia; Material on India; Arms Control and Disarmament; Foreign Policy; Global/Future trends; Nuclear Arms; Diplomacy and Diplomats; Peacekeeping; Canadian Institute for International Peace; Miscellaneous Material; and Subject Files, Papers, and Reports.