November/December 2000 Vol. 32, no. 11-12

Obituary: Marion Wilson

Gwynneth Evans, Director General
National and International Programs

Marion Catherine (Conroy) Wilson died in Ottawa on July 24, 2000, following a brief illness. After receiving her bachelor of arts in English (1936) and spending several years as a library assistant at the University of Alberta, she completed a bachelor of arts in librarianship at the University of Washington in 1942.

Marion Wilson practised her profession for over 40 years, as a librarian in both volunteer and salaried positions. During the Second World War, she served as a member of the Royal Canadian Air Force and as a librarian in the Western Command. She and her husband then moved to London, England, where she worked at the Inter-Allied Book Centre, which was involved in the restoration of libraries. Returning to Canada in the late 1940s, Marion Wilson joined the Library Management Committee of the Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Library for Boys and Girls, and also volunteered in the library. During her tenure on the committee, the financial support for the library increased more than threefold and a branch of Montreal’s Bibliothèque municipale was opened in the community of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce. For her efforts, the Kinsmen’s Club named her "Citizen of the Year" for 1959.

Following the family’s move to Ottawa, Marion Wilson joined the staff of the Canadian Library Association (CLA) as associate editor of the Canadian Periodical Index. This was work that she enjoyed very much, as cataloguing and organizing information for access were her specializations. She worked very closely with Dr. Elizabeth Morton and the Association’s council and was appointed field and executive secretary of the CLA in 1967.

Dr. Guy Sylvestre appointed Marion Wilson head of the Periodicals Section of the National Library of Canada in 1970. From that position, she established the Library Documentation Centre, after which she held various senior management positions within the Public Services Branch (now Research and Information Services). Her last position at the Library was as executive secretary to the National Library and the National Library Advisory Board. In these positions, Marion Wilson organized meetings and consultations and both wrote and edited many of the Library’s publications. She spoke regularly at conferences to explain and promote its services.

Having retired in 1981, Marion renewed her interest in antiques and was a partner in an antique business in Merrickville, Ontario, until 1993. During that same period and up until her death, her interest in genealogy, history and literature continued, and she kept in contact by letter with many friends who had grown up in Alberta and had attended the University of Alberta.

Marion Wilson was not the first person in her family to serve the National Library of Canada. Her mother, Marion Conroy, was the Alberta member of the first National Library Advisory Council, the body that worked with Dr. W. Kaye Lamb to establish the Canadian Bibliographic Centre (1950) and then to put in place the legislation for the National Library of Canada (1953).

For those of us who had the privilege of working with Marion Wilson, either at the CLA or in her various capacities in the National Library, she will be remembered as a person with great personal and professional curiosity and ability. She asked penetrating questions and conducted useful studies and research. She delighted in good conversation and had a wonderful sense of humour. She was very interested in service, the welfare of libraries and Canadian cultural institutions and, most of all, the colleagues and partners with whom she worked.

Several members and former members of the staff of the National Library joined Marion Wilson’s five children, their families and friends at a service at Holy Trinity Church in Merrickville on July 27 to celebrate her life.