George Munro (November 12, 1825 – April 23, 1896) was a Canadian dime novel publisher and philanthropist, best known for his financial support for Dalhousie University.
Born in Nova Scotia, Munro moved to New York City in 1856 to pursue a career in publishing.[1][2][3] In 1877, he found commercial success in the Seaside Library, a low-cost journal that reprinted novels.[1][3][4] Munro donated $500,000 to Dalhousie University over the course of his life, supporting professorships and scholarships and saving the university from closure.[1][2][4]
Early life and education
Munro was born in West River, Nova Scotia, on November 12, 1825.[1][2][3] He was the fourth of ten or twelve children,[2][3] to parents John Munro and Mary Mathieson.[3]
Aged 12,[1][2][3][5] Munro became an apprentice at a local newspaper known as The Observer.[1][2] He left to continue his education in New Glasgow from 1839 to 1842, thereafter becoming a teacher.[1][2][3] In 1844, Munro enrolled at the Pictou Academy.[1][3]
Career
Teaching
Following the completion of his studies at the Pictou Academy in 1847, Munro returned to New Glasgow to teach at his former school.[1][3]
In 1850, Munro moved to Halifax, where he taught natural philosophy and mathematics at the Free Church Academy.[1][2][5] He was appointed as Rector two years later.[3][5] He completed a course in theology,[1] and intended to enter ordained ministry.[3][5] According to one rumour, Munro "preached one sermon and made a solemn vow never to renew the ordeal".[5][6]
Publishing industry
In October 1856, Munro moved to New York City.[2] He first worked for D. Appleton & Company,[3][5][6] where he was involved in mail order and distribution for British magazines and books. In 1862, he moved to Ross and Tousey,[3] which would become the American News Company.[1][4] At this time, Munro began to grow interested in publishing dime novels: reprints of popular works in cheap journals.[1][4]
Between 1863 and 1866, Munro worked for Beadle and Company.[3] He entered a brief partnership with Irwin Beadle, brother of Erastus Flavel Beadle, a pioneer of pulp fiction;[2][3] Munro became the company's sole owner a year later.[2]
In 1867, Munro began to publish the Fireside Companion, his own weekly story-paper.[1][3][4][5] This was his first notable success, with readers and contributors in Nova Scotia.[3][5]
Seaside Library
In May 1877,[1] Munro began publishing the Seaside Library, a low-cost weekly journal reprinting novels,[1][3][4][5] beginning with East Lynne by Henry Wood.[1] The name imitated Lakeside Library, a rival journal published by R.R. Donnelley;[3] Munro would later buy the publication.[1]
In time, Seaside Library expanded to include history, biography, travel, and religious works.[3][5] It was popular, with up to eighteen numbers weekly, totalling over 3,000 numbers over the course of the journal's life.[1] In 1881, the Seaside Library published its thousandth number: the Revised New Testament, with Constantin von Tischendorf's introduction.[1]
Seaside Library is credited for improving the accessibility and affordability of literature in the United States.[1][2][3] Like his contemporaries publishing before the advent of international copyright laws, Munro did not pay royalties to authors he republished.[3][5] Munro invested his wealth from the publication in a large printing plant and New York real estate.[3][5][6]
Philanthropy
In 1879, Munro made a substantial donation to Dalhousie University.[1] His brother-in-law, John Forrest, was a member of the Board of Governors,[2][3] while Munro's son, George William, had studied there between 1874 and 1878.[3][5] Munro had been staying with Forrest at Forrest's residence in Brunswick Street, Halifax, during a long summer break, and proposed to fund a chair in Physics if the university could find a suitable appointment.[5][7] At the time of Munro's donation, Dalhousie University's annual income was only $6,600, and there was significant discussion about the possibility of its closure.[2][3][5] The university had only began to operate continuously in 1963.[3]
Munro's first endowed chair was the chair of Physics, which was awarded to James Gordon MacGregor.[2][3][5] In 1880, he funded a chair of history and political economy, on the condition that it would be awarded to Forrest, who would become the university's third president in 1885.[7] Further chairs followed in English literature and philosophy in 1882 (for which he nominated his future son-in-law, Jacob Gould Schurman), constitutional and international law in 1883 (for which he nominated Richard Chapman Weldon and inaugurated the Dalhousie Law School), and English in 1884.[3][5] The salaries attached to these chairs, ranging from $2,000 to $2,500, were twice those of regional professionals.[3]
During the era of Munro's donations, in autumn 1887, under Forrest's presidency, Dalhousie University moved from the site of the present-day Halifax City Hall to what was then the city's western suburbs. The Forrest Building is photographed here in October 2018.[7]
Munro also supported tutorships and scholarships at Dalhousie University across a range of subjects.[1][2][5] Munro's second son, John, matriculated at Dalhousie University in 1885; by then, his father was supporting a third of the university's faculty members and students.[3] Munro supported its first two female students, who matriculated at Dalhousie in 1881, and more than half of the university's first 25 female graduates.[3][5]
At the time of his death in 1896, Munro's annual donations to Dalhousie University amounted to $25,000.[1] He had donated a total of $500,000 over the course of his life (about $8 million in 1999).[1][2][4][5] Though Munro did not bequeath money to Dalhousie University in his will, the Board of Governors made a claim against his estate for promissory notes that secured an additional $82,000 to the George Munro Trust Fund, which had been established in 1893 to manage his donations.[3][5]
Munro died from heart failure in Pine Hill, New York, on April 23, 1896,[1][4] while attending repairs at his country home in the Catskills.[4] Since 1864, he had been married to Catherine Forrest,[3] and had two sons and two daughters.[1] His eldest son, George William, was from a previous marriage from 1855 with Rachael Warren,[3] who died in 1863.
Munro Day
In 1881, students at Dalhousie University asked that the third Wednesday in January be a designated holiday for George Munro. The holiday, then named George Munro Memorial Day, later moved to the first Friday in February, when 'Munro Day' is still celebrated today.[2][5][6] It became tradition for students to sleigh-ride along the Bedford Basin on the holiday, followed by a fancy dinner;[5][8] winter sports are still associated with the day.[6][8] Over the course of the university's history, other activities associated with Munro Day included varsity games, musical performances, and ice skating.[6]
.png)
.png){kind=small}
.jpg)
