Anne Marie Tremaine (1902-1984)

Marie Tremaine, c.1949

Marie Tremaine's work on Canadian bibliography remains unparalleled. According to her obituary, she "personally searched the shelves of some 200 libraries across Canada and the United States to find 1204 monographs and pamphlets" published between 1751 and 1800. Her largest work was the Arctic Bibliography encompassing 16 volumes, 14 of which Tremaine worked on personally. The massive work includes more than 20,000 titles of works related to the Arctic, focusing on scientific and explorers' texts. She authored A Bibliography of Canadian Imprints, 1751–1800, a monumental text published in 1952 that is considered the cornerstone of book history studies in Canada. It meticulously detailed more than 1,200 books, pamphlets, and broadsides produced across early Canadian provinces.

In 1970, Marie Tremaine was elected honorary life president of the Bibliographic Society of Canada. Also, to honour the corpus of her bibliographic work, the Bibliographical Society of Canada/La Société bibliographique du Canada established the Tremaine fellowship: "The Marie Tremaine Fellowship is offered in memory and through the generosity of Marie Tremaine (1902–1984), the doyenne of Canadian bibliographers. The Fellowship was instituted in 1987. The award is available yearly to support scholars pursuing research in book history and publishing with a Canadian focus. 

 

My biography of Marie Tremaine first appeared on the Ex Libris Association website in 2018. Her portrait is taken from the Bulletin of Bibliography, 1949. 

Anne Marie Tremaine

b. Feb. 23, 1902, Buffalo, New York; d. Aug. 2, 1984, Washington, District of Columbia

Education

Humberside Collegiate, Toronto
1926 BA (Hons) University of Toronto
1926 Certificate, Ontario Department of Education Library School
1929–1930 Carnegie Foundation, the first Canadian Fellowship to study bibliographic methods at the University of London, School of Librarianship
1935–1937 Carnegie Fellowship for Bibliographic Studies on Canadian Imprints, Yale University

Positions

1927–1941 Reference Division librarian, Toronto Public Library
1941–1947 Associate Head, Reference Division, Toronto Public Library
1947–1969 Director, Arctic Institute of North America,
1969–1975 Editor Emerita, Arctic Institute of North America

Publications

Tremaine, Marie (193?). Handlist of Erasmiana in the Bell Collection of Victoria College [typescript].

Tremaine, Marie (1930). “Librarianship in London.” Ontario Library Review 14, no. 4 (May): 111–113.

Tremaine, Marie (1931). “Canadian Pseudonyms.” Wilson Bulletin for Librarians 6, no. 1 (September): 52–53.

Tremaine, Marie (1934). Early Printing in Canada. Toronto: Golden Dog Press.

Tremaine, Marie and Francis Maria Staton (1934). A Bibliography of Canadiana: Being Items in the Public Library of Toronto, Canada, Relating to the Early History and Development of Canada. Toronto: Toronto Public Library.

Tremaine, Marie, ed. (1940). Canadian Book of Printing: How Printing Came to Canada and the Story of the Graphic Arts, Told Mainly in Pictures. Toronto: Toronto Public Libraries.

Tremaine, Marie. “Can You Tell Me? Please.” (1944). Bulletin of the Toronto Chapter, Special Libraries Association 4, no. 2 (April): 3–4.

Tremaine, Marie (1946). “Canadian-American Relations in Colonial Printing.” College & Research Libraries 7, no. 1 (January): 27–33.

Marie Tremaine (1951). “A half-century of Canadian life and print, 1751–1800,” pp. 371–390 in Essays Honoring Lawrence C. Wroth. Portland, Oregon, Anthoensen Press.

Tremaine, Marie (1952). A Bibliography of Canadian Imprints, 1751–1800. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Tremaine, Marie, editor (1953-1975). Arctic Bibliography vols. 1-14.

Associations/Committees

Member: Arctic Circle, Arctic Institute of North America
Founding member of Bibliographic Society of Canada and honorary president, 1965
Memberships in CLA, OLA, SLA, BSA, and the American Geographical Society

Honours

1947 became an honorary member of CLA
1970 Marie Tremaine Medal was established by the Bibliographical Society of Canada, and she was the first recipient
1973 Honorary member, Arctic Institute of North America
1976 D.Litt, Trent University. Peterborough, Ontario

Marie Tremaine's work on the Canadian Bibliography is considered to be an essential landmark in the field.

“Marie Tremaine often says that she is not a historian, and certainly not a scientist! Perhaps not; but through the examination of early Canadian and American imprints she has a knowledge of detail concerning the settlement of North America, that a historian might well envy, and a sense of the living history behind the people of this continent that gives her, as a librarian a creative approach to a community.” — Florence B. Murray, 1949

“Her influence on me has been considerable, her work continues to be of immeasurable help. She set the highest standards in Canadian bibliographical scholarship, standards we must labour to meet and maintain.” — Douglas G. Lochhead, 1984

Sources

Florence B. Murray, “Marie Tremaine,” Bulletin of Bibliography 19, no. 10 (Sept.–Dec. 1949): 253–255.
Canadian Who`s Who (1983)
“Marie Tremaine, 1902–1984: A Tribute,” Papers of The Bibliographical Society of Canada 23 (1) 1984: 13–29 [tributes by various authors]
ELA biography compiled by Lorne Bruce