George Munro (philanthropist)
Template:Short description {{#invoke:Other people|otherPeople}} Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox person 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.<ref name="Cyclopaedia" /><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> In 1877, he found commercial success in the Seaside Library, a low-cost journal that reprinted novels.<ref name="Cyclopaedia" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> Munro donated $500,000 to Dalhousie University over the course of his life, supporting professorships and scholarships and saving the university from closure.<ref name="Cyclopaedia" /><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" />
Early life and education
Munro was born in West River, Nova Scotia, on November 12, 1825.<ref name="Cyclopaedia">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=":1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He was the fourth of ten or twelve children,<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> to parents John Munro and Mary Mathieson.<ref name=":1" />
Aged 12,<ref name="Cyclopaedia" /><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3">Template:Cite book</ref> Munro became an apprentice at a local newspaper known as The Observer.<ref name="Cyclopaedia" /><ref name=":0" /> He left to continue his education in New Glasgow from 1839 to 1842, thereafter becoming a teacher.<ref name="Cyclopaedia" /><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> In 1844, Munro enrolled at the Pictou Academy.<ref name="Cyclopaedia" /><ref name=":1" />
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.<ref name="Cyclopaedia" /><ref name=":1" />
In 1850, Munro moved to Halifax, where he taught natural philosophy and mathematics at the Free Church Academy.<ref name="Cyclopaedia" /><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":3" /> He was appointed as Rector two years later.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" /> He completed a course in theology,<ref name="Cyclopaedia" /> and intended to enter ordained ministry.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" /> According to one rumour, Munro "preached one sermon and made a solemn vow never to renew the ordeal".<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Publishing industry
In October 1856, Munro moved to New York City.<ref name=":0" /> He first worked for D. Appleton & Company,<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4" /> where he was involved in mail order and distribution for British magazines and books. In 1862, he moved to Ross and Tousey,<ref name=":1" /> which would become the American News Company.<ref name="Cyclopaedia" /><ref name=":2">Template:Cite news</ref> At this time, Munro began to grow interested in publishing dime novels: reprints of popular works in cheap journals.<ref name="Cyclopaedia" /><ref name=":2" />
Between 1863 and 1866, Munro worked for Beadle and Company.<ref name=":1" /> He entered a brief partnership with Irwin Beadle, brother of Erastus Flavel Beadle, a pioneer of pulp fiction;<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> Munro became the company's sole owner a year later.<ref name=":0" />
In 1867, Munro began to publish the Fireside Companion, his own weekly story-paper.<ref name="Cyclopaedia" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /> This was his first notable success, with readers and contributors in Nova Scotia.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" />
Seaside Library
In May 1877,<ref name="Cyclopaedia" /> Munro began publishing the Seaside Library, a low-cost weekly journal reprinting novels,<ref name="Cyclopaedia" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /> beginning with East Lynne by Henry Wood.<ref name="Cyclopaedia" /> The name imitated Lakeside Library, a rival journal published by R.R. Donnelley;<ref name=":1" /> Munro would later buy the publication.<ref name="Cyclopaedia" />
In time, Seaside Library expanded to include history, biography, travel, and religious works.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" /> It was popular, with up to eighteen numbers weekly, totalling over 3,000 numbers over the course of the journal's life.<ref name="Cyclopaedia" /> In 1881, the Seaside Library published its thousandth number: the Revised New Testament, with Constantin von Tischendorf's introduction.<ref name="Cyclopaedia" />
Seaside Library is credited for improving the accessibility and affordability of literature in the United States.<ref name="Cyclopaedia" /><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> Like his contemporaries publishing before the advent of international copyright laws, Munro did not pay royalties to authors he republished.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" /> Munro invested his wealth from the publication in a large printing plant and New York real estate.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4" />
Philanthropy
In 1879, Munro made a substantial donation to Dalhousie University.<ref name="Cyclopaedia" /> His brother-in-law, John Forrest, was a member of the Board of Governors,<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> while Munro's son, George William, had studied there between 1874 and 1878.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" /> 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.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":6" /> 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.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" /> The university had only began to operate continuously in 1963.<ref name=":1" />
Munro's first endowed chair was the chair of Physics, which was awarded to James Gordon MacGregor.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" /> 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.<ref name=":6">Template:Cite DCB</ref> 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.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" /> The salaries attached to these chairs, ranging from $2,000 to $2,500, were twice those of regional professionals.<ref name=":1" />
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Munro also supported tutorships and scholarships at Dalhousie University across a range of subjects.<ref name="Cyclopaedia" /><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":3" /> 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.<ref name=":1" /> 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.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" />
At the time of his death in 1896, Munro's annual donations to Dalhousie University amounted to $25,000.<ref name="Cyclopaedia" /> He had donated a total of $500,000 over the course of his life (about $8 million in 1999).<ref name="Cyclopaedia" /><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /> 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.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" />
Munro was also a benefactor of the City University of New York,<ref name=":2" /> where he was a member of the Board of Governors,<ref name=":1" /> to Halifax's Citizens' Free Library, to the reading-room of the Amalgamated Trades Union,<ref name=":1" /> and to his church: he was a "liberal-minded Presbyterian".<ref name=":2" />
Personal life
He married his first wife, Rachel Warren (1825-1863) in 1855. They had two daughters who both died young: M. Florence (1856–1857) and Emily E. (1858–1859). They also had at least one son, George William (1860–1923).<ref name=":1" />
In 1864, he married second to Catherine Forrest (1835–1912).<ref name=":1" /> They had two sons and two daughters.<ref name="Cyclopaedia" />
Death
Munro died from heart failure in Pine Hill, New York, on April 23, 1896,<ref name="Cyclopaedia" /><ref name=":2" /> while attending repairs at his country home in the Catskills.<ref name=":2" />
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.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4" /> It became tradition for students to sleigh-ride along the Bedford Basin on the holiday, followed by a fancy dinner;<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":5">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> winter sports are still associated with the day.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5" /> Over the course of the university's history, other activities associated with Munro Day included varsity games, musical performances, and ice skating.<ref name=":4" />