Deane Russell
← People of the Society · on record 1950–1989
This is the Society’s own record of Deane Russell. A biography: The Society's First President →
The Society’s records
Everything the Society’s own records say of Deane Russell: the offices held, the standings conferred, and the awards won. Where the records are silent, so is this part of the page.
Also recorded as Deane H. Russell
Standing
Life Member 1989
Certification
- Fellow of the CSCL 1953
- Honorary Fellow of the CSCL 1954
Printed in both newsletters as “Deane H. Russell”; the roll gives the same man as “Deane Russell”. Distinct from his 1953 standing (listed separately above): a separate honour, “Honorary Life Fellowship”.
An early contributor to the newsletter at the Society's founding in 1950. He wrote “Handcraft Activities in Canada” for Craft Horizons in 1942 and “Handcrafts for Canadians” for Food for Thought in 1950 (see Members in print).
From Winter 2011–2012, page 2.
Served the Society as
- President 1950–1954
- Editor 1951–1954
- Workshop Conference Demonstrator (Kirkland Lake) 1952
- Executive Council 1954–1958
Honours
- Honorary Life Fellowship 1954
Made at the close of the annual business meeting to the retiring President, the Society’s first President and the founding Editor of Canadian Leathercraft. The newsletter called it "the highest award our Society can give" and recorded the meeting’s agreement that his contribution "in helping to organize and carry on our Society merited such recognition", work "often carried on at a personal sacrifice". The 1962 Annual Meeting address confirms the year and the reason: an Honorary Life Fellow Membership presented in 1954 "for his contribution in organizing this Society", the presidency held "for the first four years of its existence". (Elsewhere, a misprint turns his given name into "Leave"; it is Deane.)
Awards
- 1st Canadian International Hobby Show Popular Vote 1953
- International Assembly Salon Exhibit Honor Award 1957
- M'Lady Fair Popular Vote 1952
- Shoe and Leather Fair Public Preference Poll, 2nd place (tied) 1952
Demonstrations given
- Leather tray making, a demonstration and workshop period 1953
4th AnnualFrom Summer 1953, page 1.
Where this comes from
- September 1951
- Summer 1952
- Winter 1952–53
- Spring 1953
- Summer 1953
- Winter 1953–54
- Spring 1954
- Summer 1954
- Autumn 1954
- Autumn 1955
- Spring 1956
- Autumn 1956
- Winter 1956–57
- Spring 1957
- Summer 1957
- Autumn 1957
- Winter 1957–58
- Spring 1962
- Spring 1990
- Winter 1996–97
- Winter 2011–2012
- 40th Annual Meeting 1990: programme, Elmhurst Inn, Ingersoll
- List of Associates and Fellows, c. 1985
- Society membership list, 1989
Life and work
- Work
- In 1942 he was Secretary of the federal Inter-Departmental Committee on Canadian Handicrafts; his letter of 28 February 1942 to Helen I. Drummond, Secretary of the Canadian Handicrafts Guild, about an exhibition of Polish-Canadian handicraft at the National Gallery, survives in La Guilde's archives, Montreal (ref. C14 D1 062 1942), with her reply of 2 March 1942.
From La Guilde, 'From Coast to Coast: The Collective Construction of Canadian Character', c. 2022, https://laguilde.com/en/blogs/saviez-vous-que/caractere-canadien.
- Art
- A ‘Deane H. Russell of Ottawa’ surveyed outdoor writers, woodsmen and sportsmen across Canada on what a modern outdoor knife needed. With knifemaker Rudolf Grohmann of Pictou, Nova Scotia, he then designed the D.H. Russell Canadian Belt Knife, field-tested by northern hunters and trappers and in production since 1957, followed by further models.
From Grohmann company history, as published by retailers, n.d., accessed 20 October 2026, https://heimerdingercutlery.com/product/d-h-russell-belt-knife-r1s/.
- Collections
- The Museum of Modern Art, New York, holds ‘Hunting Knife’ (1958), designer Deane Russell, maker Grohmann Knives Ltd., Pictou — steel and wood, 8½ in, gift of the manufacturer, object no. 269.1962 (Architecture & Design).
From Museum of Modern Art, collection record, accessed 20 October 2026, https://www.moma.org/collection/works/3149.
- Carleton University's xDX design collection holds a Russell Belt Knife and Sheath (2019.CU.DX.00055; design date 1957; carbon steel, rosewood and oil-tanned polished cowhide; made by Grohmann Knives) with Deane H. Russell as designer. The record says the knife won the 1958 National Industrial Design Council (NIDC) Design Award and was shown in the Canadian Pavilion at the 1958 Brussels World's Fair, and names a further copy at the Canadian War Museum. Its entry for him gives born 1911, Ottawa, secretary of the Committee on Canadian Handicrafts 1941–1944, and private secretary to Prime Minister Mackenzie King (third term).
From Carleton University, School for Studies in Art and Culture, SSAC Collections: 'Knife and Sheath' and entity record 'Deane H. Russell' (CU.ENT.00158), accessed 20 October 2026, https://collections.ssac.carleton.ca/index.php/Detail/objects/2914.
- In the press
- The Toronto Star reported his re-election as President, and his Fellowship, at the 1953 Annual Meeting at the Ryerson Institute of Technology.
From “Leathercraft Body Holds Annual Meet”, the Toronto Star, 19 June 1953, p. 30.