The Society’s Records

Robert Muma

← People of the Society · on record 1947–1992

Everything the Society’s own records say of Robert Muma — the offices held, the standings conferred, and the awards won — gathered on one page. Where the records are silent, so is this one.

This is the Society’s own record of Robert Muma. A biography: Charter Member, 1950 →

In memoriam · 22 February 1993

Charter member of the Society, master bookbinder, and long-time chair of its Teaching Standards Committee; namesake of the award for best tooled or coloured piece, first presented months after his death. The Society's adieu was printed in the Spring 1993 newsletter. The 43rd Annual's own Membership Report gives the exact date, 22 February 1993 (the 1993 Annual Meeting booklet p.6).

From Spring 1993, page 3.

Also recorded as Bob Muma

Standing

Life Member 1989

Certification

Fellow of the CSCL 1953
Honorary Fellow of the CSCL 1962
Printed as an Honorary Life Fellow Membership.

A Charter Member of the Society and, with his wife Dorothy, one of its founding figures; an early Treasurer and long-time chair of its Teaching Standards Committee. A world-renowned master bookbinder. Six pieces chosen for “Ontario Crafts – Leather Today”, the Society’s Centennial travelling exhibition: a gold-tooled box, a handmoulded jug, a napkin ring, a candle holder, a calf-bound book (Holy Flame) and a guest book. The Canadian Guild of Crafts (Ontario) selected the articles; the exhibition opened at the Guild Shop on 2 October 1967 and was to travel across Canada during 1968. The Robert Muma Award, for the best coloured piece, is named for him; his leather art is preserved online at mumart.ca. He wrote five articles for The Leather Craftsman in 1958–59 and one for the Journal of the Guild of Book Workers (1969–70), and published Color in Leathercraft (1954) and the four books of Mumart Tooling and Carving Designs (1956) (see Members in print on the Links page).

From Summer 1972, page 8; The History of the Canadian Society for Creative Leathercraft — its own short account, page 1; Carol McLean — some memories of the Society, in a letter, page 1; Fall 1952, page 12; and Fall 1967, page 9.

Served the Society as

Secretary-Treasurer 1950
Treasurer 1950–1952
Vice-President 1954
2nd Assembly Demonstrator 1955
2nd Assembly Panel of Experts 1955
Executive Council 1955–1965
Teaching Standards 1956–1992
1st Eastern Regional Meeting Panel of Experts 1958
Council 1961
Historian 1967–1971
Teaching Standards Chairman 1968
Archivist 1973–1979
Archivist & Teaching Standards 1974
Archivist and Teaching Standards 1978
Chairman of Standards Committee 1984

Honours

Honorary Life Fellow Membership 1962
The second of the two Honorary Life Fellowships presented at the 1962 Annual Meeting, in Dr. Ralph K. Larmour's address. "Mr. Robert Muma has been a great asset to the Society since its founding. His advice is always sought, and it is usually right." The citation names his influence as a teacher and practitioner and his own specialty, bookbinding, which "has added lustre to the meaning of this Society".
Canadian Handicrafts Guild Women's Committee Scholarship 1959
The first scholarship the Women's Committee of the Canadian Handicrafts Guild awarded to a craftsman, value $500, presented at its annual meeting of 29 October 1959. Announced in the newsletter by Anne Hook, F.C.S.C.L. The Society's fortieth-anniversary history records the consequence: from this time Muma devoted his full time to bookbinding and operated his own studio in Toronto.
Honorary Membership, Canadian Crafts Council 1977
Declared the winner for Ontario of an honorary membership in the Canadian Crafts Council, at its conference and annual general meeting of 1977. Joan Chalmers read the tribute at the awards dinner; the Ontario Crafts Council printed it in Craft News that November and the Society reprinted it in full.

Awards

1st Canadian International Hobby Show Popular Vote 1953
C.N.E. First Prize 1947
C.N.E. Second Prize 1947
Canadian Handicrafts Guild Competition Best In Show 1958
Canadian Handicrafts Guild Competition First Prize 1956–1957
Canadian Handicrafts Guild Competition Honourable Mention 1956–1957
Craftsman Ribbon 1970
International Assembly Salon Exhibit Honor Award 1957
International Assembly Salon Exhibit Honorable Mention 1959
Lewiscraft Award, C.N.E. 1949
P.N.E. Bronze Medal 1948
P.N.E. First Prize 1948
Salon Award 1967
Second CNE Hobby and Homecraft Show Public Preference Poll, Small Articles, 5th place 1954
Shoe and Leather Fair Public Preference Poll, 2nd place (tied) 1952
Shoe and Leather Fair Public Preference Poll, 5th place 1952

Demonstrations given

Gold tooling 1956
CSCL Exhibition, Ryerson Institute of Technology, Toronto, October 1956
From Autumn 1956, page 12.
Gold stamping 1959
9th Annual
From Spring 1959, page 4.

Where this comes from

This name in the index of people →