Associate and Fellow — how the Society raised a member

The Society had two ranks above ordinary membership, Associate and Fellow, and it explained them to its members over and over for nearly forty years — in circulars, in reminders before every Annual Meeting, and in the full statements of requirement it reprinted whenever a new generation of members arrived. Those notices were never gathered. This page gathers them, and names the issue and page for every claim. The sixteen names of 1953 are set out below.

The final count, 1951–2026

140 members hold a certification in the Society’s surviving records: 48 Fellows, 125 Associates and 14 honorary elections. 39 members appear in both lists, having gone on from Associate to Fellow. Sixteen were raised in the first year the ranks were conferred, 1953; the whole-life figures are counted from the Society’s own roll of Fellows and Associates, which names every one of them.

• Announced to members in September 1951, in a circular titled “Qualifications for Membership in the Canadian Society of Creative Leathercraft”
• The first eight Fellows and first eight Associates were chosen by confidential ballot of the Executive and Council and named in the Spring 1953 newsletter
• Those eight Fellows formed the Society’s first Board of Selection, at the Fourth Annual Meeting in 1953
• The requirements were first printed in full in Summer 1954 and were still being reprinted, almost word for word, in 1971, 1979 and 1988
• Work was judged by a point system: for Associate standing workmanship outweighed design, and for Fellowship design outweighed workmanship

The ranks announced, September 1951

The first the membership at large heard of a formal rating was in the first issue of the newsletter. Under “Two Important Announcements”, the Society gave notice that its travelling exhibition “Canadian Handmades in Leather” would tour from January 1952, and added that “The Board of Selection will be glad to review entries for the special ratings required for Associate and Fellow membership ranks in the Society.” The second announcement was the circular itself: “A special circular, entitled ‘Qualifications for Membership in the Canadian Society of Creative Leathercraft’ will soon be mailed to all registered General Members of the Society.” (September 1951, page 8.) The circular does not survive in this collection; what survives is everything the newsletter afterwards printed of its contents.

The first sixteen, spring 1953

“Eight members of CSCL have the honor to be chosen as the first group of Fellows in the Society; and eight members have been chosen as the first group of Associates in the Society.” The method was a borrowed one: “Fellows and Associates were decided in a confidential vote, suggested by the Canadian Arts Council as being used in other societies for a like purpose.” Each member of the Executive and Executive Council submitted a list of candidates; the Secretary compiled the most-mentioned names; that list went back to each member for a confidential vote of eight and eight. (Spring 1953, page 2.)

The newsletter quoted the clause of the Constitution that governed the choice: “Qualifications for Associate and Fellow Membership shall be based on meritorious achievement in the craft, and active participation in furthering the objectives of the Society, which include: — to encourage originality of design — to establish high standards of craftsmanship — to advance education in the art — to participate in exhibitions.”

Two spellings on that page differ from the register. The paper reads SURGENOR, Irene, confirmed by a close look at the original, where the undated c. 1985 list of Associates and Fellows reads Surgener, and the register now follows the paper. The last line reads VILLMANN, Iiva, while both the 1975 retrospective and the c. 1985 list read Villman, Irva; that one is left as it stands, recorded as a difference rather than resolved.

The same page set the next intake in motion: “Fellows will be asked to sit on the first Board of Selection at the forthcoming Annual Meeting, when work will be received from other members for further Fellow or Associate rating. Members are invited to submit two small and two large leathercraft projects of high standard.” Submissions went to Mrs R. K. Larmour, 59 High Park Boulevard, prepaid, not later than 1 June. (Spring 1953, page 2.)

This page corrects the register. Until now the only source for the 1953 elections was that undated c. 1985 list, which records all sixteen as Associates — so the Society’s eight founding Fellows appeared nowhere as Fellows. Two sources of the Society’s own say otherwise and agree with each other: the newsletter of Spring 1953, printed at the time, and the Council of Fellows history in Spring 1975, page 12, which repeats both lists name for name. The eight are now recorded as Fellows from 1953.

What the ratings required, 1954

“Our Annual Meeting agreed that requirements for the two higher membership awards, Associate and Fellow, should be published in this issue of ‘Canadian Leathercraft’, so that all members might be aware of these requirements and work towards them.” Associate membership asked for not less than three years’ satisfactory practice of leathercraft; demonstrated ability to produce work of a high standard of craftsmanship, “originality of design not essential”; approval by the Board of Selection of submitted work — “(a) handbag or other large article; (b) belt, and (c) two other optional”, with any pieces already accepted for C.S.C.L. exhibitions counting; and two years’ service to the Society. (Summer 1954, page 4.)

Fellow membership asked for at least one year as an Associate, three years’ service, wide experience, meritorious achievement, work accepted for three C.S.C.L. showings, and “original design in all submitted work”. Service was defined by the same four objectives as the Constitution clause. (Summer 1954, page 4.)

That statement had a hole in it, and the Winter 1954 issue said so: “there was one omission in this list of requirements, and that is the number of articles required to be submitted for Fellowship rating. These are the same as for Associate standing (Handbag or other large article, Belt, Two other optional) but must be of original design. Original design is not necessary when applying for Associate rating.” Work had to reach the Judging Committee before 15 April, and application forms came from the Secretary, Mrs. Louise Smyth, 40 Strathmore Blvd., Toronto. (Winter 1954, page 11.)

The deadline moved with the Annual Meeting and the newsletter chased it every year: 15 March in 1955 (Winter 1955, page 8), 31 March in 1961 (Winter 1961, page 4), 23 March in 1963 (Winter 1963, page 2). By 1961 the address to write to was Mrs. Nora Huyck, R.R. 3, Newmarket.

How the work was judged

Judging was done by the Board of Selection, “which is the working body of the Council of Fellows”, with at least three qualified judges each working independently. Each article was scored 1 to 5 on design, workmanship, and appearance and suitability, and the newsletter translated the scale for judges used to marking out of a hundred: more than 80 is excellent and scores 5, more than 60 is very good and scores 4, and so down. The three scores were then weighted — and the weights are the clearest statement anywhere of what the two ranks meant.

For Associate standing: “Design multiplied by 6, Workmanship multiplied by 12 and the Appearance and Suitability multiplied by 2.” For Fellowship: “the design is more important than the workmanship. The weighting then is as follows — Design multiplied by 12, Workmanship multiplied by 6”, and appearance and suitability by 2. (Winter 1961, page 7 — the last figure is struck through in print and reads as a letter; it is given here as 2, the value that makes the two weightings sum alike.)

The pass mark was absolute rather than comparative. “The minimum passing mark for each article is 75 marks” for Associate, and 80 on each of the four for Fellow, all four having to qualify (Summer 1971, pages 8–9). A candidate who failed on one piece kept the credit for the other three and could submit a replacement the next year, when “ONLY the 4th piece is juried on that second attempt” (Spring 1985, page 4). The Chairman of Fellows, Fred Brown, explained the sheets to the Toronto Branch that spring: general competition work was scored out of ten on design and workmanship equally, but “the 4 pieces entered for approval by the Fellows, to achieve the standing of ‘Associate’ are judged on a different point system”, design multiplied by 7 and workmanship by 13.

The Council of Fellows

“The Fellows formed the First Board of Selection at the Fourth Annual Meeting — 1953. Theirs was the responsibility of establishing and maintaining the standards of the craft.” In 1956 a meeting fixed the powers and duties of the Council of Fellows: to be responsible for the standards of the craft; to appoint annually a Chairman to represent it on the Executive Council and award professional Diplomas at the Annual Meeting; to appoint a Secretary; and to appoint the Board of Selection. “The Council of Fellows shall be independent of the Executive Council and serve as final authority in all matters pertaining to the standards of the craft.” (Spring 1975, page 12.)

The requirements as they settled

By 1971 the statement had reached the form it kept. Associate: three years’ practice; two years’ service, “e.g. helping with exhibitions, sales, writing for the Bulletin, serving on executives (local, national or international), getting new members for the Society”; four articles — a handbag or other large article involving gusset construction, a belt of 6 or 8 oz. leather, and two optional pieces chosen “to show specific techniques”; and 75 marks on each. Copied designs were allowed but “should bear some stamp of the individuality of the craftsman”. Fellow: a year as an Associate and three years’ service; four articles, two large and two small, “all of different function, size and treatment”, none of them a piece submitted for Associate; 80 marks on each; all work original, with “commercial or copied patterns” forbidden; and one thing more — “Candidate shall submit an article, not necessarily technical, for publication in Canadian Leathercraft”. (Summer 1971, pages 8–9.)

The same text was reprinted in Spring 1979, pages 7–8, and again in Fall 1988, pages 2–3, where it opens the issue’s table of contents. In January 1983 the Chairman of Fellows, Fred Brown, sent it round once more with a note that “advancement to these categories takes time and effort” (Winter 1982/83, page 1).

What is not here

The circular of 1951 itself, and the application forms and scoring sheets the notices refer to, are not in this collection. Neither is a complete list of who qualified in which year: the newsletter announced new Associates and Fellows from the platform of the Annual Meeting — eleven Associates in spring 1961, Sadie Roebuck and Janis Zalitis as Fellows in 1962, Helen Wheaton as a Fellow in 1965 — and those notices are scattered through forty years of issues. Reading them all would date the 131 ratings that at present rest on one undated list; that work has not been done.

The two ranks, into the twenty-first century

Everything above comes from the newsletters, 1951–1990. What follows comes from two later kinds of source: the Society's own quarterly newsletter, posted rather than mailed from the 2000s on, and the Council of Fellows' own reports and judging sheets, posted to the Society's document archive from 2021. No election of a new Associate or Fellow survives in this collection between 1990 and 2019 — this archive's newsletter holdings are thin for those years, not evidence that no one qualified.

The last election the newsletters recorded, 1990

The 40th Annual, reported in the Spring 1990 newsletter, is the last election to either rank this collection holds from that run of newsletters. Betsy Rennie — a member for eight years, a leathercrafter for ten, an Associate since 1988, and a contributor of Craftsman and Salon ribbon-winning pieces, entries at U.S. competitions and articles for both the Newsletter and “The Leathercraftsman” — was raised to Fellow and welcomed to the Council of Fellows. Clifford McTavish and Rene Hackstetter were admitted Associate the same year; McTavish's marks were the highest of the year's Associates, which won him the Zalitis Pin. (Spring 1990, page 4.)

The write-ups of the new Fellow and Associates, and that issue's Weston Trophy critiques, were submitted by Dorothy Muma, FCSCL. (Summer 1990, page 5.)

Two names in the Society's own newsletter, 2019

The Spring 2019 newsletter's report of the 69th Annual, hosted by the Norland Branch, names both under “New Associate New Fellow”: Richard Borrow to Associate and Lester Pinter to Fellow. (Canadian Leathercraft, Spring 2019, page 4.)

The next issue gave Pinter's Fellowship a full page, submitted by Lauch Harrison, FCSCL. The Fellows gathered in Hamilton ahead of the 2019 Annual to judge his application; rather than the usual four pieces, Pinter brought a suitcase of more than ten and let the Fellows choose among a fully rigged and decorated Western saddle, a set of decorated longhorns, a leather vest, chaps, spurs and straps, belts, purses and a stool seat, most of it Western floral carving and stamping. His account traces the style to his own life: born in Budapest, raised in Winnipeg, leatherwork begun through Boy Scouting, a dental-technology training that led into fine carving and silver work, and a later move to a ranch in the Calgary foothills. He recalled an early rejection from The Craftsman Magazine, which judged one of his designs too close to a kit — and later saw a stranger on a bus carrying a purse made from that same pattern. The judges scored his submission 94.5%, “one of the highest seen in many years,” and the Society welcomed Lester F. Pinter to the Fellowship. (Canadian Leathercraft, Spring 2020, pages 4–5.)

Judging goes virtual, 2021–2025

The pandemic moved the Council of Fellows' own Annual judging onto Zoom, and its reports to the Annual Meeting — now typed and posted rather than printed in a newsletter — are this page's only source from here on.

For 2021, the Fellows met twice by Zoom: once to set the terms of a First Virtual Annual Competition, once to judge it. Members emailed photographs of their work, which were posted to Google Photos albums; five judges — Lauch Harrison, Sean Dalgetty, Betsy Rennie, Kim Winchester and Karen — scored each entry 0 to 5 on their own systems, and the scores were averaged. Twenty-six entries came from eight members, three General Members and five Fellows; thirteen won Craft certificates and twelve Salon certificates. The Irva Ford Award for Best Moulding went to Tammy Paddon, the Robert Muma Award for Best Tooling or Colouring to Gregory Belenky, Best Hard Sculpture to Kim Winchester and the Woodstock Heritage Award to Sean Dalgetty; Gregory Belenky's Abduction of Proserpine took Best General Member's Piece, and Eugene Pik's Red Oxford Shoes took both Best Fellow's Piece and Best in Show. (Council of Fellows Report for the 2021 Annual Meeting.)

For 2022, a photo competition was scored out of ten by four judges — Betsy Rennie, Karen, Sean Dalgetty and Kim Winchester. Their own scoresheet names Cranes Best in Show, a Book Cover Best Member, The Three Graces Best Moulding and a Blue Snake Skin Watch Strap Best Novice. (Judging for 2022 Annual.) The Council of Fellows’ report of the same judging, which records what the Society awarded, gives Best in Show and Best General Member Entry to Cranes Purse, the Woodstock Heritage Award to the Book Cover, the Betty Heacock Memorial Award to the watch band, the Robert Muma Award to Ocean Treasure Purse, and no moulding award. (Fellows Report May 2022.)

For 2023, the Fellows again met twice by Zoom for a third Virtual Annual Competition, three judges this time — Lauch Harrison, Kim Winchester and Karen — scoring out of ten. Eleven entries came from three General Members; the report notes plainly that there were no entries at all to the Branch Competition (the Weston Trophy) and none for Associate or Fellow consideration that year. (Council of Fellows Report for the 2023 Annual Meeting.) A separate, in-person judging was held at the Annual itself, 2 June 2023 at the Visitors Inn, Hamilton, by Lauch Harrison, Nancy Durham, Kim Winchester and Sean Dalgetty, covering entries from four branches — Hamilton, Members-at-Large, Mississauga and Norland. Kim Winchester's Fish Skin Pocketbook won Best Fish Skin and the Robert Muma Award for colour; Tammy Grey's Buckstitch Purse took Best in Show. (Report for Judging Annual Competition, June 2, 2023.)

For 2024, judging was in person again, 3 May at the Ramada Inn, Lindsay, by Sean Dalgetty and Lauch Harrison, covering three General Members and four Fellows. Kim Winchester's Black Gloves with Lining took Best in Show, the Michigan Soft Leather award and Best Fellow Member; Jim Wilkes's Bison picture took Best General Member. (Report for CSCL Judging Annual Competition, May 3, 2024.)

For 2025, the Council's own report calls it “the fifth iteration of the Virtual Annual” and is signed by Sean Dalgetty and Lauch Harrison; Greg Belenky's Lady Godiva took Best in Show, the Robert Muma Award and a Salon Ribbon, scored 10 out of 10, with further Craft Ribbons to Julien Jans and Bob Richardson and three to Lauch Harrison himself. (Report for Judging the Virtual Annual Competition, and the Letter to Virtual Entries, both April 2025.)

Both surviving copies of the 2025 report date the judges' meeting “April 26” and describe the competition as closing “April 24, 2024” — a year out of step with the meeting date beside it, and the same wording, unchanged, that closes the 2024 invitation. The Society's own invitation to the 2025 Virtual Competition, separately, opens it 3 April and closes it 24 April 2025. The entries, scores and winners named above are given under 2025, the year the report and its title carry; the date inside the text is reproduced here as printed, not corrected.

No notice of a revision to the judging point system itself — the weighted marks for design, workmanship, and appearance and suitability described above from 1961 — has been found in the newsletters or documents read for 1989 to 2025. The virtual competitions of 2021 to 2025 score out of 5 or 10 rather than the historical 1-to-5 scale multiplied by rank, and none of the surviving reports explains the change or says whether it applies to Associate and Fellow judging itself, as opposed to the general Craft and Salon competition.

Written for this archive from the Society's own notices, 1951–1990, and from the Society's own posted newsletters and Council of Fellows reports, 2019–2025. Every page quoted is linked from the newsletter archive or the document archive. Where the original and the later lists differ, the difference is stated above rather than smoothed away.

Sources

Sept 1951“Two Important Announcements”, page 8Spring 1953The first eight Fellows and eight Associates, page 2Summer 1954The requirements printed in full, page 4Summer 1971The point system, pages 8–9Fall 1988The requirements reprinted, pages 2–3