The Shaw School lettering instruction manual, J. E. H. MacDonald, 1913

In 1892, W. Henry Shaw founded the Central Business College in the Forum Building at Yonge and Gerrard Streets, Toronto. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, before most schools began offering courses in commercial art and lettering, the Shaw Correspondence School provided lessons in both subjects by mail. Shaw had many well-known artists on their staff, including future Group of Seven co-founder and member J. E. H. MacDonald, who had joined the school in 1909 and was supervisor of the Art Department. He wrote and illustrated the lessons and marked student work and examination papers. MacDonald was with Shaw for fifteen years before moving to the Ontario College of Art.

References

Robert Stacey, with research by Hunter Bishop, J. E. H. MacDonald, Designer, An Anthology of Graphic Design, Illustration and Lettering (Ottawa: Carleton University Press, 1996). Robert Stacey (1949–2007) was an important writer and historian of early design, printing, and posters in Canada, and the author of The Canadian Poster Book (Toronto: Methuen & Co., 1979).