Matters of Mind: The University in Ontario, 1791-1951. Toronto: University of Toronto Press / Ontario Historical Studies Series, 1994). pp. 716.
“Matters of Mind is first-rate history served up by a penetrating, mature scholar with a profound grasp of the evolution of Canadian intellectual and social trends. The range of sources used is astounding, and the content throughout clearly and effectively expressed, thoughtfully organized, and carefully interpreted. This study is a monumental contribution to the history of both Ontario and higher education in Canada. Francis Bacon once wrote, ‘Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.’ McKillop’s Matters is one of the third kind, a book ‘to be read wholly and with diligence and attention.’ The rewards are great.” – Canadian Historical Review
“…a valuable contribution to the literature on higher education in Ontario. In addition, it provides a perspective that illuminates current concerns about the future of the institution. What a pity it can’t be required reading for all our university presidents, deans, premiers, and ministers of higher education.” – Ontario History
"McKillop provides a masterly analysis of the development of the academic disciplines ... and of the emergence of a uniquely Canadian academic culture. Matters of Mind is required reading for anyone who wants to understand the Canadian university." – Canadian Book Review Annual
“Monumental…. Victorianists interested in cultural and intellectual history, education and related issues will find this fascinating study to be of great value.” – Victorian Studies Association Newsletter
“Every participant in the heated debates over university rationalization should be required to read this wonderful, lengthy history of the university system in Ontario… Brian McKillop has read everything, thought about it, and offered it up in clear prose with occasional flashes of dry humour. … McKillop wants someone else to write the history of the Ontario university from 1951 to the present. What a pity!” – Church History
“This is an important book … a splendid, pioneering synthesis of Ontario university history….an accomplishment that cannot be praised too highly. Matters of Mind richly deserves to win a scholarly prize or two.” – American Historical Review
"McKillop gives sustained attention to what was included--and what was not--in the teaching of subjects such as theology, classics, history, English, political science, law, medicine, engineering, business, psychology, and sociology. His insights reveal the imperatives that shaped these disciplines, and others, in distinctively Canadian ways." -- CAUT Bulletin
“This is a first-rate book on an important subject …. The volume deserves to be owned and read, whether the buyer be a professor, an historian of universities, a politician, an administrator, a student, or that most elusive of creatures – a ‘general reader.’ … It is a remarkable achievement.” – Ontario Journal of Higher Education
“[McKillop’s] clear, luminous writing is a feat in itself. What might have been an unwieldy, lumpish compilation, …has here become a thoroughly useful book … a considerable achievement.” – Paedagogica Historica
“With Matters of Mind, Brian McKillop has produced an original and important contribution to the field of higher education history…. He has created a unique model that will inspire others.” – Historical Studies in Education/Revue d’histoire de l’education
