McLuhan and Carlton Williams were in the same year at Kelvin Technical High School in the mid 1920s. Displays include:
- KTHS yearbook cover for 1927-1928
- Pages from the yearbook of McLuhan’s and Williams’ classes with student pictures
The two then attended the University of Manitoba together.
- Pages from the University of Manitoba yearbook with graduation pictures of McLuhan and Williams
In the 1950s McLuhan and Williams were University of Toronto professors, McLuhan in English and Williams in Psychology. They were two of the 5 faculty group leading the Culture and Communication seminar between 1953 and 1955.
- Blowup of Explorations journal page listing the seminar’s 5 faculty leaders
It was Williams who instigated the notion of ‘auditory space’ (McLuhan’s ‘acoustic space’) in a seminar session in 1954:
- Blowup of journal page showing Williams’ article on ‘Auditory Space’ in Explorations 4
- Blowup of the blog post McLuhan & Williams on discovering ‘auditory space’
Williams became part of the University of Toronto administration and then President of the University of Western Ontario ( now Western University). His biography from the Western website:
McLuhan and Williams remained close friends until McLuhan’s death at the end of 1980. Williams’ obituary of McLuhan is included in the memorial volume Who Was Marshall McLuhan:
- Audio from Williams’ oral history recollections is featured throughout