Reminder- Archival research skills for grad students workshop
Posted on October 18, 2011 @8:41 am by sromkey
There is still room to register for the Rare Books and Special Collections workshop for graduate students on archival research skills on Friday Oct. 21 at noon-2 pm. Designed for beginners, this workshop will cover the basics of archival research and organization, and finish with some hands-on examples from the collections at UBC Library. This workshop will be held in the Rare Books and Special Collections division of the library, Room 110 in the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre.
Please note that participants will be asked to leave their coats and bags in lockers when they arrive; notepads and pencils are provided, or feel free to bring a laptop.
This is a great opportunity for new grads, or those who have been to Rare Books and Special Collections or other archives in the past but would like a refresher.
Click here to register.
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Updated archives: John Keenlyside Legal Research Collection
Posted on October 14, 2011 @3:46 pm by sromkey
We are pleased to announce that additional material is now available in the John Keenlyside Legal Research Collection. This collection is consists of primary documents related to the legal history in British Columbia, and is particularly strong in colonial documents. The most recent addition to this collection contains three different series of documents:
Bankruptcy cases: Documents from the provincial bankruptcy court, dating from 1863-1883, reflecting the post-Gold Rush economic strain felt in this province. The documents are organized into files according to the person or company in question, and are primarily legal documents such as affidavits, deeds, wills and summons. Also included in some of the files are supporting documents, such as the manuscript map below of Graham Island, which is part of a file dating from 1865 regarding the Queen Charlotte Mining Company:
Map of Graham Island, File 8-23
Colonial documents of British Columbia: This series contains mostly correspondence, but also legal documents related to interactions in the court system. These documents reflect not only legal matters in B.C., but also the social and economic aspects of colonial life. For example, the document below is from a set of correspondence describing the courtship of a B.C. missionary’s daughter and steamship builder from Portland:
Letter from William Gray to daughter Caroline (Carrie), File 9-32
Supreme Court of Civil Justice claims: This series contains three files related to claims made at the Supreme Court of Civil Justice, which was originally established as the Inferior Court of Civil Justice in 1857 to deal with petty claims in Victoria. All three files contain summons documents, and pertain to debts owed to people or businesses, such as the summons document below:
Summons to Supreme Court of Civil Justice, File 9-37
To see the finding aid for this collection, please consult the catalogue record. For help using archival collections (including links to tutorials to help you learn to read old handwriting!) please see our Archival Material Research Guide.
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Featured place: Stewart
Posted on October 13, 2011 @1:43 pm by sromkey
Our featured place this week is Stewart B.C., which is a border town near the end of the Portland canal and the border of Alaska. Forestry and mining are the two main industries of the area, mining being what prompted white settlers to the area in 1898. The Nisga’a First Nation called the Stewart area Skam-A-Kounst, meaning “safe house” or “strong house.” Stewart is named for the Stewart brothers from Victoria, who held interests in a number of mines in the area at the turn of the century.
The featured item from Stewart is from our B.C. Historical Photograph Collection and shows a tram at one of mines in Stewart:
BC1538, Head of Porter-Idaho tram
This snowy photograph was taken in 1933 at the Porter-Idaho mine. This aerial tram line was built in 1928 to run from the mouth of the Marmot River up Mount Rainey to the mine.
In the Barber Centre, the Stewart room is room 184, a meeting room on the first floor.
To learn more about our historical photograph collections, you can consult our Historical Photographs Research Guide.
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Thanksgiving closure
Posted on October 7, 2011 @9:00 am by sromkey
A reminder that all UBC Libraries, including Rare Books and Special Collections, University Archives and the Chung Collection will be closed for Thanksgiving Monday (Oct.10).
The image below is the cover of a “Thanksgiving address” given by Robert Thomson in 1879 in Drummondville, ON. You may notice that in the late 19th century, Canadian Thanksgiving was, like its current American counterpart, celebrated on a Thursday in November.
"Thanksgiving; its Nature, and Forms of Expression: A Tribute and Review", SPAM 7100
According to Canadian Heritage, the timing of when Thanksgiving was to be held went through a number of changes, but eventually in 1957 a proclamation fixed it permanently on the second Monday in October. It is also interesting to read the various proclamations that give the reason for observing Thanksgiving- apparently the first one in Lower Canada was observed on January 10, 1799 “in signal victory over our enemy and for the manifold and inestimable blessings which our Kingdoms and Provinces have received and daily continue to receive.”
This item is from our SPAM (Special Collections Pamphlets) collections. You can read more about these collections in our Ephemera Research Guide.
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Archival research skills for grad students- workshop
Posted on October 5, 2011 @9:04 am by sromkey
Rare Books and Special Collections is hosting a workshop for graduate students on archival research skills on Friday Oct. 21 at noon-2 pm. Designed for beginners, this workshop will cover the basics of archival research and organization, and finish with some hands-on examples from the collections at UBC Library. This workshop will be held in the Rare Books and Special Collections division of the library, Room 110 in the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre.
Please note that participants will be asked to leave their coats and bags in lockers when they arrive; notepads and pencils are provided, or feel free to bring a laptop.
This is a great opportunity for new grads, or those who have been to Rare Books and Special Collections or other archives in the past but would like a refresher.
Click here to register.
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Chung Collection room re-opened
Posted on October 4, 2011 @1:41 pm by sromkey
The Chung Collection room and King James Bible exhibition have re-opened. Our apologies for the inconvenience this closure may have caused.
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Chung Collection exhibition closure
Posted on October 3, 2011 @4:06 pm by sromkey
The Chung Collection exhibition room will be closed on Tuesday Oct. 4 for repairs. Please note that this closure also affects the King James Bible exhibition.
We are sorry for the inconvenience. Please check back for updates.
Cross-posted with the Chung Collection News blog.
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Featured room: Mackenzie Seminar room
Posted on March 29, 2017 @10:26 am by sromkey
This week, our featured room in the Irving K Barber Learning Centre, is the Mackenzie Seminar Room, room 112, located in Rare Books and Special Collections. The Mackenzie seminar room is a bit different from the other rooms in that it is not named after a place, but an explorer: Sir Alexander Mackenzie.
Sir Alexander Mackenzie (1764-1820), completed the first recorded transcontinental crossing of North America by a European north of Mexico. On July 20, 1793, Mackenzie and his party arrived at Bella Coola, where he first reached saltwater at South Bentinck Arm, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean.
Image credit: Alexander Mackenzie painted by Thomas Lawrence (c.1800), courtesy National Gallery of Canada
In Rare Books and Special Collections, we have many historical maps documenting Mackenzie’s explorations. For example, in the Dr. Andrew McCormick map collection, there are a number of maps that illustrating Mackenzie’s travels. For example, McCormick map 136, A map of America, between the latitudes 40 and 70, and longitudes 45 and 180 West, exhibiting Mackenzie’s Track from Montreal to Fort Chipewyan & from there to the North Sea in 1789, & to the West Pacific Ocean in 1793 (London: Alexander Mackenzie, 1801). On this map, Mackenzie’s exploration routes of 1789 and 1793 are highlighted in red and yellow, respectively.
Image credit: Dr. Andrew McCormick collection, mccormick_136
In Rare Books and Special Collections, the Mackenzie seminar room is a multi-functional space.
Image credit: UBC Library
The reference collection (e.g. bibliographies, dictionaries, city directories, encyclopedias, etc) is arranged on the shelves in the room. As well, Rare Books and Special Collections librarians and archivists use this space to teach students, faculty, staff and community members about our collections. Since it is a room connected to the Fort Fraser Reading Room, we are able to bring out a variety of material and examples for class participants to use. If you are interested in arranging a class or tour using materials from Rare Books and Special Collections, please send an email to Rare Books and Special Collections.
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Featured place: Oliver
Posted on September 17, 2011 @12:17 pm by sromkey
In our ongoing blog series about B.C. places used as room names in the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, this week we are featuring the town of Oliver. Oliver describes itself as the “wine capital of Canada” and is located in the south end of the Okanagan Valley. Oliver is named after the 19th premier of B.C., John Oliver, who was premier from 1918 to 1927.
The Oliver region is the home of the Nk’Mip First Nation band, and from 1915 to the 1960’s was the home of the Inkameep Indian Day School. Under the tutelage of teacher Anthony Walsh in the 1930’s and 40’s, the First Nations children at this school were encouraged to use artwork to express their traditional culture and history. During this time the school, the teacher and the students gained a fair degree of fame, as the word spread about their highly creative and often technically proficient artwork. While Walsh’s approach was not necessarily understood or appreciated by his contemporaries (his successor at the school burned most of the students’ art) it has since been praised for its inclusiveness of First Nations culture and heritage.
The documents in Rare Books and Special Collections are part of our Vertical File collection. The term “vertical file” is used in a variety of manners in libraries and archives, usually referring to a file compiled on a specific subject. At RBSC we often use this designation for small groupings of archival material which are two small to be listed with our other archival collections. This vertical file, VF 113, consists of letters written to Anthony Walsh during his tenure at Inkameep. Writers include a number of well-known figures, such as Lawren Harris and the Walt Disney Company:
Lawren Harris letter page 1
Lawren Harris letter page 2
Walt Disney Company letter
Vertical files can be found by searching the library catalogue. They have call numbers that start with “VF,” and will also appear in searches limited to “Archival/mixed collections.”
An excellent virtual exhibition about the Inkameep Day School called “Drawing on Identity” is available online.
In the Barber Centre, the Oliver Room is room 361, and is used by the Gateway programs- Arts One, Science One, Coordinated Arts and Coordinated Science.
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Featured room: Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung room
Posted on August 23, 2011 @2:07 pm by sromkey
Regarding history, Wallace Chung believes it is important to forgive, but not forget. His collection of rare items based on the Chinese experience in North America helps to keep memories of Chinese history alive, illustrating moments of historical happiness without neglecting to represent the struggles. Divided into three major themes of discovery, immigration and settlement, and the Canadian Pacific Railway, the room explores moments in history such as the Chinese Head Tax and the Fraser River gold rush. The room is filled with a variety of objects including posters, pamphlets, legal documents, and silverware.
A large model of the Empress of Asia sits at the heart of the room, representing one of the ships that brought Chinese immigrants from Asia to North America. In 1919, Dr. Chung’s own mother was one of those immigrants.
Image credit: Empress of Asia, UBC Library
Collecting these artifacts, Dr. Chung explained, was not as difficult as some people seem to think. Some of the items, including more precious objects such as silverware, actually came to him because they had been discarded, for their historical value had not yet been known. To read more about the items from the collection on exhibition, go to the Chung collection website.
After years of accumulating items, Dr. Chung’s simple hobby of grew into a collection over 25,000 objects. Now, people of all ages are welcome to view them in the Chung Room. The exhibition, located in Rare Books and Special Collections, in the Irving K Barber Learning Centre, is open to the public and free of charge during Rare Books and Special Collections opening hours (Monday through Friday 9-5 year round, Saturday 12 – 5 during the fall and winter semesters). Appointments are not necessary to visit. Please feel free to drop-in and explore the collection at your leisure. For information on group tours and directions to the exhibition please go here.
Thank-you to our guest writer, Eleanor Munk, a student working for the summer in Rare Books and Special Collections, for writing this week’s blog entry!
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