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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Chung Collection room and King James Bible exhibition have re-opened. Our apologies for the inconvenience this closure may have caused.

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.