You have just under two weeks left to come to Rare Books and Special Collections for our exhibition Betwixt and Between: the art and influences of Charles Van Sandwyck. We’re happy to share with you some thoughts on creating the exhibition by student curator Heather Gring:

“Since the 1980’s, RBSC had been collecting the work of Charles van Sandwyk, an artist and writer who published mostly small-press and limited edition books. Charles works in printmaking, watercolor and calligraphy techniques to create the publications as well as to create
original works of art. Born in South Africa, Charles moved to still spends part of the year in North Vancouver. The winter months Charles spends on the islands of Fiji.

“I first encountered the title “Betwixt and Between” in one of Charles’ publications, “Dream Sketches from the Isle of Tropical Birds”: “The birds are above, the fish are below, and we are betwixt and between.” Charles’ work as well exists “betwixt and between.” Charles can create images of anthropomorphized animals and whimsical fairies but creates naturalistic representations of animals just as well. His illustrations seem to be from the Victorian era, and yet he is only in his 50’s. His works appear to be stories for children, but really speak to the inner child in adults. You can’t peg him or his artwork into any neat little category; Charles even remarked that book sellers don’t know where to put his works on the shelves!

Charles Van Sandwyck exhibition at RBSC

“In late September, I went to interview Charles van Sandwyk in preparation for the exhibition. Meeting Charles was an incredible experience for me; I have never met someone so warm and genuine and open as he. It is as if you’ve always known him, and he’s always been a dear friend. After a lovely lunch, we went back to his cottage and talked for several hours about his life and career. In the course of our conversations, I realized how deeply his high-school art teachers had influenced the trajectory of his career, in addition to the other artistic influences outlined in the exhibition. I soon decided to include them in the exhibition. It was a wonderful experience to see the relationships emerge and to have the competency to articulate them in such a way that viewers are able to see the connections for themselves.

“Rare Books and Special Collections at UBC had a wealth of materials in their collections that allowed my research to proceed smoothly. In addition to owning over forty works by van Sandwyk, RBSC also owned works by every one of Charles’ influences, with the exception of Dorothy Kay. I began research for the exhibition by exploring all of van Sandwyk’s publications in depth, then exploring works of his influences held by RBSC. Some connections between the artists emerged easily, whereas others required a good deal of insight. A drawing Rembrant did of an elephant paired perfectly with an illustration of an elephant Charles did for “Animal Wisdom”.

Charles Van Sandwyck exhibition at RBSC

“In comparison, Albrecht Durer was a little more complicated. For the exhibition, I explored how the two artists had produced Ex Libris book plates for patrons and the different ways they explored the space constraints of the materials. I also truly enjoyed how some cheeky comparisons emerged, such as the juxtaposition of an etching of a Burgher Rembrandt made in contrast to a monkey sitting in a similar pose, etched and colored by Charles. Charles’ monkey has an air of thoughtfulness and respectability to him, very similar to Rembrandt’s Burgher. Some of the books on display, such as the texts by Gandhi, Gilbran and Kay, are from Charles’ personal collection. It was also very exciting to be able to hang framed works on the walls above the cases. Don’t miss this opportunity to see original works by Charles van Sandwyk (the “Fiddle Beetle” is my favorite) and even Arthur Rackham.

Charles Van Sandwyck exhibition at RBSC

“I came to know Charles van Sandwyk through his works, and the works of artists and writers who influenced the scope of his career. One of the drawbacks I experienced was only being able to show one page of a publication, when every page is so amazing! Books are meant to be read, with pages turned. Once you see the exhibit “Betwixt and Between,” I encourage you to come back to RBSC and explore the many works of Charles van Sandwyk which RBSC owns…after the show comes down on December 17th, that is, and the books are again dispersed betwixt and between.”

Thank you Heather for providing the curator’s perspective! If you would like to see the exhibition you can do so until Dec. 17, from Monday to Friday 9-5 and Saturdays 12-5. The exhibition is located in the back of the Chung Room, which is accessed through the Rare Books and Special Collections reading room. The exhibition is free and open to all members of the public.

In this installation of our blog series exploring B.C. places from the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre rooms, we will explore the village of McBride, or in this case, its namesake. McBride is located in the Cariboo, between Prince George and Valmount, very close to the Albertan border.  Settled during the construction of the Grand Pacific Trunk Railway in 1913, it is named for Sir Richard McBride, who was the premier of B.C. from 1903-1915. The railway was one of McBride’s major platforms, along with the establishment of a provincial university, which would become UBC.

Suppose you wanted to find pieces of correspondence to and from McBride in our collections here at Rare Books and Special Collections. This is a great example of how more than one method of searching is sometimes necessary.

Finding aids for our archival collections can be found on our website, and through a simple Google search for “McBride,” a number of results will appear, some of which are for the McBride in question, others not. One result is the Frederic Howay fonds, which lists letters from Richard McBride in Box 4 file 18:

Letter from Richard McBride to Frederic Howay, Box 4 file 18 Frederic Howay fonds (click to see larger)

There are six letters from McBride to Howay (a judge, author, and collector of British Columbiana whose book collection is one of the founding collections at Rare Books and Special Collections). Among them is this letter in which McBride invites Howay to send his manuscript about the Royal Engineers for publication by the government.  That manuscript presumably became this printed pamphlet.

Another method of searching will find items from our vertical file collection, which was featured in our post about Oliver. Vertical files are found in the library catalogue. By searching for items in Rare Books and Special Collections as the location and Richard McBride as your keywords, you will find a number of published items related to McBride such as speeches, and also this letter from Wilfred Laurier to McBride:

Letter from Wilfred Laurier to Richard McBride, Vertical File #444 (click to see larger)

In it, Laurier refers to land transactions being made between First Nations groups and the government for the construction of the Grand Trunk Railroad.

Do these two search methods guarantee that you will find all archival documents related to Richard McBride? Unfortunately not. The nature of archival description is that it tends to describe groups of records, not individual items- if archivists catalogued every document individually, we would be hopelessly behind in our work! When using archives for your research, you sometimes have to think a little more creatively- who would have Richard McBride been corresponding with, and about what? This helps you choose appropriate keywords for your searches. For more resources on using archival material, check out our Archival Material research guide.

In the Barber Centre, the McBride Meeting room is room 265, which is one of the meeting rooms on the south side of the building, off of the Ike’s Cafe eating area.

If you have been to Google today, it may have come to your attention that today is the 224th anniversary of the birth of Louis Daguerre, inventor of the first permanent photographic process, called a daguerreotype.  Daguerreotypes were used from around 1839 to 1860, and differ in many ways from later photographic types: the process created a direct positive on a silvered copper plate. The result is a somewhat mirrored image, that because of its fragility, would have often been stored in a decorative case, behind a piece of glass. Because the image was transferred directly as a positive (meaning, there is no negative) it was not possible to make copies of the same image- every daguerreotype in existence is completely unique.

A search in our B.C. Historical Photograph Collection yields one lone example of a daguerreotype, a portrait of an unidentified man:

BC1933, Portrait of a man

You can see that his rosy cheeks have been hand-painted on. Like many daguerreotypes, this one is in a decorative case:

Decorative daguerreotype case

For more daguerreotypes:

Library of Congress daguerreotype collection

Daguerreotypes at Harvard University

Search for daguerreotypes at Library and Archives Canada

See the process at the Getty Museum

and just for fun:

CBC wants you to send in your daguerreotype-style photos

My Daguerreotype Boyfriend (full disclosure- they aren’t all daguerreotypes)

For information on searching photograph collections at UBC, check out our Historical Photographs research guide.

A reminder that except for UBC Okanagan Library, all other UBC Library branches, including Rare Books and Special Collections, University Archives and the Chung Collection will be closed for Remembrance Day on Friday November 11.

Empress of Russia leaving Vancouver for war, 1939

The photograph above, from the Chung Collection, shows the C.P.R. steamship the R.M.S. Empress of Russia leaving Vancouver when she was requisitioned by the British Admiralty. She, and many other C.P.R. ships, also participated in the First World War. Below is a photo of her ca. 1915 painted in “dazzle” camouflage, designed to confuse observers as to the type of ship, speed and direction.

Empress of Russia painted in "dazzle" camouflage

The C.P.R. lost many employees, and ships, during both World Wars, which was written about recently on the Chung Collection News blog.

Details for UBC’s Remembrance Day ceremony can be found here.

The Chung Collection exhibition room will be closed to the public on Monday Nov. 7. Our apologies for this inconvenience.

Please note that this closure also effects the Rare Books and Special Collections Charles Van Sandwyck exhibition.

Cross posted with the Chung Collection news blog.

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.