The start of a new semester brings forth new adventures and discoveries. In my ASTU 100 course, we are starting the new year off by studying about archives, from topics such as the purpose of its existence, the significance for scholars and everything in between. After a full week of discussion, our class actually visited UBC’s very own archive collection, The Rare Books and Special Collection, located at the very bottom floor of Irvin K. Barber Building. With this visit to the archives, I have taken away with me a truly ‘priceless’ experience.
From what I saw, anything and everything seems to hold worth and value, from items such as: journals, newspaper articles and even movie tickets can be found. What strikes me the most was a particular set of books I had my eyes on for the last couple of days. I was reading through the newspaper as per usual on my train ride to school and noticed an article with the header: “Student’s crowd funding campaign helps UBC secure two historical novels.” Surely, I had to look more into this and what unfolds is about a UBC student, Justin O’Hearn, who bought two extremely rare novels from the 19th century regarding homosexuality. The two books which were bought included Teleny and Des Grieux. With the help of Google, I found the article has picked up a fair amount of media attention from multiple sources such as: The Ubyssey, CBC, Metro Vancouver and even UBC’s Library Blog.
Left: Justin O’Hearn Right: Gregory Mackie Photo Credit: Don Erhardt link: https://blogs.ubc.ca/library/category/rare-books-and-special-collections/
As an average consumer, I would not see the significance of spending over $15,000 on old books; however, collectors and scholars may find great value and knowledge. Like my professor always asked us, we have to think about our audience. The UBC student bought the books at such a high price because it was not only an original, but it marks itself in history as the first ever queer literature in any post-secondary institution. Certainly, this opens up new research opportunities for fellow students, teachers and professors alike. With this, they are able to contribute to the current state of knowledge and possible provide new data. Not only did Justin O’Hearn buy new books for the archive, he essentially opened the path towards new ideas regarding homosexuality and the history of the “presumed” book’s author, Oscar Wilde.
With the archives reaching a maximum capacity, it’s amazing how they will still accept more each day. As a first year student, I’m still trying to understand and wrap my head around the idea of audience. In an archive, it is critical to consider why an article or piece of literature is kept and what importance it may serve. As for the two recently added novels, I actually saw Justin O’Hearn and his colleagues in the Rare Books and Special Collection the other day already hard at work examining the fine piece of literature he obtained.
/Vinson Tam