Monday, May 11, 2015

Good times promised for Welcome Week

by Jacqueline Martinz.

The Federation of Students is proud to present a week of exciting activities to welcome students back to campus. The spring term has arrived, and this is an opportunity for undergraduates to have fun with their friends before the assignments and mid-terms pile up. Spring Welcome Week will feature unique, engaging events including Fish Scooping, a Water Carnival, and the Paint Splash Neon Party. The week will begin with Warrior Breakfast at 8:30 a.m. in the SLC Great Hall. The full schedule is available online.

Rare find discovered in Library's archives

It was like something out of an Indiana Jones movie.

While cataloguing a box of archived materials sent from the YWCA Kitchener-Waterloo to the University of Waterloo Library, librarian Jessica Blackwell noticed something unusual tucked inside.

Now, a hidden piece of Canadiana is going to a museum.

Blackwell was quick to show it to her colleagues, including then-Head of Special Collections & Archives Jane Britton.

"It's unlike anything else we've ever received for safekeeping," said Britton, who recently retired. "It was a small rug with a tag, but before I even read it I knew it was a Grenfell mat. I gasped."

Grenfell hooked mats are hand-made rugs named after Sir Wilfred Grenfell, whose eponymously named mission helped provide medical care for people in Newfoundland and Labrador starting at the beginning of the last century. He instigated a project in which local women made several different styles of mats from pieces of fabric and silk or rayon stockings. The sale of these items outside the region became a means for families in Newfoundland and Labrador to supplement their meager and unreliable income from fishing. Production peaked during the Great Depression. Collectors of folk art prize the artifacts.

This particular Grenfell mat depicts a stylized map of Newfoundland meticulously hooked primarily with stockings. How it arrived at the YWCA is unclear.

Several companies and charities in Waterloo region send their archives to the Library for safekeeping and storage.

"When we got the call that we had an artifact in with our documents, we were both thrilled and perplexed because we don't know how we got it, from whom or when," said Elizabeth Clarke, CEO, YWCA Kitchener-Waterloo. "But we did know that this interesting item belongs with those who would appreciate it and communicate its significance to women's history in Canada. We are delighted to have this opportunity."

At Britton's suggestion, and with the assistance of the University, the YWCA will donate the mat to the Hooked Rug Museum of North America in Hubbards, Nova Scotia, becoming part of its permanent collection this month.

The YWCA announced the discovery and subsequent donation of the Grenfell mat to its stakeholders attending its Annual General Meeting on Thursday, April 30.

Waterloo Unlimited celebrates 10 years with talk

by Rae Crossman.

Waterloo Unlimited, the transdisciplinary high school enrichment program at the University of Waterloo, is now celebrating its 10^th anniversary of programing. Bright, motivated students from across Canada apply to attend week-long, theme based programs, exploring concepts such as Vision, Research, Design, or Change across disciplines. For example they examine Vision in the optometrist’s laboratory and also on the artist’s canvas. They learn from an elder about aboriginal Vision Quest and from a psychologist about the nature of perception. They attend a play on campus and experience Romeo and Juliet’s love at first sight. Making the connections across disciplines becomes a way to integrate knowledge leading to broader understanding. The University of Waterloo prides itself on innovation and one major development that has come directly out of this transdisciplinary high school program is a brand new university degree: Knowledge Integration.

As part of Waterloo Unlimited's anniversary celebrations, we are now planning a public talk to be given by Director Ed Jernigan entitled Changing the Change Makers: The Story of Waterloo Unlimited. We invite the university community and the general public to hear this inspiring story of educational innovation and transdisciplinary enrichment that changes lives.

The event will be held on Wednesday, May 13 from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. in Conrad Grebel's Great Hall.