Posts for the Topic archives

Knitting through history

Hello everyone! My name is Tenille and this summer I am working as the Srivastava intern co-op student at Special Collections & Archives (SCA).

 Although we are slowly but surely working our way back to some sense of pre-Pandemic “normality” (however that might look for you), these pandemic years have left an indelible mark on each of us. For many, like myself, those long periods of forced solitude and isolation were a time of self-reflection and anxiety. They were also an opportunity to try out new things and pick up new hobbies. For me, that hobby was knitting.

Famous Playwright under Our Noses

Hello, my name is Paulina! This fall term, I’ve had the wonderful opportunity of working with Special Collections & Archives for my MLIS co-op. As the term ends, I would like to share one of the amazing finds that I’ve come across during these past few months. One of which is the John Herbert fonds, which spans almost 2 meters of boxes! Now you might be wondering who John Herbert is, much like I did.

Wedding Dress and Its Secret Underneath

The evolution of women's fashion proceeds as changes occur in human history. As people take in the information around them they change their tastes on everything. That includes how they define beauty. For me as a Fine Art student who is attracted by the changing definition of beauty, I am interested in how evolving concepts of beauty influence people's outfits. In addition, because outfits change that means what a woman has to wear under her fancy dresses is also going to change. 

Portia White's debut

“First you dream, then you lace up your boots.”

Sounds like good advice, don’t you think?

De-framed World War 1 Photograph

I have been on a kick lately de-framing and cataloguing materials that were donated to us in non-archival friendly frames. One of the recent items I have had the pleasure of describing is this incredible panoramic photograph of the Western Ontario Regiment training at Carling Heights in London, Ontario on August 1, 1918. The photograph is 143 cm (4 feet 8 inches long) and shows members of the regiment engaging in various callisthenic looking training exercises.

Volleyball practice, March 7th 1973

Hi folks! One of the projects I'm working on involves doing tonnes of scanning for our 60th Anniversary Image Bank. Many of the images are pretty fun!

Ends and New Beginnings

Hello everybody,

Its Graham here, come to say thank you and goodbye with my last blog post as my co-op term at the University of Waterloo Library Special Collections & Archives comes to end. These past 8 months have been an amazing time; I have learned so much, had a fabulous amount of experience, and met some great people along the way. I wanted to publish my last blog post with a short description of the experiences I have had along the way.

Much cheaper in a few years

One of the projects I'm currently working on involves wading through the approximately 13000 letters in the Breithaupt Hewetson Clark collection. Earlier this week, I came across this hard-to-believe letter from Constance Perrin to H. Spencer Clark, in which she discusses her upcoming trip to Europe and the price of long-distance phone calls.

Doris, is that you?

Hi there. My name is Asiya and I am a Special Collections Project Assistant at the Rare Book Room. I am currently in my second year in the Urban Planning program here at the University of Waterloo. Though I am limited in my knowledge of archival practices, I have learned quite a bit over the past couple of months.

40 years on!

Hello! I’m Graham, a University of Toronto archival studies student currently on an 8-month co-op term in Special Collections & Archives. Today, June 2, is the 40th anniversary of the official opening of the Doris Lewis Rare Book Room.

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