Special Collections & Archives is pleased to announce that collections processed in 2022 are now open for research.
Michael Shane Bird was a professor, researcher, and writer who specialized in fine arts, in particular Canadian folk and fraktur, and film studies. Born in Belle Plaine, Iowa, in 1941, he attained his PhD from the University of Iowa before moving to Waterloo to teach at Renison University College. Bird taught at Renison for 34 years in both fine arts and religious studies, two topics that he also researched and wrote extensively on. He was particularly interested in religious themes in cinema, including the works of Ingmar Bergman, and Canadian folk and fraktur art. He wrote, or co-wrote, some of the first compendiums on folk art and furniture in Canada.
The collection consists of materials relating to the professional life of Michael Bird. Covers his time teaching at Renison University College, as well as his research and publications on folk art, fraktur, religious imagery and film.
Slide of Fraktur art by Anna Weber. File number GA428-2-101.
Robert Jon Meyer Shipley was born in Toronto on February 26, 1948. After obtaining an Honours BA from the University of Western Ontario in 1972, he was an officer of the Canadian Armed Forces. In 1976, Shipley was released from the Armed Forces and became a freelance writer and illustrator. Between 1984 and 1987, he worked as the administrator at the Welland Canals Preservation Association (WCPA).
Shipley received his doctorate from the University of Waterloo in 1997 and joined the University of Waterloo's Faculty of Environment as Professor and Associate Director of the School of Planning. In 2003, he became the director at the Hertage Resources Centre. Robert Shipley retired in 2016 and, in 2018, he received the National Trust for Canada’s Governors' Award.
The collection includes Shipley's personal journals and notes; articles written by him in different news media and materials related to his books and publications; personal and professional correspondence related to his time in the Canadian Armed Forces, different jobs he held, and his time at the University of Waterloo; and research materials.
A sketch from one of Shipley's journals. Note that the journals remain closed until ten years after passing. File number GA477-1-1.
