Photo of Charlie Ormston, former president of KW Community Foundation, Dr Douglas Letson, St. Jerome's University, and Mark Haslett, University Librarian at the Library's opening for the KW Community Foundation Papers.
On October 26, 2004, the UW Library held the official opening of the Kitchener and Waterloo Community Foundation papers. This event, held on the first floor of the Dana Porter Library, displayed select items from the Foundation's extensive records.
From the aid of a $30,000 gift from the Kitchener and Waterloo Community Foundation, the Library is able to process and archive this historical collection of community papers. By ensuring the proper preservation of these papers, the Library is providing the opportunity for the academic and local community to connect with our region's past in terms of its industrial, physical, and social development.
Initially donated to the Library in 2003, the Community Foundation papers provide researchers and students primary documentation about the social history and development of the Foundation and the Kitchener-Waterloo community. Housed in the Library's Doris Lewis Rare Book Room, these papers include 6.5 metres of documentary records, ephemera, clippings and publications, over 1,000 photographs, 762 negatives, approximately 560 slides, plus audio and video cassettes.
These papers complement other community collections at the UW Library, such as the Breithaupt Hewetson Clark Collection, Motz Family fonds, Schneider Family Collection, United Way of Kitchener-Waterloo and Area fonds, Walter Bean Grand River Community Trails Foundation fonds, and the YWCA and YMCA papers.
