Here at the Digitization Centre we are fascinated and excited by the vast amount of primary-source material that our digitization work exposes us to. Whether a document of historic significance, a beautiful illustration, or even a particularly fine typeface, we are frequently amazed by the materials we’re working to share with the world. So much so, that not only will we crowd around to ogle a particularly interesting specimen, but we’ve started decorating our workplace with copies of some of our favorites. But why stop there? Surely, we can’t be the only ones geeky enough to appreciate such “gems” in our collections, and so we’ve decided to share them here with you. Below you will find some of our favorites, hand-picked by staff from both existing and upcoming collections. We hope you enjoy them as much as we do!
TIP: To view full resolution versions of the images on any size screen, click to view in Open Collections.
Vancouver’s Feminist Punk Rockers of the 70’s and 80’s
Posted on September 19, 2023 by Jillian Gordon
Content warning: some of the articles use foul language and mention violence against women. Punk music and subculture may not be the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of Vancouver’s rich history. While Vancouver is the home of D.O.A., arguably one of the founding bands of the genre, the city’s vibrant and politically […]
Aftermath of 1997 APEC Protest
Posted on August 29, 2023 by Gage
Warning: this blog post contains images of violence. This is the second part to a two part blog post on the 1997 APEC Economic Leaders Meeting at UBC and the student and activist protest that occurred. If you missed the first part, it can be read here. The protest of the APEC meeting that occurred […]
1997 APEC meeting at UBC
Posted on August 23, 2023 by Gage
Warning: this blog post contains images of violence. A few weeks ago I wrote about the 1993 presidential summit between Bill Clinton and Boris Yeltsin at UBC. However, that wasn’t the only time President Clinton visited the campus, as he would return four years later to meet with seventeen other nations leaders in the 1997 […]
A selection of Poems and Poetry from Open Collections
Posted on August 15, 2023 by Gage
Poetry is a very popular form of literary work that appears frequently in many different places within Open Collections. For this weeks blog post I have search for examples from a handful of publications to share. The genre of poems vary wildly and even within this small sample there are love poems, rhyme poems for […]
The artwork and Illustrations of the Kamishibai Propaganda Plays collection.
Posted on August 8, 2023 by Gage
The Kamishibai Propaganda Plays collection is a collection of very rare, two sided cards that have illustrations on one side and text on the other. They are designed to be used by a presenter to tell a story. These plays were produced in Japan during the second world war, and were able to be digitized […]
The SUB & the Nest: The visual history of the UBC Student spaces.
Posted on August 1, 2023 by Gage
The Student Union Building (SUB), now called the UBC Life Building, and the Nest are the student community cornerstone of the UBC campus. The AMS Image Collection has many photographs of both buildings that have served to document the day to day activities of student life in and around the buildings. For this weeks blogpost […]
Classified ads of the bygone days in the Aldergrove star
Posted on July 25, 2023 by Gage
For this weeks blogpost I decided to return to the BC Historic Newspapers collection in order to find something from the past to write on. In my opinion, the most interesting part of the newspaper is Classified ads where people place advertisements for all the goods and services they are looking to buy, sell, and […]
Interesting By-laws of Victoria in 1877
Posted on July 18, 2023 by Gage
Our BC Historical books collection contains a copy of the City of Victoria By-laws from 1877. Some of these laws are very interesting and not pieces of legislation you would expect in todays world, such as a municipality regulating the sale and distribution of poisons. Below are some of the notable laws on the books […]
1993 U.S.-Russian Presidential Summit at UBC
Posted on July 11, 2023 by Gage
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Russian Federation and United States made an effort to attempt to establish better diplomacy as to step away from the tension of the Cold war to try and build a new era of cooperation. Part of this process was to establish a meeting between newly elected Presidents […]
Interesting By-laws of Vancouver in 1898.
Posted on July 4, 2023 by Gage
Our BC Historical books collection contains a copy of the City of Vancouver By-Laws from 1898. Reading from them almost one hundred and twenty-five years later, there are some odd legislative topics that pop-out from the more mundane issues such as building codes and health inspection. Below are some of the notable laws on the […]
