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.
Streets in Downtown Vancouver
Posted on Jul 23, 2019 by Risa Hatanaka
In the Uno Langmann Family Collection of British Columbia Photographs, we have historic photographs depicting street scenery in Vancouver in the early 1900s. This post will explore some of our favourite photographs, showing the major streets in Vancouver. We hope you can identify where the pictures were taken and how the streets have changed since […]
Advertisements in Newspapers
Posted on Jul 16, 2019 by Risa Hatanaka
Historical newspapers are good resources for researching the political, social and cultural trends in local areas during specific historical periods. One of the interesting components are advertisements, which contain information about local businesses, and popular industries around the time. Like today, the papers had designed their advertisements to catch readers’ eyes and attract new customers. […]
BC-related Dictionaries
Posted on Jul 09, 2019 by Risa Hatanaka
The BC Historical Books collection contains the digitized bibliographies of British Columbia. In the collection, there are 35 dictionaries related to BC History. Here, we will introduce some of our favourite ones! City Directories Do you have the White or Yellow Pages at home? UBC Rare Books and Special Collections has a collection of city […]
Fishing in Open Collections
Posted on Jul 02, 2019 by Risa Hatanaka
Open Collections has several collections related to fishing. Today, we will introduce a few of these collections and our favourite digitized items! Fisherman Publishing Society Collection In the Fisherman Publishing Society Collection, we have digitized around 4,000 photographs taken from 1862 to 1989. The Fisherman Publishing Society formed in 1937 and had published a bi-weekly […]
Explore Open Collections: Tairiku Nippō (Continental Daily News)
Posted on Jun 25, 2019 by Risa Hatanaka
According to the 2016 Census, 1.6% of the Vancouver metropolitan population identify as having Japanese ethnic origin.[i] The first wave of immigrants from Japan arrived in Canada in late 19th century, and the majority of them resided in British Columbia. As their primary information resource, a Japanese-Canadian newspaper, Tairiku Nippō (大陸日報, Continental Daily News) was […]
Streetcars before Buses: British Columbia Electric Railway
Posted on Jun 18, 2019 by Risa Hatanaka
Buses, SkyTrain, SeaBus, and the West Coast Express are the main transit options in the Greater Vancouver area today. However, Open Collections has many images of the railroads and streetcars that used to line our streets. From 1897 until 1958, the British Columbia Electric Railway (BCER) operated streetcars and interurbans, which were the major transportation […]
History of UBC Library Buildings
Posted on Jun 11, 2019 by Risa Hatanaka
Today, UBC Library has 15 branches in 12 locations that provide a variety of programs and services. The Digitization Centre is located in Irving K. Barber Learning Centre (IKBLC) on UBC’s Vancouver campus. A previous post explored how IKBLC has changed since the first Main Library was built, so we will delve into the history […]
Oldest photos in Open Collections
Posted on Jun 04, 2019 by Risa Hatanaka
The first photographic technologies were invented and developed during the 1830s and 1840s. Among more than 56,000 available photographs in UBC Open Collections, many of our oldest photographs were taken in the early periods of photographic history. 1854: Early timber cruisers beside their makeshift accommodation MacMillan Bloedel Limited fonds contain the records of the MacMillan […]
UBC Graduation in Open Collections
Posted on May 28, 2019 by Risa Hatanaka
This year, UBC spring graduation ceremonies take place on May 22-24 and 27-30 at our Vancouver campus, and June 6-7 at our Okanagan campus. Congratulations to all of the new graduates! In Open Collections, you can find photographs of past graduation ceremonies in the UBC Archives Photograph Collection: […]
Launching Association of University and College Employees (AUCE) Fonds
Posted on May 21, 2019 by Risa Hatanaka
In 1973 library and clerical workers on university and college campuses across British Columbia began organizing as a union in order to represent their collective interests. Workers at University of British Columbia (Local 1), Simon Fraser University (Local 2), Notre Dame University of Nelson (Local 3), Capilano College (Local 4), College of New Caledonia (Local […]
