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.
Surgery in 16th century
Posted on Mar 26, 2018 by Paula Arasaki
Jherome of Bruyinswike (also known as Jerome of Brunswick or Hieronymus Bruncschwig or Jerome von Braunschweig), was born around 1450 in Strasburg, Germany. He was a surgeon, alchemist, and botanist, responsible for the publication of the first illustrated book on surgery in English. Brunswick was an apprentice to a master surgeon and had success in […]
Infant Feeding Devices in the History of Nursing in Pacific Canada Collection
Posted on Mar 20, 2018 by Paula Arasaki
Collections stand out for different reasons. The History of Nursing in Pacific Canada Collection contains many unique items, including materials from the Ethel Johns Fonds and local material (BC and Yukon) held at UBC Library. It further contains what is known as the Infant Feeders Collection, held in the Memorial Room of the Woodward Biomedical […]
Graphic art in the Chung Collection
Posted on Mar 13, 2018 by Paula Arasaki
If you take a look at the Canadian Pacific Railway Company posters in our Chung Collection, you’ll be amazed by all of the wonderful paintings depicting early and mid 20th-century travel in Canada. These promotional posters were created to attract tourists to the many trains, hotels, world cruises, Canadian tours, and airplanes owned by Canadian […]
Looking back on seven years at the UBC Digitization Centre
Posted on Mar 06, 2018 by Paula Arasaki
The UBC Library Digitization Centre is celebrating another birthday: seven years! In many cultures and religions, seven is a special—and sometimes lucky—number. There are seven continents, seven seas, seven classic world wonders, and seven colors in the rainbow. For everyone at the Digitization Centre, seven years also marks many proud milestones. Over 50 collections Over […]
Explore Open Collections: German Consulate Fonds
Posted on Feb 27, 2018 by Paula Arasaki
The German Consulate Fonds is a digital collection that was created in partnership with UBC Library Rare Books and Special Collections (RBSC). It contains documents from various German Consulates in Canada, dating from 1909 to 1939. The collection contains documents, reports, memoranda, and correspondences from German Consulates in Ottawa, St. John’s, Newfoundland, Toronto, Winnipeg and […]
Explore Open Collections: Yip Sang Collection
Posted on Feb 20, 2018 by Paula Arasaki
Yip Sang was known as the “unofficial mayor” of Chinatown. He was a businessman, political activist and social reformer. Yip Sang, also known as Yip Chun Tien, was born in 1845 in China. In 1864, he left his home village Shengtang, in Guangdong province, to move to San Francisco for work as a dishwasher, cook, […]
Family Day
Posted on Feb 13, 2018 by Paula Arasaki
February 12 is Family Day in British Columbia. While this statutory holiday was created in BC in 2013, falling on the second Monday every February, it has existed in other parts of Canada for even longer. The very first province to observe Family Day as a statutory holiday was Alberta in 1990, when Family Day […]
Winter Olympics
Posted on Feb 06, 2018 by Paula Arasaki
The 2018 Winter Olympics are starting this week! They are going to be hosted by PyeongChang in South Korea, beginning on February 9, 2018. For 16 days, we will see the best winter sports athletes in the world compete for gold. To get into the sportive spirit, we selected a few materials from our collection […]
Explore Open Collections: Rainbow Ranche Collection
Posted on Jan 30, 2018 by Paula Arasaki
The Rainbow Ranche Collection was donated to the Lake Country Museum and Archives by the family of James Goldie. James Goldie (1877-1971) was an owner and resident manager of Rainbow Ranche. Goldie was very engaged in the fruit industry, promoting the concept of central selling. For several years, he was part of the board for […]
A New Year Calls for a New Impact Report!
Posted on Jan 23, 2018 by eirian vining
We are pleased to present the Digitization Centre Impact and Activity Report for 2016-2017! This report highlights the Digitization Centre’s key projects, partnerships and user engagement trends for the 2016-2017 fiscal year. In 2016-2017, Open Collections accounted for 15% of the Library’s unique pageviews. That 15% totals 3.9 million pageviews on Open Collections alone! The […]
