Explore unique highlights from UBC’s Open Collections, as well as insights into the work of the Digitization Centre. From announcements of new projects and collections to behind-the-scenes looks at our digitization process, we share the stories and hidden gems that inspire us in our efforts to preserve and make accessible diverse materials.
King Neptune’s Dinner Party
Posted on Apr 12, 2013 by Larissa Ringham
If you read Laura’s previous post on the Empress of Britain, you’ll have some appreciation for this gorgeous old Canadian Pacific ocean liner. The Chung Collection has some wonderful ephemera related the ship including this pamphlet for King Neptune’s Dinner Party from the 1934 world cruise. Not only the menu for the dinner party (iced […]
Westland television series
Posted on Mar 18, 2013 by Rob
The Westland television series was produced and hosted from 1984 to 2007 by Mike Halleran and broadcast on the Knowledge Network in British Columbia. The content of the show covers a broad range of environmental issues of importance to the province as well as more generally including forestry practices, wildlife conservation and human impact on […]
BC Bibliography Metadata Mania
Posted on Mar 04, 2013 by slindber
Unlike the majority of the content on the Digitizers’ blog, this post does not involve pretty pictures or interesting nuggets of historical information. Instead, it will cover a very different aspect of the work performed in the Digital Initiatives unit: Metadata. To be more specific, descriptive metadata; less glamorous perhaps than the maps and images […]
Cruising through a collection
Posted on Feb 22, 2013 by Laura
Every time we open a new box from the Chung Collection to digitize, it’s always exciting to see what’s in store for us. Sometimes the boxes are filled with Canadian Pacific pamphlets about train travel across the Rockies or vacation trips for “couples only” to Mexico, or menus from the Empress Hotel or Sporting Maps. In […]
Valentine’s Messages from Canadian Pacific
Posted on Feb 14, 2013 by Larissa Ringham
It’s 1912 and you are reclining on your Canadian Pacific Railway seat having just finished a hearty lunch of roast beef and custard pudding. You gaze out at the prairie scenery and think ahead fondly to your family waiting for you at home – it’s been a long trip and you are looking forward to […]
BC Historical Newspapers Update
Posted on Feb 01, 2013 by mikec
Update: A list current in May 2017 can be found here: https://digitize.library.ubc.ca/uncategorized/bc-historical-newspapers-update-2017/ The BC Historical Newspapers portal is one of our most heavily used digital collections. Occasionally we are delightfully surprised to find out about the creative ways people find to use the collections. Two of our favourite projects come to us courtesy of the […]
Picturesque Victoria, British Columbia
Posted on Jan 28, 2013 by Rob
From the book Picturesque Victoria, British Columbia. These photographic souvenir books were popular with tourism and development organizations from the late 19th and in to the 20th century. Have a look at the entire book here. Part of the British Columbia Bibliography project.
Keenlyside
Posted on by pughchr
This image is from the Augustus Pemberton collection, one of two collections donated to Rare Books and Special Collections by John Keenlyside in 2008. We are currently digitizing both collections, and they should appear on the Rare Books and Special Collections website in the near future. The image is of a calendar of prisoners who […]
The Prolific David Conde
Posted on Jan 22, 2013 by pughchr
One of our current projects is to digitize the David Conde fonds in partnership with the University of Tokyo. We are discovering first hand that David Conde was a hugely prolific journalist who had much to say about a lot of subjects. As such, the David Conde fonds contains vast quantities of manuscripts for books […]
RG 10: Department of Indian Affairs Letterbooks Project
Posted on Jan 15, 2013 by Peter D James
Update on project: Due to various reasons, the RG 10 Departmental Letterbooks Project did not move beyond the pilot stage. The RG 10 Departmental Letterbooks Project is a collaborative venture between the University British Columbia Library and the University Library, University of Saskatchewan to digitize, describe and provide online access to a volume of Department […]
