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.
Explore Open Collections: Kinesis
Posted on Oct 21, 2013 by Yvonne Chan
Gender and social justice researchers worldwide –as well as the general public interested in the feminist movement in Canada– will be happy to know of this digital collection that is now freely available online: Kinesis: News about women that is not in the dailies, published by the Vancouver Status of Women (VSW) from 1974 to […]
Explore Open Collections: Emma Crosby Letters
Posted on Oct 11, 2013 by Yvonne Chan
Beyond our personal reservations regarding evangelism and the missionary enterprise, Emma Crosby Letters collection is exceptionally interesting because it lets us see two very different perspectives on how women lived in the 19th century and on their personal struggles. On one side, we can see how the gender limitations of the time made it impossible […]
Explore Open Collections: Dorothy Burnett Bookbinding Tools
Posted on Oct 01, 2013 by Yvonne Chan
Dorothy Burnett was the first independent artisan bookbinder to set up shop in Vancouver. Her friendship with Anne Yandle, previously head of Special Collections at UBC, compelled Burnett to choose our library to house a rich collection of 224 of her most treasured artifacts used in her bookbinding career. As an example of the Dorothy Burnett […]
Traveling in the BC Bibliography collection
Posted on Sep 25, 2013 by Yvonne Chan
As a co-op student working at UBC Library Digital Initiatives Unit I get to see incredibly interesting materials that I would never see otherwise. Have I ever thought, for example, of reading anything by Daniel M. Gordon? No, never, not before digitizing his book Mountain and Prairie, A Journey from Victoria to Winnipeg, Via Place […]
Greater Vancouver Regional District – Planning Department Land Use Maps
Posted on Sep 10, 2013 by Rob
Metro Vancouver (previously the Great Vancouver Regional District), the regional political and corporate body representing 24 Lower Mainland authorities, has granted permission to the UBC Library to digitized a series of planing department land use maps. There are four series: 1965, 1971, 1980 covering the Lower Mainland and 1983 for the City of Vancouver only. […]
Fisherman Publishing Society Collection
Posted on Jul 16, 2013 by Rob
The UBC Library Rare Books & Special Collections division has as one of its many unique and fascinating collections the photographic material of the Fisherman Publishing Society. The Society published the bi-weekly newspaper The Fisherman for two important fishing unions: the Salmon Purse Seiners Union and the Pacific Coast Fishermen’s Union. As you can see […]
What do hedgehogs and cats have in common?
Posted on Jul 12, 2013 by Yvonne Chan
They both play croquet, apparently! Digital Initiatives is currently digitizing selected images from the Arkley Croquet Collection, which is housed in UBC Library’s Rare Books and Special Collections. The Arkley Croquet Collection contains more than 2,000 images taken from a variety of media and dates from the mid-nineteenth century to the early twenty-first century. As […]
The Okanagan Historical Society Reports
Posted on Jul 02, 2013 by Yvonne Chan
The annual reports of the Okanagan Historical Society are now available as a digital collection. There are 69 issues in the collection, dating back to 1926 and continuing until 2007. The issues are fully searchable online and available for download as PDF documents. The Okanagan Historical Society has always been active in promoting the history […]
Update of Bullock Webster Collection
Posted on Jun 24, 2013 by Yvonne Chan
The Bullock Webster collection has been updated with new high-quality images. The original material, an album filled with watercolour and ink sketches, is very delicate. As such, the digital collection up until now was composed of scans we made of the old access photographs. Although we tried to make these scans represent the original sketches […]
Delgamuukw Trial Transcripts
Posted on May 31, 2013 by Yvonne Chan
For Aboriginal (Un)History Month, we are featuring our digital collection of the Delgamuukw trial transcripts, which document a landmark case in British Columbian and Canadian history. The Delgamuukw case began in 1984 with the Gitxan and Wet’suwet’en Nations claiming ownership and jurisdiction over 58,000 square kilometres […]