A New Year Calls for a New Impact Report!
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 […]
Slice of Life: Menus from the Chung Collection
The Chung Collection within Open Collections is known for its variety of photos and subjects. Recently, we took a journey through the menus within the collection- here are a few for your enjoyment: Does anyone know what the first a la carte menu item- “Chow Chow- 15” is? I’d be willing to try […]
Happy Thanksgiving!
We hope you enjoy the long weekend, good food, and this tour through parties and Thanksgivings past in our collections: in 1888, the Regina Lodge in Vancouver was charging $4 to attend a Social Ball and Supper: Turkey was the thing by 1913, as Women’s Words of Western Canada encourages a poultry raising cottage industry: […]
What’s Old is New Again
The objects within Open Collections are beautiful, often rare, and allow connection with history as only primary sources can. As your humble blog correspondent, I am consistently struck with how different things were, yet what we are interested in, our concerns, and struggles are the same. This week, let’s see what the past has to […]
Signs of Summer
The school term is over, finals are over, the sun is shining for more than an hour at a time… We’re spotting signs of summer both outside and in our collections!
Interior Inspiration
Planning a remodel? Want to refresh your decor? You just might catch the renovation bug after checking out these spaces! Perhaps vintage log cabin is your style: nature-inspired and cozy. How about a touch of Spanish flair? Milk glass lighting, plenty of greenery and a mix of stripes with more intricate tile patterns. Go glam nerd — but not too glam — by […]
Digital Collections Reading List
When we came across a “tribute list” in our collections, we couldn’t stop thinking about the Hunger Games trilogy—(Hey! Suzanne Collins! We’d be pretty into another series of districts set on a different continent, or in another time period)—and we realized there were a lot of other times we thought of books related to the collection, too. […]
Say Cheese!
Our collections feature thousands of photos, from natural wonders to family portraits, but it’s rare to see the person behind the lens—or even the lens itself. Practically, it makes sense, but nonetheless we love seeing the vintage models and often-smiling faces behind them.
World Travel Photo Album
We can’t deny it (nor do we want to!): we have an inspiring collection of travel-related items. The Chung Collection’s Canadian Pacific Railway Company materials kindle the romance of adventuring the continent by train or the globe by cruise ship, and many travelogues, maps, photographs, and other ephemera are are nestled in our other collections. There’s one particular item that’s causing some serious wanderlust right now: […]
Indulging Our Sweet Tooth
Perhaps you’re the type to want a sugary afternoon pick-me-up. Maybe you look forward to a sweet end after a long, tiring day. Perchance the ides of winter has you craving comfort foods. Or, you just might subscribe to the let-them-eat-cake lifestyle. Whatever the case, it’s not quite the end of January, and if you’re one of the 65% of Canadians looking to use the new year […]