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open collections

Here for a Good Time, and a Long Time: Ephemera in Open Collections

By Jill Henderson on June 19, 2025

Ephemera, by its very definition, was never meant to stick around. Defined as items that have been preserved despite the fact that they were not intended to be at their time of production, the term is used to describe commonplace paper objects like flyers, menus, event tickets, postcards, and more. Valentine’s card (1919) from the […]

Posted in Digitizers' Blog | Tagged ephemera, open collections | Leave a response

“You Got to Speak Your Mind”: The 1960s Berkeley Protests

By Jill Henderson on May 9, 2025

In the 1960s, tensions around free speech, civil rights, and the Vietnam War were growing at the University of California, Berkeley. Students were organizing politically and becoming increasingly emboldened in their expressions of outrage through civil disobedience. The 1960s Berkeley protests represented the largest organized student demonstrations to date, drawing unprecedented numbers, producing tangible results, […]

Posted in Digitizers' Blog | Tagged activism, Berkeley Poster Collection, open collections, Vietnam War | Leave a response

Stanley Park: A Journey Through History and Today

By tianyif on September 25, 2024

Land Acknowledgement: We gratefully acknowledge that Stanley Park is on the unceded traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. As Vancouver’s first and largest urban park, Stanley Park stands as a cherished green oasis amidst the bustling cityscape. Originally a site of deep cultural significance for Indigenous peoples, Stanley Park […]

Posted in Digitizers' Blog | Tagged chung collection, First Nations Totem Poles, Hollow Tree, Indigenous cultures, open collections, Stanley Park, Uno Langmann Family Collection, wildlife | Leave a response

Japan in Focus: Part 2 – Exploring materials related to Japanese Canadian during World War II

By wonglm6 on August 6, 2024

Content Warning: This blog post features items that contain some outdated, racist, and derogatory language. This blog post follows the language guidelines set forth by Japanese Canadian Legacies, which can be found at this link. In this second part of our series “Japan in Focus”, we will delve into the materials within our open collections […]

Posted in Digitizers' Blog | Tagged japanese canadian photograph collection, japanese canadians, open collections, world war two | 1 Response

Japan in Focus: Part 1 – Kamishibai Plays and Their Diverse Audiences

By wonglm6 on July 23, 2024

Welcome to our blog series exploring Japan-related materials from our Open Collections! This week, we begin with Part 1, where we delve into the fascinating world of kamishibai plays from the private collection of Dr. Sharalyn Orbaugh, Department Head and Professor of Modern Japanese Literature and Popular Culture at UBC’s Asian Studies. While our previous […]

Posted in Digitizers' Blog | Tagged Kamishibai Propaganda Plays, open collections | Leave a response

The Lee Family: Enduring Struggles and Separation

By wonglm6 on July 9, 2024

In one of our blog posts in May, we briefly touched on the Chinese Head Tax, a burdensome imposition on many Chinese Canadians from the 1885 to 1923. This week, we will take a closer look at the life of Chuck Lee, one of the very few Chinese Canadians in Halifax in the early 1900s, […]

Posted in Digitizers' Blog | Tagged Chinese Canadian, Chinese Canadian Stories, Chinese Exclusion Act, Chuck Lee, Halifax, Head Tax, open collections | Leave a response

Revisiting the Y2K bug through open collections

By wonglm6 on June 25, 2024

Remember the year 2000? As the clock ticked closer to midnight on December 31st, 1999, the world was preparing for the potential chaos of the infamous Y2K bug. In this week’s blog post, we’ll take a trip down memory lane and revisit some materials in our open collections that are related to the Y2K crisis! […]

Posted in Digitizers' Blog | Tagged Millennium bug, open collections, Y2K, Y2K bug | Leave a response

Meet Norman L. Kwong (林佐民): A Remarkable Chinese Canadian Icon

By wonglm6 on June 11, 2024

Norman L. Kwong’s path to becoming a significant figure in Canadian sports and society as a Chinese Canadian speaks volumes about resilience and breaking barriers. In this week’s blog post, we will explore his remarkable life, including the challenges he faced and the success he achieved. Early Life and Challenges Norman Kwong (far right, front […]

Posted in Digitizers' Blog | Tagged Chinese Canadian Stories, Football, open collections, Sports | Leave a response

Mining in British Columbia

By wonglm6 on May 28, 2024

In this week’s blog post, we’ll take a brief look at the history of coal mining in British Columbia and its impact on the region’s industrial landscape. All the materials featured in this post can be found in our open collections. Please feel free to click the captions underneath the photos attached to this blog […]

Posted in Digitizers' Blog | Tagged BC historical newspapers, British Columbia History, Labour union, mining, open collections | Leave a response

Exploring Japanese Travel Narratives in Tokugawa Era

By wonglm6 on May 14, 2024

This week’s blog post explores the fascinating world of Japanese travel during the Tokugawa period (1603 – 1868), both within Japan and beyond its borders. All materials shown in this blog post are from our Japanese Maps of the Tokugawa Era Collection which is available through Open Collection. 1. Seiyū ryotan (西遊旅譚) [A Diary of […]

Posted in Digitizers' Blog | Tagged First Opium War, Japan, Japanese Maps of the Tokugawa Era, open collections, travel | Leave a response

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