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.
Bloedel Limited Fonds, Part 1: The Powell River Company
Posted on Oct 23, 2025 by Minghui Zhou
In 2016, we briefly explored the MacMillan Bloedel Ltd. and its predecessor, the Powell River Company Ltd., which you can read here. A quick recap: MacMillan Bloedel Ltd. began in 1909 as the Powell River Paper Company Ltd. Over the years, it became one of the largest forest products companies in the world, producing newsprint, […]
A Closer Look at the Conservation and Digitization of Shakespeare’s Second Folio
Posted on Oct 09, 2025 by Lauren Wong
This blog post was written by Lauren Wong, with invaluable help and advice from Chelsea Shriver, Rare Books and Special Collections Librarian of UBC Library. In 2023, the Digitization Centre completed the digitization of Shakespeare’s First Folio, making it more accessible to people worldwide. We previously wrote a blog post about this achievement, which you […]
Menus from the Chung Collection : Banff Springs Hotel
Posted on Sep 25, 2025 by Minghui Zhou
This week we are time-traveling through taste. Our spotlight is on the legendary Banff Springs Hotel, a Chateau-style hotel perched in the Rockies that has been delighting visitors for more than a century. Built during the golden age of Canadian railway travel, this iconic resort was more than just a place to stay, it was […]
Yucho Chow, Part 2: Chow’s Enduring Impact
Posted on Sep 11, 2025 by Jill Henderson
In our previous blog post, we introduced the remarkable Yucho Chow, a 20th-century Vancouver photographer who pushed back against the discriminatory racial practices of the era by welcoming anyone—regardless of race or nationality—into his studio. The Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection and the Uno Langmann Family Collection of B.C. Photographs, both available […]
Yucho Chow, Part 1: “Rain or Shine, Anything, Anywhere, Anytime”
Posted on Aug 28, 2025 by Jill Henderson
The early to mid 1900s marked a time of immense social exclusion for immigrants and people of colour in Vancouver, with most white-run businesses catering solely to Anglo customers. Much of the studio photography that has emerged from this era reflects this reality, obscuring the existence of the city’s immigrant families in the process. However, […]
Lake Louise Becomes the Swiss Alps in Eternal Love
Posted on Aug 14, 2025 by Jill Henderson
Browsing UBC Open Collections, one can find several instances of comparison between Western Canadian mountain ranges and the Swiss Alps. This postcard book, for example, labels the Rockies as the “Switzerland of America”. 20 Beautiful View of the Canadian Pacific Rockies, The Road through the Switzerland of America (Uno Langmann Collection, circa 1920s) Like the […]
Tracing the Evolution of the Library Through UBC Open Collections
Posted on Jul 31, 2025 by Jill Henderson
As an institution, the library has experienced profound transformations across history. Shifts in technology, education, and social values mean that the library is no longer solely an institution of intellectual discovery, but one of leisure, recreation, and community engagement, too. UBC Open Collections holds many materials which map the history of the library, including catalogues […]
Snapshots of British Columbia’s Ghost Towns: Part 2—Barkerville’s Chinatown
Posted on Jul 17, 2025 by Jill Henderson
In Part 1 of our two-part series about British Columbia’s ghost towns, we explored an influential event in the province’s labour history: the 1935 Corbin Miners’ Strike. This week, we’re taking a look at Barkerville’s Chinatown, one of the first established Chinatown neighbourhoods in Western North America. While often historically omitted from B.C.’s ghost town […]
Snapshots of British Columbia’s Ghost Towns: Part 1—The Corbin Miners’ Strike
Posted on Jul 03, 2025 by Jill Henderson
One of our most popular blog posts of all time examines the captivating story of northern British Columbia ghost town Anyox, a former company-owned mining community abandoned in 1935. Anyox, B.C. (early 1900s) This week, we bring you Part 1 in a two-part series exploring lesser-known British Columbia ghost town stories. To kick off the […]
Here for a Good Time, and a Long Time: Ephemera in Open Collections
Posted on Jun 19, 2025 by Jill Henderson
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 […]
