Articles tagged with: Archives and Special Collections

  • Trio of exhibits celebrate Isaac Brock and his namesake University’s 60th anniversary

    Friday, September 13, 2024 | By

    Coat of Arms of Brock University

    In celebration of Brock University’s 60th anniversary, Brock University Archives & Special Collections have installed three new exhibits focusing on Major General Sir Isaac Brock and graphical representations of the University.

    At the east entrance of the James A. Gibson Library, view the collection of archival treasures depicting Sir Isaac Brock over the centuries.  As no one really knows what the ‘Hero of Upper Canada’  looked like, seeing how artists have portrayed him over time is always interesting.  From paintings to Pokémon, you can find Isaac almost everywhere.

    Action figure of Isaac Brock

    The Major-General Isaac Brock action figure. Created by the Canadian Legends company, the collector’s item is one of several unique pieces on display.

    On display inside the Matheson Learning Commons and at the Thistle entrance, visitors can learn how Brock University has promoted itself graphically from 1964 to the present. From the most successful campaigns to the least, each exhibit represents a specific time in the University’s history as well as art styles and ideas.

    1968 Time Magazine ad for Brock University

    A young man in suit and tie strides into a bright future with the Schmon Tower in the background. This advertisement from Time Magazine appeared in the November 8, 1968 issue of Time Canada with the compliments of the publisher.

    Enjoy these exhibits throughout September (and Surgité)!

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    Categories: Featured Collections, Learning Commons

  • Brock Library Now and Then

    Sunday, August 25, 2024 | By

    Students sit at a group study table on the main floor of the library in a photograph from 1982

    As part of Brock University’s 60th anniversary celebrations, we present Brock Library Now and Then, a treasure trove of photos showing the development of the Brock University Library and the generations of students who studied here.

    Reminisce in-person by scanning the QR codes located on posters in the Matheson Learning Commons (main floor or the Library), Floor 5, and in the Map, Data, & GIS Library. For those unable to visit in person, navigate to Brock Library Now and Then exhibit online.

    Most of the images are from the University photo collection held in the Archives and Special Collections. We thank Archives staff for their contributions to this exhibit, and invite you to delve further into Brock University history and lore at the Pop-Up Archives event during this year’s very special Homecoming Skyline Celebration.

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    Categories: Featured Collections, Learning Commons

  • Library Survey Findings & Next Steps

    Wednesday, June 26, 2024 | By

    You spoke. We listened.

    In November 2023, we ran a campus-wide survey, asking the campus community for feedback on library services and resources. In January, we shared a brief note thanking you for your feedback and announcing the prize winners.

    We have taken these recent months to analyze and understand the results.

    A major finding from the survey was that, on balance, the Library is performing quite well! The majority of respondents ranked our performance high across most categories. We are gratified to hear that the Library is largely meeting the needs of the Brock community.

    We also heard that there are a number of areas where we can improve, and we take that seriously. At this time, we’d like to share with you a summary of what he heard, as well as our next steps in responding to your feedback.

    Brock University Library Survey Key Findings report.

    Biggest priorities for improvement

    • Finding a quiet place in the Library to study
    • Finding a place in the Library to work in a group

    Other areas we can improve

    • Managing levels of noise and behaviour
    • Power/ electrical outlet availability and maintenance
    • Informing you about Library services
    • Faculty members: Information resources that meet learning and research needs

    Where we are doing well

    • Wireless access
    • Accurate answers to questions
    • Help is available from Library staff when needed
    • Off-campus access to Library resources and services

    What are we going to do in response to the survey results?

    We are kicking off a number of projects, large and small.

    • Usability issues with study spaces (findability, noise, etc.): We will strike a team with members from across the library to directly address these concerns and propose improvements. We expect this work to begin this summer and continue into the fall term.
    • Electrical outlets: Working with Brock’s Facilities Management (FM) team, we have tested and repaired faulty outlets throughout the entire library building. We will continue to work with FM on a regular basis to repair outlets as new issues are reported. We have also begun a project to determine where additional electrical outlets are needed and will have these added over the summer.
    • Group study: We have been piloting a mobile-friendly version of our room booking software, which makes it easier to see each room’s features. You are welcome to try it out now, and we plan on rolling this new version out this summer.
    • Communication: Survey respondents indicated that their preferred way to receive library updates is via email. We will be investigating options for email updates in Fall 2024: Watch your inbox!

    In some areas, we have more to learn before we can determine how to address a problem. For example, we are considering strategies for specific input from faculty about their library resource needs.

    We will be in touch as we make progress on the projects described above.

    Again, we are so grateful to you for taking the time to respond to our survey. We look forward to making changes and improvements that respond to your concerns. We were especially pleased to hear your resounding praise for the people who work in the library:

    “Our library is a wonderful, inclusive space that (in my opinion) is very welcoming to students, staff and community members. The staff are very knowledgeable and happy to help students with any questions they may have.”

    “The library’s standout features is its knowledgeable and approachable staff. They are always willing to assist students, providing valuable guidance in locating resources, conducting research, and navigating databases. Their expertise has been invaluable to my academic pursuits, and I am grateful for their continuous support.”

    “My favourite place with my favourite people!”

    I would like to express my gratitude to the members of the 2023 Library Survey Team who led the survey implementation and supported the analysis of results: Monica Rettig (Lead), Kym Ash, Daniel Brett, Alicia Floyd, Laurie Morrison, and Tanya Sicoli.

    For any questions or comments please don’t hesitate to reach out.

    ~Nicole Nolan, University Librarian
    nnolan@brocku.ca

     

     

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    Categories: Main

  • Women, Water, and Words: An Exploration of Visual Culture in Niagara

    Tuesday, March 05, 2024 | By

    Historical photographs of Niagara Falls

    A new exhibit in the Library and at the Thistle entrance to the Matheson Learning Commons features a selection of items from Brock’s Archives & Special Collections chosen by Visual Arts students in VISA 2P90 (19th Century Visual Culture).

    Each student selected an item from the collection to research and present. There is a broad range of material in this exhibit–from whimsical sketches to advertisements and tourist material to photographs of architectural monuments–but they are all connected by a focus on the history of visual culture in Niagara. 

    We invite you to visit this intriguing exhibition until April 7.

     

     

     

     

     

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    Categories: Archives, Featured Collections, Learning Commons

  • Black History and African Heritage Month at Brock Library

    Monday, February 05, 2024 | By

    Government of Canada Black History Month poster

    This month, as Brock celebrates African Heritage and Black History, the Library is hosting learning opportunities open to all.

    February 7 and 28 at 11am and 2pm: Join David Sharron, Brock University Archivist for a tour that illuminates the Black history of St. Catharines and Niagara through the University’s archival collections.

    February 8, 7pm: Join Archives of Ontario’s Archivist Melissa J. Nelson for a talk on the power and potential of Black archival collections. Melissa positions these collections as tools for empowerment that allow Black record creators to reclaim the historical narrative. This talk celebrates Black record creators who documented and passed on their life’s stories.

    February 12-March 1: Visit the Learning Commons exhibit cases to view Echoes of the African Great Lakes (Rwanda), an exhibit of artifacts curated by SOFIFRAN, a non-profit community organization, created in 2007 by French-speaking immigrant women living in the Niagara region and from various parts of the world.

    We are thankful to our partners, the Black Student Success Centre, SOFIFRAN, and Professor Jean Ntakirutimana, Modern Languages Literatures, and Cultures for their support.

    All month long, we invite you to browse and borrow from a special end-cap of Black authored popular fiction and non-fiction from our Badger Books collection. A virtual book display, Celebrating Black Voices and Sharing Black Stories, is freshly updated with new titles and available online.

    The Brock community is celebrating Black History Month and African Heritage Month with a full calendar of events and programming. See what’s going on and join in the celebrations.

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    Categories: Learning Commons, Main

  • Community researcher letter of gratitude

    Wednesday, November 01, 2023 | By

    Silo and Buchner barn in the Town of Pelham, Ontario

    A Special Thank-you to Brock U. from a Grateful Local Resident
    Graham Segger, BA, FCA, FCPA

    I should perhaps start with a few confessions. First, I am not a Brock student, faculty member, employee or alumnus. I do, however, live less than 15 kilometres SSW of the Schmon Tower in the Town of Pelham (and former Village of Fonthill). The history of a part of that town has been the subject of a fascinating research project which has absorbed a substantial part of my spare time over the last couple of years. This brings me to my next confession. That BA listed above was not in history, or even the liberal arts, and the FCA designation simply means that I spent my pre-retirement career as a moderately successful chartered accountant. Research is research, however, and my third confession is that I have spent more time in the various Brock and other Niagara Region libraries over the last two years studying history and geography than I did through any comparable two year period during my own university days, lo those many years ago.

    This then is my letter of thanks to the many Brock faculty, staff and alumni who have generously helped me during this research project.

    My initial interaction with Brock was in the Archives and Special Collections 10th floor reading room where Edie Williams and Anne Adams lugged heavy and dusty Registry Office Copy Books out of the Archives Stacks for my perusal on numerous occasions. These books provide an incredibly detailed accounting of land transfers and other documents such as Will probates back to the 1790s. The carefully compiled Finding Aids supporting several of Brock’s other Special Collections were also helpful in my research. The Archives head David Sharron provided some leads while I was tracking down permissions for other materials incorporated into my project.

    When I was seeking information on the glacial origins, Indigenous history and early land surveys of the area the 9th floor stacks supplied a wealth of authoritative texts, and far too many rabbit holes to descend into.

    I’ve been a map geek throughout much of my life so my discovery of the treasure trove of Niagara related Historical Maps and Air Photos maintained online by the Map, Data and GIS Library was a revelation as was the collection of physical Pelham maps. The 1827 and 1840 sketch maps of a proposed military fortress on Pelham Heights contained a huge amount of data about Upper Fonthill (then called Riceville) including roads, distances, school houses, cider presses, tanneries, soil conditions, tree species and springs. The names of the 100 acre lot owners and the locations of their farm houses, fields and orchards were identified for both years allowing me to appreciate the evolution of the community during the intervening years. Sharon Janzen of MDGL also helped me navigate the new world of Open Data multi-layer map building. The result was two very informative maps she generated based upon my content wish lists.

    Dr. John Menzies, Professor of Geography and Earth Sciences, and a global authority on past glacial environments kindly read my initial glacial era chapter. He then politely explained to me how the understanding of the science has changed dramatically since most of my original source texts were written 50 years ago and more. He generously stuck with me through several more iterations of that chapter and contributed a helpful illustration. I hope he has my back when the good people of Fonthill (where he also lives) read that the huge mound of sand and gravel at the top of the Fonthill is not really a kame.

    Dr. Anna Lathrop, Professor of Kinesiology and former Vice-Provost and Associate Vice President, Students, as well as a life-long resident of Pelham, generously contributed a foreword to the book which emerged from the research, and was supportive from the beginning of the project.

    Dr. Michelle Vosburgh, Instructor in the Canadian Studies and History departments, and another Pelham resident, provided excellent insights into the early surveying of Niagara and also contributed other very helpful suggestions and edits. Many other Brock alumni also provided support and assistance, including Adam Shoalts and Robert Young in particular.

    This project has demonstrated the huge value of living so close to an excellent academic institution like Brock. Much of my research was done in the May to August periods of 2022 and 2023 at times when the campus was quiet and the parking was free, though I did make some considerable financial contributions through the Honk parking app at other times. I am forever grateful for this access to these extensive research materials, the excellent interaction I have had with hard working and knowledgeable staff and the insights provided by authoritative faculty members.

    Editor’s note: Mr. Segger’s new book The Land at the Crest of the Hill: Clues to Niagara History from Upper Fonthill is available in eBook format through the website of its publisher The Pelham Historical Society. Paperback copies are available at several Fonthill retailers. All net proceeds from the sale of the book go to charity.

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    Categories: Archives

  • Construction on floor 10 begins soon

    Monday, June 19, 2023 | By

    floor 10 of the Schmon tower showing empty bookshelves and chairs stacked on top of desks.

    Construction adjacent to Brock’s Archives and Special Collections on floor 10 will begin on Monday, July 3. Noise and disruption are expected during the project which is expected to last 3-4 weeks. The floor will remain open for book retrieval, and access to the Archives and Special Collections Reading Room is not affected.

    Alternative silent study spaces in the library are located on floor 9, the silent study room on the northside of floor 5 and Classroom B in the Matheson Learning Commons.

     

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    Categories: Archives, Main

  • Archives & Special Collections the focus of podcast episode

    Wednesday, February 15, 2023 | By

    Foreword podcast logo

    Looking for podcast recommendations? David Sharron, Head of Archives & Special Collections at Brock Library was recently a guest on Foreword, a podcast produced by Brock University’s Faculty of Humanities. David and podcast host, Alison Innes, sat down to discuss what an archive is, how to conduct archival research, and how technology is changing archives, to name a few topics.

    In the episode, David also shares some of his personal journey in the archival world and spotlights a few of the archival collections cared for here at Brock.

    Listen to the episode now. Also be sure to subscribe to Foreword on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

     

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    Categories: Archives, Main

  • Brock collections from World Wars help Niagara remember

    Tuesday, November 08, 2022 | By

    Sharron, Head of Archives and Special Collections at Brock University, looks at records from the Percy Carruthers Band fonds and the Laura de Turczynowicz fonds. These collections include a small sample of the hundreds of records related to the World Wars housed in the Brock University Library’s Archives and Special Collections

    This article written by Jocelyn Titone, Marketing and Communications Officer, was originally published in The Brock News.

    As Remembrance Day approaches, Brock University’s archival collections bring history to the forefront.

    The Brock University Library’s Archives and Special Collections houses some of the most unique and valuable records representing all aspects of Niagara’s history, including a wide range of historical items related to the First and Second World Wars.

    David Sharron, Head of Archives and Special Collections, said although each collection is significant in its own way, the records that cover the World Wars and other modern conflicts evoke a different reaction.

    “There is an immediate reverence for both the individuals who fought the battles and those who supported the war effort from home,” he said. “These records remind us of a time when people and organizations made sacrifices and pitched in to do their part. It was difficult and often tragic, but as a community, Niagara made it through.”

    Collection highlights include a letter from a father serving oversees to his young daughter; a trench helmet and rucksack used in the First World War; documents on the City of St. Catharines’ war preparations and measures; photographs of fundraising parades to support the war; oral histories from the Niagara Mennonite community; and postcards from a military training camp in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

    Sharron said with some of the wars happening so long ago, many of the people who experienced them are no longer alive to share their story.

    “Their history and voices held in these records help us remember,” he said. “It’s why we preserve them and make them available.”

    While many of the collections are digitized and available online for anyone to access, including the records Sharron curated below, there are millions of documents and artifacts housed in the physical archives.

    “The online collections are just the tip of the iceberg,” he said. “There is always more to the story; a fuller history unfolds as you sift through a box of documents or flip through books from that era.”

    Brock University’s Archives and Special Collections is open to the Niagara community as well as Brock students and researchers. The public is invited to access the physical collections on the 10th floor of the James A. Gibson Library in Brock University’s Arthur Schmon Tower Monday to Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Writing ahead of a visit to archives@brocku.ca is recommended in case a class is occupying the space or the reading room is full. Vaccination and mask protocols are in effect.

    Digitized records related to the World Wars

    Arthur Albert Schmon
    Arthur Albert Schmon, one of Brock University’s founders and the Schmon Tower’s namesake, fought for the United States Army during the First World War before coming to live in St. Catharines.

    Laura de Turcynowicz (nee Blackwell)
    Laura de Turcynowicz was a famous opera singer from St. Catharines who married a Polish Count and was living in Poland when the First World War began. The Prussian Army occupied her home for several months before she escaped to the U.S. She wrote a book about her ordeal and raised money for the suffering people of Poland. In 1918, de Turcynowicz was instrumental in promoting the training and education of young American women of Polish descent to help with war relief efforts in Poland. The group became known as the Polish Grey Samaritans.

    Percy Carruthers Band
    Percy Carruthers Band was a decorated First World War soldier who earned the Military Cross with two bars and the French Croix de Guerre with Palm. He was also the former caretaker of the Brock Library’s Woodruff and Post Office collections. Among other records in this collection are letters from his sweetheart Margaret Woodruff from St. Catharines, photographs, military documents, a trench helmet and rucksack from the First World War, and medals he received for courage and determination.

    Samuel DeVeaux Woodruff
    The Woodruff family of St. Catharines came to Canada from the U.S. in 1795. They were an integral part of the Village of St. Davids and played an active role in the battles fought in Upper Canada. Samuel DeVeaux Woodruff was killed in action during the First World War as a member of the 116th unit of the Queen’s Battalion of the Canadian Infantry (Central Ontario Regiment).

    Niagara Camp
    Niagara Camp was a military training camp in Niagara-on-the-Lake that was used as a summer training grounds for infantry, cavalry and artillery. Postcards of Niagara Camp were common. This collection features postcards from the early years of the First World War.

    Orville James (Jimmy) Manson
    Orville James (Jimmy) Manson was an amateur photographer from Niagara who brought his camera with him while serving for the Canadian Navy during the Second World War.

    Mennonites of Niagara
    Oral history interviews of members of the Mennonite community who came to Niagara from Europe after the upheavals of the First and Second World Wars.

    Interesting parts included in large, digitized collections:

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    Categories: Archives, Main

  • Brock Library services and resources highlighted in new exhibit

    Tuesday, August 30, 2022 | By

    Multilingual welcome sign

    New and returning students are invited to stop by and view a new exhibit in the Library and Learning Commons display cases. The exhibit features unique items from Brock’s Archives and Special Collections, the Makerspace, and Map, Data & GIS Library. A guide to study spots, research basics, and the various ways to get help from the library are also featured.  Welcome to Brock University Library runs to Friday, September 16.

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    Categories: Archives, Learning Commons, Main, Makerspace, MDGL

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