The Clara Thomas Archives & Special Collections collects primary source material to support research and learning by the University’s faculty and students.  New materials are acquired from a wide variety of sources including antiquarian book dealers, retiring faculty and staff, as well as individuals and organizations across the country. 

New Initiatives

Mariposa Folk Festival

Through a Archival Community Development Program (ACDP) Grant provided by the Ministry of Heritage, the archives was able to digitize a small selection of programs, posters, photographs and live sound recordings of the extensive holdings of the Mariposa Folk Foundation.

Covering the first twenty years of the Mariposa folk festival (1961-1981), our online exhibit features a selection of materials documenting the Canadian folk music revival in the 1960s and '70s.

The project would not have been possible without the hard work and expertise of graduate students from York’s Music department in the Faculty of Fine Arts in digitizing original reel-to-reel recordings and obtaining copyright permissions from artists.

The online exhibit Mariposa: celebrating Canadian folk music can be viewed here: http://archives.library.yorku.ca/exhibits/show/mariposa

Above: a selection of photographs, pins and posters digitized for Mariposa: Celebrating Canadian Folk Music exhibit, including photographs of Joni Mitchell, First Nations dancers and Ian and Sylvia Tyson. ASC05649, ASC05994, ASC06062, ASC06073 and ASC06091, Mariposa Folk Foundation fonds.

Portuguese-Canadian History Project

A new digitization project underway at the Clara Thomas Archives & Special Collections involves collaborative efforts with graduate students working in the field. The Portuguese-Canadian History Project/Projecto de História Luso-Canadiana is gathering archival collections from the local Portuguese community in Toronto and depositing them at York.  We hope to digitize many of these records to provide better access to communities in Canada and abroad. To date, the project has acquired records from historians working in the Portuguese community, local politicians, social activists and community organizations.

Above: selections from holdings acquired as part of the Portuguese Canadian History Project, from Grace Anderson, David C. Higgs, Ilda Janaurío, Domingos Marques, Cidália Periera and John Madeiros.

Recent Additions to York’s Archival Collections

York University recently received the research papers and reference library of Professor Varpu Lindström. Lindström, a member of York’s faculty since 1984, is a leading scholar on Finnish immigration to North America. Establishing her reputation with her work Defiant Sisters: a Social History of Finnish Immigrant Women in Canada 1890-1930, Lindström has published on many aspects of the Finnish experience.

Lindström's archives provide a rich resource of research and primary source material collected throughout her career from families and community groups, including Finnish-language plays and newspapers, church and community records, as well as letters and family photograph albums.

Left: a selection of photographs and publications from the Varpu Lindström fonds.

An online finding aid of the Varpu Lindström fonds can be found at : http://archivesfa.library.yorku.ca/fonds/ON00370-f0000558.htm

—Anna St-Onge, Archivist, Digital Projects and Outreach