Archivally Speaking: Recent Additions to the Clara Thomas Archives
The research collections at York University Libraries continue to grow almost as fast as the University itself. Recent additions to the Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections have reinforced some established areas of collecting, while others have opened new areas for research.
Canadian Literature
The papers of Canadian writers have always been an area of strength for the Archives, and new arrivals continue this tradition. Twenty-five years after Margaret Laurence transferred her papers to York University, her correspondence still arrives in the gifts of her friends and associates. More than 60 letters written by Laurence to Ian and Sandy Cameron between 1969 and shortly before her death in 1987 record her personal views during a turbulent period in her life, as well as her collaboration with Ian to write the music for the film based on her novel, The Diviners.
Other acquisitions survey newer ground on the Canadian literary landscape, seen through the viewpoint of multicultural imaginations. The research notes and manuscripts of Janice Kulyk Keefer for The Green Library explore questions about identity and the Ukrainian experience. Shauna Singh Baldwin, a Montreal-born writer now living in the United States, offers unique perspectives on women in South Asian society through her papers. Research into creative writing and South Asian studies will benefit greatly from the decision by M.G. Vassanji – the only repeat winner of the Giller Prize – to donate his annotated manuscripts, travel journals and correspondence, not to mention his work as a nuclear physicist, that illustrate the dramatic difference in writing styles between the sciences and the humanities.
Performing Arts
The performing arts have been another mainstay of the Archives’ holdings, and this theme continues to develop. Jason Sherman donated correspondence, contracts, and draft scripts that were a major part of his productions for stage, radio, and television. Theatre and the small screen also figure prominently in the papers of Norman Campbell, who developed and produced some of the CBC’s earliest programming, directed episodes of American shows such as All in the Family, and wrote the score for Anne of Green Gables – The Musical, a perennial attraction at the Charlottetown Festival. Broadcasting, journalism and political commentary come together in the research notes, taped interviews and manuscripts of Steve Paikin, the host of TVO’s Studio 2. Canada’s classical music scene is also represented in recent donations, particularly in the papers of Peggy Sampson, a former York and noted performer on the viola da gamba, and Victor Feldbrill, a violinist and conductor with the symphony orchestras of Toronto, Winnipeg and the CBC.
Labour History
Labour history is another beneficiary of recent donations. The daily journals of Hank Kobryn track the work of a business agent for the Ironworkers Union and secretary/treasurer for the Provincial Building and Construction Trades Council of Ontario from 1953 to 1980. The Toronto Musicians’ Association has transferred more than 100 years of records, including minutes from the 1880s to 1990s, members’ registries covering the same period, and ledgers of the Relief Committee during the Depression of the 1930s. The most recent arrival is approximately 100 linear metres of records from the Mine Mill & Smelter Workers - Local 598 of the Canadian Auto Workers Union (CAW) in Sudbury that were created between the 1950s and 1990s, predominantly after 1980. These documents are already the topic of several inquiries, but it will take time to process this material so that it is available to historians, sociologists, political scientists and many other researchers.
New Areas of Collecting
The Libraries continue to look for new areas of collecting to support research and teaching at York University.
Sexual diversity is one of these emerging fields, which now has access to more than 850 titles of lesbian pulp fiction in the Ruth Dworin collection that provides comprehensive coverage of this paperback genre during its heyday in the 1950s and early 1960s.
Suggestions by faculty for new acquisitions by the Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections are always welcome; in fact, they are encouraged. Orientation sessions can be arranged to introduce students to the rich and varied holdings of this department. Please contact Michael Moir, the University Archivist, with your ideas or questions by email (mmoir@yorku.ca) or by telephone (ext. 22457).
