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Archival Acquisitions at the York University Libraries
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The Clara Thomas Archives & Special Collections of York University Libraries 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 an international network of antiquarian book dealers, retiring faculty and staff, and individuals and organizations across the country. While York University has always specialized in research collections relating to Canadian literature, politics, fine arts and social reform, a generational change in faculty has opened new horizons for the expansion of acquisition activities.
Focus is concentrated on six areas:
These areas share intersecting content in the disciplines of Canadian studies, women’s studies, multiculturalism and sexual diversity. Visit our website, email us or drop by during our research hours to explore! Above, left: Students in the Archives Reading Room, 31 March 1989. (photographer: Brian Pichell). York University photograph collection, F0091. ASC05083. Left: A contemporary student doing research in the Archives Reading Room, original furniture still intact. Updates of Recent Acquisitions Wyndham Lewis Collection York University Libraries recently purchased from antiquarian bookseller Hugh Anson-Cartwright a collection of Wyndham Lewis books and related material. The Canadian-born English painter and writer was a seminal figure in Modernist literature and founder of the Vorticist movement. Always a controversial and extreme character, Lewis represents an important, but often overlooked, figure in English Modernism. This collection will be a rich resource for students studying the literary and art movements of the early 20th century.
Aubrey Golden and Civil Liberties This recent accession consists of client files from the law practice of Aubrey Golden. Best known for his involvement in civil liberties cases, Golden’s work also focused on constitutional, labour, environmental, and administrative law. Golden took a lead role in the development of collective bargaining for professionals working in education, science, and engineering. He also represented Native groups in their disputes with government agencies, commissions, and private parties. The fonds also documents Golden's defense of the sex shop Lovecraft for obscenity in the 1970s, as well as his defense of figures such as David DePoe during a period of conflict between the hippie community of Yorkville and local authorities in the 1960s.
Above: David DePoe speaking at a sit-in and a press conference in Toronto, 1967. Toronto Telegram fonds, F0433. ASC00621, ASC00623, ASC00624. An online finding aid can be accessed at:http://archivesfa.library.yorku.ca/submissions/fonds/ON00370-f0000510.pdf. Morgan Family and Midwifery The Morgan family has recently donated nursing and medical textbooks, as well as medical documents including a medical register kept by midwife Helen James of London between 1942 and 1946. This donation provides rich insight into medical practices in England during WWII.
 Midwifery Then: Recent Acquisitions to York’s Special Collections Researchers can often find supplementary sources for archival material in our special collections. In recent years, the Libraries have acquired rare books relating to the history of nursing. These acquisitions complement archival holdings like the Morgan Family fonds and support the School of Nursing Program at the university. A recent addition has been this early 18th century treatise on midwifery. Left: title page of Culpepper's compleat and experienc'd midwife, (1718), call number 11221. An online finding aid is located at http://www.library.yorku.ca/find/Record/2306439. Marylou McPhedran and Women's Rights Marilou McPhedran is a Canadian feminist lawyer, consultant and activist. Her archival records document her work and activities in the areas of constitutional reform, women's national and international rights, women's health, and violence against women and children. Included in the fonds are materials relating to McPhedran’s seminal work to ensure that women were included in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, as well as materials relating to her activities on behalf of the Women's Legal Education Action Fund (LEAF), as well as on the Metropolitan Action Committee on Violence against Women and Children and the Ad Hoc Committee of Canadian Women on the Constitution. An online finding aid is located at: http://archivesfa.library.yorku.ca/fonds/ON00370-f0000514.pdf Obsidian Theatre Company and the Black Voice
Obsidian has encouraged Canada's local black playwrights and actors, mounting local works such as The Adventures of a Black Girl in Search of God, Born Ready, The Monument and Consecrated Ground, as well as the first international production (a Canada/Barbados collaboration) of Austin Clarke's Giller Prize-winning novel The Polished Hoe. The theatre holdings include operational records, correspondence, production notes, critic reviews, costume and set designs as well as playbills, posters and other promotional material. Above: selections from the Obsidian Theatre Company fonds, F555. An online finding aid is located at: http://archivesfa.library.yorku.ca/fonds/ON00370-f0000555.pdf Lee Lorch and Civil Rights During the 1950s and 1960s, mathematician Lee Lorch and his wife, Grace Lonergan Lorch, were involved in the civil rights movement in the United States. They fought for the desegregation of the Stuyvesant Housing community in New York City and later participated in the desegregation of schooling in Tennessee and Arkansas. Both were brought before the Un-American Activities Committee, and following harassment, the family emigrated to Canada. The Lee Lorch fonds contains his professorial and personal papers as a mathematician, academic, civil rights activist and humanitarian.
Above: selections from the Lee Lorch fonds, including a photo of the family at a press conference in 1949. ASC05122. An online finding aid is located at: http://archivesfa.library.yorku.ca/fonds/ON00370-f0000524.pdf Greene and Prigent Family and Royalist France This collection of material, recently donated by York Professor Ian Greene, consists of correspondence, genealogical charts, birth and marriage certificates regarding the Prigent family and primarily concerns the activities of François Noël, le Comte de Prigent. Prigent was a soldier and aide-de-camp to kings Louis XVI and Louis XVIII and as an agent, conveyed correspondence from Royalist leaders in France to the British government between 1790 and 1808. Prigent is often cited as one of the historical inspirations for The Scarlet Pimpernel. The fonds also contains records relating to the financial affairs of his widow, Marie-Josèphe le Corney de St. Jovin, la Comtesse de Prigent, including efforts to lay claim to the legacy of Jean Thiery (d. 1695) and an inventory of Jovin's estate after her death.
Above: selections from the Prigent & Green Family fonds, F548. Inscribing Place and Space in 19th Century North America With the university’s disciplinary expansion into Environmental Studies, the Archives is seeking out historical materials that will support the study and analysis of how Canadians have conceived of, and inscribed, their surroundings. One recent acquisition is a small octavo pocketbook containing a folded linen backed map of Upper and Lower Canada in 1846 with concession lines, waterways and transport routes. 
Above: Edward Staveley. A Map of Canada Compiled from the Latest Authorities by Edward Staveley. Montreal: for Armour and Ramsay 1846. — Anna St.Onge, Archivist, Digital Projects and Outreach |
Founded in February 2000, Obsidian Theatre Company is a leading black theatre company in Canada endeavouring to produce local plays, develop playwrights and train emerging theatre professionals. 
