| Did you know? York’s Clara Thomas Archives, one of Canada’s finest university archival collections, now has an updated 10,000 square foot storage facility in the basement of Central Square to house its growing collections. Acquiring and preparing this storage space has been a long process, planning for which began as far back as 2004. The acquisition was motivated primarily by the fact that archival document storage was nearing capacity in the Scott Library and additional space was needed if there was to be growth in acquisitions. As well, for the long-term preservation of York’s valuable archival collections, the space had to be built with advanced environmental controls. Work on the “new” space began in 2005 and continued through most of 2006, with the Archives moving their collections shortly thereafter. Because this facility is not open to the public, we asked University Archivist Michael Moir to show us around and let us take some photos. |
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So what’s new in this storage space? Take a tour:
The boxy, open space has mobile shelving installed to provide greater and more intensive use of space than was available in the old Scott archival storage rooms.
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The facility allows several efficiencies in document processing. It contains a staging area for materials being processed, so that Archives staff have direct access to the materials arriving on skids and in boxes and may more easily identify and process them. University Archivist Michael Moir observes: “Prior to relocation we had to move records between the Library’s first floor, where the boxes were stored, and the third floor Archives vault for processing, which was not very efficient.”
The space has improved climate controls for long term preservation of important and often unique documents, as well as a fire suppression system. To safeguard the collections, the room is kept at constant cool temperature, low humidity, and positive air pressure. The walls are painted white to minimize the need for harsh lighting and the paint and floor sealant used were special low-emission varieties. For security, the room is alarmed with motion detectors monitored on a 24 hour basis. |
Facts and figures
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The storage space contains archival material in many media within York’s traditional collecting areas of Canadian history, the fine arts, Canadian literature, women’s studies and the multicultural imagination. Examples include 1 ¼ million photos, prints and negatives from the Toronto Telegram, the correspondence of author Margaret Laurence, audio and video tapes of the Mariposa Folk Festival, films of the Rhombus Media group, and a collection of records around Desh Pardesh, the arts festival organized by a South Asian visual arts collective. The whole Clara Thomas archival collection currently stretches along almost 5,000 linear meters of shelving, of which about 800 linear meters are York University records.
What benefits accrue to York’s faculty, students and staff?
The goal of keeping the University’s expanding archival holdings on campus for easier and more efficient access by researchers argued for expansion on campus rather than moving to an external facility.
Michael Moir notes that “the space supports growth in our acquisition activities, which are occurring at a rate of 2 or 3 times more on an annual basis than we were doing previously. Had we not acquired the additional space, we would have been facing a situation where we could have no longer acquired additional records, for example, the Mariposa records which represent approximately 100 linear meters of material. |
The increased space allows faculty and graduate students, when working with organizations or individuals that have papers still in the private domain, to enter into a dialogue with Archives to bring significant items into an environment where they can ensure preservation and allow subsequent research.
The relocation also supports the Libraries’ efforts to allocate more student space in Scott Library.
What’s the third floor space being used for?
Researchers will continue to use the comfortable and “groovy” Archives reading room on the third floor of Scott Library (yes, those are indeed real Eero Saarinen tulip chairs), where Archives staff are able to provide secure access to unique and irreplaceable documents. Researchers are often asked to don soft white gloves when handling photographs and fragile documents.
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The third floor storage areas are being focused on special collections of rare published material acquired by Archives since the 1960s. Michael Moir applauds University Librarian Cynthia Archer’s support for developing special collections with a Canadian/North American focus.
Examples of current Canadian-related holdings range from a 16th century map of the Americas, to limited-edition books by small Canadian publishers. Other very special items include a 15th century Book of Hours and fine examples of the art of bookmaking during the early 20th century. |
What’s in store for future archival collections?
| Michael Moir is thinking ahead to what York’s faculty and students will need over the next few decades. “With the generational change in university faculty, there is an emergence of new areas of research. It’s incumbent upon the Archives to develop research collections that support not only existing areas of faculty and student research needs, but also areas of new knowledge which will represent future needs.”
He cautions, however, that at the current rate of archival acquisition, yet more storage space built to archival standards will need to be developed before too many years. |
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