The scrapbooks narrate Archambeau’s life through a series of photographs, postcards, and newspaper clippings pertaining to race relations and his employers the Canadian National Railway (CN), Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), and Air Canada. The scrapbooks refer to the collective fight for human rights equality and Archambeau’s quotes written throughout add personal reflections of his own struggle. These scrapbooks, chronicling his life, served as the catalyst for writing the book A Struggle to Walk with Dignity – The True Story of a Jamaican-born Canadian.

Catherine Davidson, associate university librarian of collections, believes that Archambeau’s donation will be a valuable instructional resource for undergraduate humanities programs, specifically courses in Canadian history and race relations. “Archambeau’s memoir and scrapbooks shine a light on the racial segregation and inequality that were prevalent in Canada at the time. Archambeau’s scrapbooks in particular are a fascinating read; they bring the issues to life for the reader.”

About Gerald A. Archambeau

Archambeau was born in Jamaica B.W.I. to a Panamanian father of African, French, and Aboriginal ancestry and mother of Caucasian and African ancestry – although he was raised by his grandmother and three aunts.

As a teenager Archambeau was forced to immigrate to Canada by his mother and stepfather, a Barbadian who fought for the Canadian army in WWII and for that reason was granted Canadian citizenship. Archambeau moved to Canada so the three could qualify for veteran housing in Montreal.

Because of his love for trains Archambeau was employed as a porter for CN and CPR for over 15 years.  He writes next to a newspaper clipping about the porters in one of his scrapbooks, “The true gentlemen of the rails – service with a smile even though we were insulted at times.” Despite racial clauses in some union contracts, Archambeau’s time on the rails was quite happy. “We served Canada’s wealthy who could afford to ride in sleeping cars, club cars, parlour cars, and eat in the dining cars. Porters who provided good service were tipped and always had money in their pockets.  Very few incidences of open racism occurred on the railways and if there were any problems (the porters) could report it to the train conductor who would handle it according to railway rules.”

In the 1960s the railway business started to decline in popularity and in 1967 Archambeau began working for Air Canada as a station attendant, later being promoted to lead ramp foreman. It was at this point that Archambeau had to fight for equality because of improper workplace practices and behaviours.  

When Archambeau retired in 1993 his wife Marion encouraged him to write his autobiography.  A Struggle to Walk with Dignity –The True Story of a Jamaican- born Canadian was published in 2008 by Dr. J. Patrick Boyer, President of Blue Butterfly Publishing. His book can be summed up best by Archambeau himself, “The most important thing to me in life is my integrity as a human being – not as a race or a colour, but as a person. My book is a very humanistic story about interactions between people of the human race.”

For more information about Gerald Archambeau’s donation or how to integrate it into coursework and research, please contact: Anna St.Onge, Archivist of Digital Projects and Outreach, Clara Thomas Archives & Special Collections, Room 305, Scott Library, astonge@yorku.ca.

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Two hundred years after its printing a copy of John Baskerville’s folio edition of the Holy Bible – one of only 1,250 printed in Cambridge, England in 1763 – made its way to Canada. That same rare Bible was transferred by Richard Tottenham to York University Libraries’ (YUL) Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections, making it one of only two copies in a Canadian academic library.

 John Baskerville’s folio edition of the Holy Bible was printed by Cambridge University Press in 1763. Baskerville was recognized as a type-setting trailblazer and Random House notes that this edition of the Holy Bible is, “a Baskerville masterpiece, regarded as the finest and most important work from Baskerville’s Cambridge Press.” The Bible was printed in Baskerville’s Great Primer type which is slender and delicate, combining elegance with readability – important traits since the book was intended to be read aloud from church pulpits. T.B. Reed describes the Bible in A History of the Old English Letter Foundries as Baskerville’s “magnum opus… his most magnificent as well as most characteristic specimen.” 

Michael Moir, university archivist and head of Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections, notes the scholarly value that this Bible can bring to coursework and research at York. “At first glance one may think a Bible would be an excellent teaching aid for humanities courses, but I think it could seamlessly be integrated into fine arts curriculums and research – specifically book design courses,” says Moir. “John Baskerville is known as a typographic expert and this folio edition of the Holy Bible can be a valuable resource for fine arts undergraduate students studying the evolution of the printing process and typography.”

Speaking to the authenticity and longevity of this 250-year-old Bible are hand-scribed records of birth and baptismal dates within Tottenham’s family, dating back to the year 1810. These recordings trace Tottenham’s lineage and suggest the year in which the Bible was originally purchased by the second Marquess of Ely (Tottenham’s ancestor.) Preserving these familial references was important to Tottenham and part of the reason that he decided to bestow the Bible to Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections. “My siblings and I wanted the Bible to be housed at York so it could be studied and used to enhance scholarship and research,” Tottenham explains. “But I also knew it would be well preserved which was important to me because the Bible contains references to my ancestry.”

This Bible has been entrusted to the archives due, in large part, to a coincidental conversation between Tottenham and York University LA&PS professor, John Lennox. “Richard (Tottenham) and I have been friends and neighbours for many years and in a recent conversation he serendipitously mentioned that he inherited an 18^th century Bible,” Lennox explains. “I thought it would be of great interest to scholars and researchers and a marvelous addition to our rare books collection. I mentioned to Richard that Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections would be able to conserve the Bible’s historical value while making it accessible to the public. I’m delighted about the whole thing and tremendously grateful to Richard for placing the Bible in York University Libraries’ (YUL) care and to Michael Moir for making it happen.”

For more information about John Baskerville’s edition of the Bible or how to integrate it into coursework and research, please contact:

Anna St.Onge
Archivist, Digital Projects and Outreach

 Clara Thomas Archives & Special Collections, Room 305, Scott Library
astonge@yorku.ca

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Photograph and painting:

1)  (From left to right) Professor John Lennox, with friend Richard Tottenham, present John Baskerville’s 18^th century Holy Bible to university librarian, Cynthia Archer.

2)  A painting of the second Marquess of Ely,  Richard Tottenham’s ancestor and purchaser of the John Baskerville Bible in the year 1810.

Varpu Lindström was born in Helsinki, Finland in 1948 and immigrated to Canada in 1963. She pursued a distinguished career as a professor and scholar at York University, specializing in North American social history, immigration, and women’s studies. Lindström is recognized both nationally and internationally as an expert in Canadian immigration history, particularly that of Finnish-Canadians. Her research has manifested itself into several publications such as Defiant Sisters : A Social History of Finnish Immigrant Women in Canada, 1890-1930 and From Heroes to Enemies : Finns in Canada, 1937-1947. Lindström was also a researcher and historical consultant for the National Film Board’s 2004 critically acclaimed documentary, Letters from Karelia.

Several decades of Finnish-Canadian research has resulted in Lindström creating, acquiring, and now donating to Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections over 7.2 metres of textual records. These records include diaries, family correspondences, financial ledgers, war-relief funding and other organizational records, sound recordings of oral histories, folk music, documentary films, and over 1,000 books, almanacs, and plays published by Finnish authors in North America.

“I think it would be great to have Lindström’s collection integrated into undergraduate coursework and research here at York University,” says digital projects and outreach archivist for Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections, Anna St. Onge.  “Documents from Lindström’s collection give researchers a sense of the immediacy of history and could certainly add realism to Canadian history coursework that focuses on North American immigration and settlement.”

 In addition to primary source material, Lindström acquired photocopies of rare documents such as two volumes of a Soviet register of Finnish war crimes, a list of persons found in the mass grave at Karhumaki, and Soviet lists of North American Finns who journeyed to Karelia to help build a socialist utopia.

Also a part of Lindström’s donation is the Pertti Kaski photograph collection which has been digitized and uploaded to Yorkspace.

Chronicling the immigration experience from the perspective of a teenage girl, Lindström has given Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections a collection of correspondences between herself and her best friend back in Finland, Kaisa Lindberg, written from 1963 to 1965. Many of these letters were published in the 2012 book, Letters from an Immigrant Teenager. Lindström’s generous donation to Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections has helped to position York as a leader in Finnish-Canadian research in North America, advancing new efforts to preserve the records of the Finnish community in collaboration with the archives of Lakehead University and the Finnish Canadian Association.

For more information about Varpu Lindström’s donated documents or how to integrate this special collection into coursework and research, please contact:

St. Onge, Anna
Archivist, Digital Projects and Outreach

Clara Thomas Archives & Special Collections, Scott Library 3^rd Floor
astonge@yorku.ca

 To see the finding aid for this collection, see: 

http://archivesfa.library.yorku.ca/fonds/ON00370-f0000558.htm

 *Images from the Pertti Kaski collection, showing a group of Finnish family and remnants of a postcard from Helsinki, 25 June 1918. YUL, Clara Thomas Archives, ASC08114

Viewed as a series of revolts and uprisings against the declining Qing state, the revolution ended with the abdication of the “Last Emperor” Puyi in 12 February 1912. Feudalism had finally ended after several thousands years of history in China.

Scott Library has  a number of historical and contemporary works on the 1911 Chinese Revolution.

From emperor to citizen: the autobiography of Aisin Gioro Pu Yi

This remarkable autobiography presents the story of a man who served twice as emperor of China, once as emperor of the Japanese puppet state in Manchuria, and then underwent a complete re-education in the prisons of the Communist Chinese government, finally leading a life as an ordinary citizen.

Man yi hua zia shi mo ji recorded the history of Manchuria in China and criticized the tyrannies of Qing Dynasty. The author, Yang Dunyi, once served the Qing State as a local official in Jiangsu Province, and then resigned from his position and worked together with Cai Yuanpei, one of the leaders of 1911 Revolution, and later for Sun Yat-sen, the first president of the Republic of China.

Images from The Chinese Revolution

A full list of library items relating to the Chinese Revolution of 1911 can be found here: http://bit.ly/uusBRm

Coming Soon! The East Asian Studies Reading Room

A reference collection of material relating to East Asian Studies will be established on the 2nd floor of the Scott Library in early 2012. Made up of items donated by the Jerome Ch’en Resource Centre for East Asian Studies, the collection will include many useful materials for students and faculty that can be signed out as part of the university’s circulating collections. Plans are to locate this collection in the periodicals section of the second floor of the Scott Library. Stay tuned for more information! Here is a preview of the collection:

San guo yan yi This masterpiece is in the format of a graphic novel.

Bai Yin Shi Dai One of Wang Ziaobo's Ages trilogy, a futuristic tale

The Private Life of Chairman Mao

Anna has produced exhibit elements and outreach material of a very high standard using in-house applications and hardware that make this work as economical as it is effective. I congratulate Anna on these significant accomplishments.

Michael Moir, University Archivist

More information:

• The Archives’ blog: Deantiquate
• The Market Gallery’s web page
• The Mariposa Brochure 2011
• The Mariposa online exhibit (Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections)

The exhibit is divided into 3 sections. This week, it’s

Canada in WWI – Part 1 :
How we met the challenges and dilemmas of the Great War.

Expecting to locate a number of texts and pamphlets from official agencies, such as government documents and political organizations, we were delighted to uncover such a wide range of sources. We came across many photographs, pamphlets and books and during the first week of the display we put together resources dealing with the politics, our government documents, hospitals and our soldiers (one of the more moving photos of a young conscript looking at the inside of his hat in which he placed a picture of his sweetheart)

We hope you have an opportunity to see the display and remember there will be Part 2 : Change and Continuity in Canadian Life”  and Part 3: The End of War and Present Day Remembrances”.

If you have any comments or questions, please contact Dana Craig or Peter Duerr.

Peter and Dana would like to thank: Trudy Bodak, Kathy Elder, John Thomson and Lorraine Toth. Special thanks go to Archives and Special Collections staff: Michael Moir, Suzanne Dubeau, Julia Holland and Anna St. Onge.

From the Archives:

Letters Home: a selection of wartime correspondence from the Clara Thomas Archives & Special Collections

Varpu Lindstrom fonds
There is  significant material here about post-war relief efforts from Finnish communities in Canada to support families devastated back home in Finland by the war.

Ernest Bartlett fonds
Ernest Bartlett and his two brothers were all enlisted during WWII. Ernest was a journalist for the Toronto Telegram who enlisted as a war correspondent during WWII. On 14 August 1943, the motor torpedo boat he was aboard was shelled in the Straits of Messina (between Sicily and Calabria). He and his shipmates were captured and sent to a German POW camp in Marlag und Milag Nortd. The camp was liberated 2 May 1946.

Robert Laxer fonds
We have a lovely letter written by Robert Laxer to his infant son James Laxer while he was serving overseas.

Margaret Norquay fonds
We have the correspondence of Margaret Norquay, who worked as a social worker in military bases in the Maritimes during WWII, talking about the tensions following the war with men returning home.

(with thanks to Anna St.Onge, Digital Projects and Outreach Archivist)

also see: A First World War Love Story

DVDs:

• The Messenger
  Partnered with hard-line officer Tony Stone, Sgt. Will Montgomery is a battle-scarred war hero home om Iraq and newly assigned to the Army’s Casualty Notification service.
• The Hurt Locker
  When a new sergeant, James, takes over a highly trained bomb disposal team amid violent conflict, he surprises his two subordinates, Sanborn and Eldridge, by recklessly plunging them into a deadly game of urban combat. As the men struggle to control their wild new leader, the city explodes into chaos, and James’ true character reveals itself in a way that will change each man forever.
• 14.3 Seconds by John Greyson.
  14.3 seconds are all that is left of the Iraqui film archives, destroyed by American bombs during the 2003 war. This speculative fiction attempts (and fails) to salvage what was lost.    See it in YorkSpace: http://hdl.handle.net/10315/4214
• Letters from Karelia
  The story of Aate Pitkänen, a Canadian of Finnish descent, who emigrated to Russia in 1931. He disappeared in 1941. Sixty years later, the discovery of his last letters – written but never mailed from a Finnish prisoner-of-war camp – reveals his fate and brings together his sister Taimi and Alfred, the son Aate never met.

Books and E-resources:

• The implications of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ limited scope of Gulf War illness research hearing before the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, U.S. House of Representatives Online: Click to access this resource
• Intrepid women : cantinières and vivandières of the French army
  Cardoza, Thomas, 1962- (Book)
• A few good women : America’s military women from World War I to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan Monahan, Evelyn
• Entangling alliances : foreign war brides and American soldiers in the twentieth century Zeiger, Susan, 1959- (Book)
• Soviet women in combat : a history of violence on the Eastern Front
  Krylova, Anna (Book)
• The untold war : inside the hearts, minds, and souls of our soldiers
  Sherman, Nancy, 1951- (Book)
• Yemen : dancing on the heads of snakes
  Clark, Victoria (Book)
• Improving recovery and full accounting of POW/MIA personnel from all past conflicts hearing before the Military Personnel Subcommittee of the Committee on Armed Services… Online Access: Click to access this resource
  
• Voice of veterans of the Afghan War hearing before the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate, One Hundred Eleventh Congress, first session, April 23, 2009 Online Access: Click to access this resource
• La guerre
  Tertrais, Bruno (Book)
• Yalta : the price of peace
  Plokhy, Serhii, 1957- (Book)
• Causes of war
  Levy, Jack S., 1948-  (Book)  You can request this book!
  
• The effects of multiple deployments on army adolescents
  Wong, Leonard   Online Access: Click to access this resource
• Officer, nurse, woman : the Army Nurse Corps in the Vietnam War
  Vuic, Kara Dixon, 1977- (Book)
• The inter-war crisis, 1919-1939
  Overy, R. J. (Book)
• The Iraq War : origins and consequences
  DeFronzo, James (Book)
• Why nations go to war
  Stoessinger, John George  (Book)
• Iraq : the moral reckoning : applying just war theory to the 2003 war decision
  White, Craig M., 1956-  (Book )
• Broken men : shell shock, treatment and recovery in Britain, 1914-1930
  Reid, Fiona, 1933-  (Book)

At Frost Library an exhibit hosted by Julie Drexler, Glendon Alumni in Print is on public view.

Further information regarding the festival is available at:

http://www.yorku50.ca/festival/

During the festival, library services will not be affected in any way.  If patrons are seeking quiet study space it is recommended they visit the SSH! room (Silent Study Hall) on the second floor of the Scott Library.  Alternatively, the Bronfman Business Library and Steacie Science and Engineering Library can also be used as quiet study areas.

Previously located downtown by Bay and College, the Archives of Ontario’s new modern site will offer incredible research and outreach opportunities to researchers, student and citizen alike. The building’s extensive reading room, meeting spaces and exhibit area will enhance the Archive’s role as the guardian of our shared provincial documentary heritage. The logistics of moving staff and holdings to the new storage and operational facilities were surely a significant challenge, and York salutes the dedication and hard work of the archivists to get things done!

Our provincial colleagues may be pleased to know that York librarians and archivists are freely available for solicited and unsolicited advice on adjusting to the commuter lifestyle, savouring the academic flavour of working on a university campus, savouring the various cuisines at restaurants around the campus, and celebrating the unique character of our student body.

The contest, established in 2002, is designed to encourage creativity and awareness of York’s archival collection – the Clara Thomas Archives & Special Collections in York’s Scott Library – and to use the historical information housed there as the basis for new dramatic expression.

Originally called Out of the Archives, the playwriting contest was renamed in 2004 to honour the memory of Kent Haworth, University archivist from 1994 to 2003 and a Stong College Fellow.

The theme, subject, and style of the play are left to the playwright’s imagination, but it must have been inspired by something specific in York’s archival collection, whether a name, a letter, an event, a photograph or an item. The student contestants must also visit the archives and attend a session there in January to be eligible to enter the contest.

See Stong College Awards for full details on the contest. The winner’s play will be staged and we’ll post a link when that happens!