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

The newly renovated silent study spaces

“The York University Libraries (YUL) realizes the importance of providing additional seating – each year – to address the evolving needs of students who are looking for quality study spaces. We wanted to make it easy for students to find a place on campus to ‘plug-in’ – to their studies,” says associate university librarian, information services, Mark Robertson.

The transformation of Scott Library’s fourth floor means the original 30 silent study spaces in this area have increased to 166.

February 13, 2012

2:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Harry Crowe Room (109 Atkinson)

This event is part of a research support series:
Managing Research Data & Communicating Research Findings

Panelists include:

• Andrea Kosavic, Digital Initiatives Librarian

• William Denton, Web Librarian, Data repositories, e-sharing options, and academic search engine optimization

• Omar Mohammed, Manager, Research Computing, Exploring the world of collaborative workspaces

• Walter Giesbrecht, Data Librarian,Dataverse: a tool for managing, maintaining and sharing research data

• Carolyn Heald, Director, Information and Privacy Office

Staying grounded:

• Privacy and data security considerations for researchers using cloud tools

All are welcome to attend. RSVP is not required.

Research Support Series -Session2

For more information contact:
Breanne Whitwell, Research Officer, Faculty of Education
Tel: 416-736-2100 ext. 77363

http://edu.yorku.ca/research/index.html

Sponsored by:
The Faculty of Education
The Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
York University Libraries

Kudos! We hope to see you next year at York!

Open Access Publishing: What Authors Want, a study conducted by Science Librarians Rajiv Nariani and Leila Fernandez, was recently published in College & Research Libraries. It was designed to gauge the uptake of library support for author funding and author satisfaction with open access publishing. Results indicate that York University authors are increasingly publishing in open access journals and are appreciative of library funding initiatives.

Stuart M. Shieber, Director of the Harvard Office for Scholarly Communication has included a direct link to the article on the Compact for Open-Access Publishing Equity (COPE) web site. Shieber said that he found the study “illuminating”.

What is the VLC?

The Virtual Learning Commons will be an online toolkit with modules on a variety of “academic literacies” – with a special focus on research, writing and learning skills. This project will provide a 24/7 online alternative to the assistance available at the new Learning Commons @ Scott Library.

The VLC will employ a variety of media including video, audio, and interactive elements in order to provide students with flexible learning options. This resource will be developed collaboratively between the York University Libraries, the Writing Department and Learning Skills Services (CDS).

The e-learning modules that will be developed with a view to also making them available for use in classes, in e-learning/distance education environments and embedded into courseware, such as Moodle.

The Virtual Learning Commons project will help address many of the teaching and learning themes articulated in the Provostial White Paper, such as e-learning and the first year experience.

For more information on the VLC, contact Sarah Coysh or Mark Robertson.
Soon, students will be able to “drop-in” for 24/7 online  instruction on a variety of subjects, aimed at helping them complete their assignments.   The VLC will focus on developing academic skills needed through a collection of multi-modal (audio, visual and interactive) e-learning modules that will be developed with a view to also making them available for use in classes, in e-learning/distance education environments  and embedded into courseware, such as Moodle.

The Virtual Learning Commons – coming to a screen near you!

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)