Another busy month here in the University Archives and Special Collections. This month not only saw the return of Special Collections Librarian David Bindle from his sabbatical leave–it also saw the beginning, continuation, and/or culmination of a number of major projects:
1. The Printed Matters Now art show went up on July 21st, and is (sadly) ending today. The show consisted of a variety of prints produced by University of Saskatchewan artists and alumni artists, as inspired by materials in the University of Saskatchewan’s Archives and Special Collections. The show was well received, and the participating artists will be gifted with suites of prints later this month in the spirit of an art-exchange. If you were not able to catch the show–don’t worry! All prints will also remain available for perusal at the University Archives and Special Collections, along with the materials used to inspire the artists.
2. Progress is being made on our Courtney Milne project, which will make thousands of his works available online. Not only is our number of scans now up to approximately 46, 314 but we have seen this month the body of the website come to life, thanks to Steve Brecker. Thanks also to Karim Tharani, John Yobb, Mike Moore , Craig Harkema, Joel Salt, and of course Leesha, our tirelessly working summer student for all of their contributions to this project. Although our work is still far from done, we look forward to seeing what the finished product will look like with all of the data uploaded and the front end complete.
3. We have also made huge progress on a project being spearheaded within the archives by Patrick Hayes in commemoration of the hundredth anniversary of the First World War. Tentatively titled RememberUS, the finished website will feature hundreds of pages of documents from that period, reflecting the effect of the war on campus, on the city, on the province, and worldwide. Beth Richert has been working with us for the past several weeks, digitizing these important materials, and has done an amazing job at collecting an array of images that effectively form a snapshot of the War from a variety of perspectives.
In association with this project, the University of Saskatchewan will be honouring the students, faculty, and staff who fought in the First World War on August 7, 2014 at 11:00 am with a Program and Plaque Unveiling at Convocation Hall