News from the Clara Thomas Archives & Special Collections

Recent Acquisition: "Working Man"

16 September 2011Rare Booksengraving, illustration, industry, labour, late Victorian, metal work, Rare Books, Vitorian, working class, Working ManAnna St.Onge

We recently acquired a bound volume of issues of the late Victorian periodical, The Working Man: A Weekly Record of Social Progress and Industry from 1886, featuring a wealth of detailed illustrations.
The call number for this item is 12449 and be viewed at the Clara Thomas Archives & Special Collections. For the catalogue record, see [...]

Past Labour Day Parades

2 September 2011Archives & Special Collections, News, Photographs48th Highlanders, Adden, AFL-TLC Street Railway Employees Union, Albert Van, baton twirling, Bruce Reed, Canadian National Exhibition, CNE, Don Grant, Dufferin Gate, firefighters, Firefighters Local 113, Labour Day, Local 439, Local 95 of the International Association Heat and Frost Insulators and Asbestos Workers, MacLean, majorettes, Operative Potters Local 231, parade, Plumbers' Union, Ray McFadden, Toronto and District Labour Council, Toronto Fire Fighters, Toronto Telegram, TTC maintenance, unionsAnna St.Onge

The Annual Labour Day Parade down at Toronto's CNE grounds has a long history. In anticipation of Labour Day this Monday September 5th, 2011, here are some images from the Toronto Telegram from parades from 1953, 1955, 1956, 1958, 1961 and 1963, as photographed by Telegram photographers Ray McFadden, Bruce Reed, Don Grant, Albert Van, [...]

New Acquisition : Courtesy of an Unknown Donor

1 September 2011Document of the Day, Mysteries, News, Recent acquisitions1899, advertisments, E.T. Corsets, fashion, Gerhard Mennen, Graham Dermatological Institute, Mennan's Toilet Powder, Mrs. Gervaise Graham, Nineteenth century, The Designer, The Standard Delineator, toiletries, Toronto, Victorian fashion, women's fashionAnna St.Onge

Earlier this summer, one of the Scott Library's staff found a number of items that were not part of the libraries collections, or indeed, any branches'. One can only surmise that this was a anonymous donation: and what a donation!
The package included two bound collections of colour plates of late 19thC fashion models, most culled [...]

Special Collections Highlight : Hymnal Collection

29 August 2011Rare BooksHymnals, music, Rare Books, religious musicAnna St.Onge

Through the Internet Archive, a selection of items from our collection of early 19th and 20th Century hymnals from the Clara Thomas Archives & Special Collections have been digitized.
A listing of the 23 digitized items can be found here: http://bit.ly/lxcZun.
A full listing of the over 100 items in this collection can be found here: http://bit.ly/js4DnY
One [...]

Some updates in design

29 August 2011Anna St.Onge

You may have noticed that we've updated our blog template to something a bit cleaner and dynamic for the upcoming academic year.
Stay tuned for a flurry of posts in the coming weeks regarding new acquisitions, mysterious donors and serendipitous discoveries in the archives!
We will also be migrating our thematic guides over to the new subject [...]

Caribana Festival Retrospective

29 July 2011Caribana, Caribbean Festival Toronto, mas, parades, processions, Toronto IslandsAnna St.Onge

The festival formerly known as Caribana has been hosting events since June 14th but will culminate in the annual parade this holiday weekend. Now known as the Scotiabank Caribbean Carnival Toronto (SCCT), here are some photographs of the earliest carnival parades in Toronto, taken by staff photographers at the Toronto Telegram.
Historical photographs from the Toronto [...]