Have you ever ordered food, just to be greeted with a dish of roaring laughter? At the fin de siècle of the 20th century, guests would gather at events called Conundrum Suppers, in which diners would order from menus written …
Blog Archives
Call Me By My Name: The Nomenclature of Riddling Dinners
When we first discovered Conundrum Suppers – events in which guests order from menus written entirely in riddles – the name seemed oddly fitting. It described a meal served forth as unsolved puzzles. Funnily enough, it is because of the …
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Festive Fundraising with Conundrum Suppers
“All who attend will be assured of having a good social time, an excellent supper, and of becoming acquainted with the wonders and mysteries of a ‘Conundrum Supper’.”[1] Eager participants in Conundrum Socials, fashionable dining entertainments of late 19th and …
Tap to Begin: Exploring McGill’s Archives with a Touch Table
By Emily Zinger Archives might have a reputation for their antique holdings, but step into McGill’s Rare Books and Special Collections Reading Room and you’ll find an example of how technology can bring a collection to life. The Taylor White …
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What is this?!
Look closely at this page from an 1804 British manuscript and you might notice the diagram for a table setting. Do the labels reveal what diners might have enjoyed for dinner at a 19th-century mansion? Well, yes and no. While it …
From Cardboard Boxes to Access
By Karis Shearer* Spending time in the Louis Dudek Collection at McGill over the summer of 2019, as I was finishing up my book manuscript, was immensely valuable to me, but it was not the first time I’d visited. You …
#ColourOurCollections
We’ve turned our collections into colouring books! Today we’re sharing material from the Osler Library of the History of Medicine and the Blacker-Wood Natural History Collection. Participate by downloading the colouring sheets and sharing your finished work to Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram, …
Winter Carnival Nostalgia
By Phoebe Fisher, Student, McGill University Archives A patron recently asked me to retrieve all of the programs we had for the McGill Winter Carnival. As a 2020 McGill student, when I heard “winter carnival” I mostly thought of college …
Christmas riddle: What is the link between an eminent geologist, Christmas spirits, the founder of the Scouts and J.K. Rowling?
By: Éloïse Poncet, student, McGill University Archives I was walking around campus the other week when I saw the two enormous Christmas trees in the front entrance of the Arts building. Similarly, to the Montreal store’s Christmas windows, having these …
Season’s Greetings that Pop!
The Library is closed for the holidays from Tuesday, December 24 at noon through Thursday, January 2, 2020, inclusive. All branches will open on Friday, January 3, 2020. Please visit the branch page listing for specific opening hours. Until then, we want to …
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