Blog Archives

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 …

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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?!

Table setting riddle, Smithson Riddle Book. Photo: Kat Despain

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 …

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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 …

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#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, …

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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 …

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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 …

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Season’s Greetings that Pop!

Peeps into Fairyland : a panorama picture book of fairy stories. London: Ernest Nister, 1896.

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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A mirror into the microcosm: digitizing Johann Remmelin’s 1619 flap anatomy, Catoptrum microcosmicum.

By Ruoshan Gu and Mary Hague-Yearl The staff at the Osler Library are always on the lookout for new ways to challenge our colleagues in Digital Initiatives. The team in the digitization lab seem to be able to do anything, …

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R. Tait McKenzie’s The Sprinter: The Growth of an Iconic Image

By Phoebe Fisher, Student, McGill University Archives   I recently received an inquiry from a family member of Thomas Graydon, a past McGill employee who was presented with a Sprinter statue by the McGill track team in circa 1911. The …

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