Blog Archives

Tracing McGill University’s founding documents: The hunt for the 1821 Charter

By Yves Lapointe and Adria Seccareccia[1] Founding documents often serve as symbols of collective identity. Over time, they are frequently referenced in conversations regarding changes to this identity. McGill University’s founding documents are no different. The 1821 Charter and its …

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McGill’s Responses to Anti-Black Racism: New Web Archiving Project Goes Live!

By Adria Seccareccia, Library/Archivist, and Alexandra Kohn, Digital Collections & Copyright Librarian. Lire la version française What does preserving born-digital content look like? If you pictured a baby robot safely stored away for posterity in a virtual safe, we’re afraid you are not quite …

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Can you name 5 women artists?

Since 2016, the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC has asked this question on social media every March as part of Women’s History Month. The WMWA’s hashtag, #5womenartists, has gained a significant following, as art collections …

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Finding the University : new research guides for institutional histories

To support more inclusive histories of McGill University, we have started to develop a series of institutional history research guides aimed at simplifying access to primary source material relating to the University’s establishment and its first 100 years.

Puzzles to make you pause

Spring break, reading week, study break – whatever it means to you, it’s important to take a pause from assignments, deadlines, and Zoom meetings. With no formal academic activities scheduled during the first week of March, this is YOUR time …

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February Screenshare

Scroll to the end for instructions on how to download and set zoom and desktop backgrounds. We have the privilege of rediscovering our collections through the eyes of researchers like Dr. Charmaine Nelson, art historian and scholar of Black Canadian …

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Cast on Something New

  Manuscript Cowl, Pattern by Kristen Howard, and the illuminated Manuscript initial that inspired it. This week we had a different kind of event at ROAAr: Rare Stitches: Knitting Inspired by Illuminated Manuscripts with Dr. Kristen Howard. Knitters and book …

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Delightful finds on a bloody journey

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This piece is inspired by research done as a Folger Fellow, some of which is summarised in a blog post entitled “Balancing information and expertise: vernacular guidance on bloodletting in early modern calendars and almanacs,” published in The Collation: Research …

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Intriguing Little Windows: Ernestine Tahedl’s Lantern

By Michelle Macleod, Assistant Curator, McGill Visual Arts Collection A large concrete slab dangles from a heavy chain that extends above the frame of the photograph. Three men in hard hats guide this piece to fit it with two others …

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Art & Image: ongoing research in the Gwillim Project

The Gwillim Project centres around the lives of two English sisters in early 19th c. Madras (now Chennai): Elizabeth Gwillim (1763-1807) and Mary Symonds (b. 1772). Both sisters were avid artists and dedicated letter-writers; their paintings of flora, fauna, and …

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