Blog Archives

The Unknown Unknown: Finding the Jean Drapeau Collection

Photo d’Expo 67 tirée de l’album de photos personnelles de Jean Drapeau.

La version française suit By Chris Lyons, Head Librarian, Rare Books and Special Collections — I think the most exciting part of my job as a rare book librarian is in discovering the “unknown unknowns,” to use Donald Rumsfeld’s turn …

The Unknown Unknown: Finding the Jean Drapeau Collection Read More »

If These Buildings Could Walk: On a newly acquired Melvin Charney sculpture

Melvin Charney, CITIES ON THE RUN…Three Stragglers, 1999. Aluminium soudé, sablé et laqué. Don de Lilian et Billy Mauer. Collection d’arts visuels de McGill, 2017-055.

La version française suit By Vanessa Di Francesco, Assistant Curator, McGill Visual Arts Collection — The idea that the built environments we inhabit can take on their own lives, acting apart from us or on our behalf, occupies our popular …

If These Buildings Could Walk: On a newly acquired Melvin Charney sculpture Read More »

New Insights from John Peters Humphrey: The Man Behind the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

John Peters Humphrey, McGill University Archives MG 4127, 2002-0086.04.201.3

La version française suit By Laura Colangelo, Young Canada Works intern and Jean-Marc Tremblay, Archivist & Records Management Administrator, McGill University Archives — In 1946, John Peters Humphrey, professor of law at McGill University, turned down an offer of Deanship. …

New Insights from John Peters Humphrey: The Man Behind the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Read More »

ROAAr Newsletter: Behind the Scenes at ROAAr

Waxing Nostalgic: McGill@Expo67 A new exhibition, McGill@Expo67 celebrates Expo 67’s 50th anniversary through our collections and personal items lent to us by the McGill community. Read more > Raising the curtain on archives outreach, preservation & access From moving to …

ROAAr Newsletter: Behind the Scenes at ROAAr Read More »

Waxing Nostalgic: McGill@Expo67

Passport interior cropped. Credit: Jennifer Garland

La version française suit By Jennifer Garland, Associate Librarian, Rare Books and Special Collections McGill@Expo67 is an exhibition in the McGill Library that celebrates Expo 67’s 50th anniversary and explores the role of Expo 67 in teaching and research and …

Waxing Nostalgic: McGill@Expo67 Read More »

Raising the curtain on archives outreach, preservation & access

Director & University Archivist, Yves Lapointe

La version française suit Introduction and interview conducted by Jean-Marc Tremblay, Archivist & Records Management Administrator, McGill University Archives McGill University Archives (MUA) had a very eventful summer. Firstly, the administrative offices of the archives moved from the sixth floor …

Raising the curtain on archives outreach, preservation & access Read More »

Art & medicine converge for two Larose-Osler Artists-in-Residence

Observation & drawing exercise led by Lucy Lyons. Credit: Lucy Lyons

La version française suit By Mary Yearl, Head Librarian, Osler Library of the History of Medicine Despite a tight schedule for the installation of her exhibit, “Impossible pathologies: re-fragmenting the archive,” Lucy Lyons carved out time to lead two workshops: …

Art & medicine converge for two Larose-Osler Artists-in-Residence Read More »

Out of the dark, into the light: McGill to get visible storage gallery

Close-up of Visible Storage Layout Plan

La version française suit By Vanessa Di Francesco, Assistant Curator, McGill Visual Arts Collection In many of the world’s largest museums, only a very small fraction of collected objects are put on view, in publicly accessible spaces, at any given …

Out of the dark, into the light: McGill to get visible storage gallery Read More »

Celebrate Homecoming 2017 at the Library

McGill Library’s ROAAr units have planned an eclectic mix of tours, hands-on events, and lectures for McGill Homecoming (Thursday October 12 – Saturday, October 14). Explore Montreal and McGill architecture then and now, learn how to transcribe weather information from …

Celebrate Homecoming 2017 at the Library Read More »

Table Setting Riddles 101: The Solution Set

Eliza Smithson's signature, Smithson Cookbook Collection.

By Nathalie Cooke, Professor and Associate Dean, Archives & Rare Collections, McGill University Library Thanks to all who took up our riddling challenge offering answers from across Canada and abroad (including England, Ireland, and New Zealand). We promised to provide some …

Table Setting Riddles 101: The Solution Set Read More »


Library Matters seeks to exchange and encourage ideas, innovations, and information from libraries' staff and special contributors for the McGill community and beyond.


Contact Us!

If you have any questions, comments, or even an idea for a story, let us know!