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 …
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 …
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 …
Out of Harm’s Way : Second World War scrapbooks shine a light on the experience of evacuee children brought to Quebec
La version française suit By Elis Ing, Liaison Librarian, Rare Books and Special Collections During the Second World War, Marjorie Kathleen Tovey, headmistress of a small independent school in Hertfordshire, England, decided to evacuate her students to Canada, just as …
A monumental scan : Nobbs’ Bird’s-Eye View of McGill University
La version française suit By Greg Houston, Digitization Administrator & New Media Administrator Since its inception in 1996, the library digitization lab — formerly the Digital Collection Program — has captured and provided access to millions of pages and objects …
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#adventuresincataloguing : retracing the lived history of books
La version française suit By Megan Chellew, Coordinator, Cataloguing & Metadata; Robin Desmeules, Rare Books Cataloguer and Anna Dysert, Rare Books Cataloguer The practice of cataloguing rare books goes beyond simply describing the title and contents of a particular object. …
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A Lasting Impression: Renaissance of McGill’s Columbian Printing Press
La version française suit By Ann Marie Holland, Associate Librarian, Curator Colgate History of Printing Collection, Rare Books and Special Collections Over the summer of 2019, restoration experts at the Howard Iron Works Printing Museum carried out a complete overhaul of …
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