Archives Awareness Week: Tax Season!

Posted on April 12, 2013 by Anna St.Onge

ASC07799It may the the tail end of Archives Awareness Week, but it is also the start of tax season!

Here are a number of photographic prints from the Toronto Telegram which were used in feature articles from 1945, 1946, 1965 and 1970 documenting the frantic tax season in the city of Toronto.

 

 

 

 

 

An unidentified H.M.C.S. sailor in uniform filing a tax return while a woman in a flowered hat looks on.

An unidentified H.M.C.S. sailor filing a tax return while his lady friend looks on. Toronto Telegram staff photographer, 14 April 1945, ASC07805.

Here are tax form filers working at the Dominion Government Building on Front Street in Toronto during the lead up to April 30th, 1945 and 1946.

A young woman in a dress opens mailed tax forms and piles them before her on a desk. Three women performing similar tasks are visible in the background.

Image of Pearl Elliot a tax form sorter working at the Dominion Government Building on Front Street in Toronto, Toronto Telegram staff photographer, 28 April 1945. York University Libraries, Clara Thomas Archives & Special Collections, Toronto Telegram fonds, F0433, ASC07803.

A woman in a light coloured blouse works at a deask piled high with income tax forms. A woman in a suit jacket is visible in the background.

Tax form sorter Mary Connors and a colleague working at the Dominion Government building on Front Street in Toronto. Toronto Telegram staff photographer, 28 April 1945. York University Libraries, Clara Thomas Archives & Special Collections, Toronto Telegram fonds, F0433, ASC07804.

 

Eight men in suits are visible seated on high stools or re-purposed desks while dealing with large line ups of men and women submitting their tax forms in 1946.

Counter at the Dominion Government Building on Front Street in Toronto. Clerks are using old desks to sit on while dealing with customers. 29 April 1946. Toronto Telegram photographer. ASC07801.

Fourwomen sit on benches or stand to file stacks of tax forms into large square slots lining a room.

Tax form filing taking place at the Dominion Government Building on Front Street in Toronto, 28 April 1945. Toronto Telegram photographer. York University Libraries, Clara Thomas Archives & Special Collections, Toronto Telegram fonds, F0433, ASC07802.

And a staged photograph of the staff workers on 1 May 1945.

A young woman in a dress is seated on top of a heap of mail bags, posing with a man with a handfull of tax forms.

Marie McIntosh, a tax form sorter and H.N. Cole, the supervisor of income tax mail at the Dominion Government building on Front Street in Toronto. 01 May 1945. Toronto Telegram photographer. York University Libraries, Clara Thomas Archives & Special Collections, Toronto Telegram fonds, F0433, ASC07800.

April 30th seemed to be a popular time to hang outside banks and post offices to document local procrastinators. Here are two local Torontonians submitting tax forms just under the wire.

A man in a suit and tie licks a stamp for an envelope he is about to mail. A person is a heavy cable sweater is visible in the background.

Mr. R.J. Gray of 114 Saturn Road licks a stamp to be place on his income tax return envelope, within seconds of the midnight deadline. Photographer: Fred Klus. 1 April 1965. York University Libraries, Clara Thomas Archives & Special Collections, Toronto Telegram fonds, F0433, ASC07797.

A man in dress shit, pullover sweater and heavy, dark rimmed glasses places a stack of envelopes in a mail slot out side a bank. A large clock featuring the words"Bank of Montreal" is visible in the background.

A man mails a stack of income tax forms with ten minutes to go before tax deadline at midnight. 30 April 1970. Photographer: Dave Cooper. York University Libraries, Clara Thomas Archives & Special Collections, Toronto Telegram fonds, F0433, ASC07796

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Archives Awareness Week 2013

Posted on April 8, 2013 by Anna St.Onge
Image of three researchers working in the reading room of the Clara Thomas Archives & Special Collections, York University Libraries. Image no. ASC05083.

Archivally-aware researchers at the Clara Thomas Archives & Special Collections, 1989.

To celebrate Archives Awareness Week, held this year from April 8th to 14th, we’re pulling together some posts demonstrating how archival records can document the experience of individuals, families and communities; reveal forgotten stories; and teach us something about our past, present and future.

York University students and faculty are lucky to have two archival institutions on campus:  the Clara Thomas Archives & Special Collections here at the Scott Library – which collects university records and private records of interest to faculty research strengths; and the Archives of Ontario -  the provincial depository of provincial government records and private records of provincial significance.

The GTA is also home to dozens of public and private archival institutions: from the City of Toronto Archives, academic archives at the University of Toronto and Ryerson University, religious archives, community archives and archival holdings at Toronto Public Libraries. Here’s a listing of some archives located in the Greater Toronto Area.

Why are Archives Important?

Archives are important because they are the repository of the social values and the collective memory of individuals, as well as repositories of a shared group memory of communities and nations.

Archives are also a source of accountability, where institutions and organizations document their decision-making and activities.

Related to the power of archives to preserve and document memory and accountability, is the role of archives in social justice.  Archival documents have played important roles in documenting historical injustice and can provide evidence in reparation and reconciliation proceedings.

Universal Declaration on Archives

You can download a poster featuring the element of the Universal Declaration on Archives released by the International Council of Archives in 2011 here.

Poster featuring the Universial Declaration on Archives. Available at: http://www.ica.org/6573/reference-documents/universal-declaration-on-archives.html

Stay tuned this week for more feature posts to celebrate Archives Awareness Week!

Sources:

Canadian Council of Archives. “Awareness Kit / User and Archivist Stories.” 2004. Web. 8 Apr. 2013. Available at: http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/awareness_stories.html .
International Council on Archives, and Section of Professional Associations. “ICArchives : Reference Documents : Universal Declaration on Archives.” 28 Sept. 2010. Web. 8 Apr. 2013. Available at: http://www.ica.org/6573/reference-documents/universal-declaration-on-archives.html.
Public Awareness Committee, Association of Canadian Archivists. “Why Archives?” Aug. 2007. Web. 8 Apr. 2013. Available at: http://archivists.ca/sites/default/files/Attachments/Outreach_attachments/Why-archives-OC-07.pdf.
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International Women’s Day 2013

Posted on March 8, 2013 by Anna St.Onge

To celebrate International Women’s Day, here is a selection of items celebrating the political and social activism of women.

You can also see a selection of material we highlighted in 2011 which included activists, community organizers, philosophers and politicians like Jean Augustine, Grace Lonergan Lorch, and Marilou McPhedran, Mary Wollstonecraft and Margaret (Dillon) Norquay available here.

Faculty, students and researchers can also refer to a subject guide compiled by a student in the School of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies in 2011  here for more resources on the women’s movement held in the Clara Thomas Archives & Special Collections.  York University Libraries also has a research guides for Women’s Studies I and Violence Against Women. More information about local and international activities related to International Women’s Day can be found here.

International Women’s Day Posters

 

These posters celebrating International Women’s Day were donated by Meg Luxton of the School of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies in 2011.

Bread and Roses

Bread and Roses is a popular folk song from the turn of the twentieth century attributed to a strike by textile workers in Lawrence Massachusetts between January and March of 1912.  You can listen to a recitation of this song by Lissa Donner, a member of the audience at the 1975 Mariposa Folk Festival.  The workshop was titled “Bread & Roses” and was hosted by activist and folk singer Malvina Reynolds. The workshop featured performances by Vera Johnson, Lissa Donner, Rita MacNeil, Margaret Christl, Rosalie Sorrels. Performances by Vera Johnson and Margaret Christl can be streamed through the Mariposa: celebrating Canadian folk music exhibit.

Childbirth by Choice Trust

The Childbirth by Choice Trust, founded in 1982, was the research arm of CARAL, the Canadian Abortion Rights Action League (founded in 1973 as the Canadian Association for the Repeal of the Abortion Law and renamed in 1980) and disbanded in 2005. The purpose of the organization was to educate the public on the issues of birth control, abortion and, family planning, and to advocate for legal and easily available abortion services in Canada.  The archives consists of research and reference material in the form of subject files, reports, briefs, clippings, drafts, notes and correspondence.

Finding aid available here.

Marking feminist remembrance

In December 2012, the Archives & Special Collections contributed a number of historical images from the Toronto Telegram Photograph Collection to an exhibit mounted at Ryerson University to commemorate women’s memorials in the city of Toronto.  Still Moving: Feminist remembrance in vigils, protests and monument-making was researched and curated by Katherine Atkinson, designed by Leila Syed-Fatemi and supervised Dr. Sarah Henstra. Images of exhibit courtesy of Katherine Atkinson.

Sources:

Lawrence History Center. “Celebrate the Bread & Roses Centennial! | Bread and Roses Centennial.” Accessed March 8, 2013. http://breadandrosescentennial.org/.
  St.Onge, Anna. “Bread and Roses Workshop.” Mariposa : Celebrating Canadian Folk Music | York University Libraries | Clara Thomas Archives & Special Collections Online Exhibits, 2010. http://archives.library.yorku.ca/exhibits/show/mariposa/1975/1975breadroses.
 Atkinson, Katherine, Leila Syed-Fatemi, Sarah Henstra. “Still Moving: Feminist remembrance in vigils, protests and monument-making”. Ryerson University, 6-11 December 2012.

 

Posted in Archives & Special Collections, Ephemera, News, Pamphlets and ephemera, Personal papers, Special Collections | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Black History Month: Selections from Special Collections

Posted on February 18, 2013 by Anna St.Onge

This year for Black History Month, the libraries have highlighted a range of research materials that could assist students and faculty studying black history in Canada and beyond.

There is a display of materials on the first floor of the Scott Library put together by librarian Patti Ryan, featuring a microfilm of archival material relating to the Black United Front of Nova Scotia.  You can read more about this material here.

For the month of February, adjunct archivist Julia Holland has gathered together a selection of front page news images from Contrast  from the 1970s, as well as a selection of photographs from the Toronto Telegram regarding the Caribbean-Canadian community in Toronto.  You can view these in the exhibit case outside the archives on the third floor of the Scott Library.

As always, researchers can use the great African Diaspora research guide   by YUL librarian Norda Majekodunmi. This research guide features library and online resources and databases for scholars searching for periodical information and primary source material regarding African Diaspora studies.  It also includes a section on Black History in Canada.

Research sources for black history, cultural movements, and expression

Canadian newspapers

contrast bannerhead

Contrast is a weekly newspaper “serving Canada’s Black Community” since 1969. Toronto is its major focus, but it does carry national and international news items. The newspaper switched to online publication in late 2012:  http://contrastnewspaper.com.

The Clara Thomas Archives & Special Collections holds some copies of Contrast  while a more complete run is available in Scott Microtext.  Link to the catalogue record can be found here.

Other black Canadian periodicals of interest held in Scott Microtext

Dawn of tomorrow
call number: HT 1581 A2 D382 MFILM
London, Ontario
1932-1972

The Canadian Negro
call number: HT 1581 A2 C342 MFILM
Toronto, Ontario
June 1953 – Dec. 1956

The Black voice
call number: HT 1581 A2 B582 MFILM
Montreal, Quebec
1972 – 1974

Uhuru
call number: HT 1581 A2 U52 MFILM
Montreal, Quebec
1969 – 1970

Music

Scott Joplin ragtime compositions

The John Arpin Sheet music Collection contains many early pieces of jazz music, including some composed by Scott Joplin, one of the most famous ragtime composers.

Link to sheet music by Scott Joplin here.

Link to more digitized sheet music from this period available on YorkSpace here.

The historical context of ragtime, early jazz and minstrel music in North America is complex and problematic. When it comes to the digitizing historical sheet music, many of the more disturbing elements of cultural appropriation, race politics, stereotyping and stock characters such as Jim Crow, rise to the surface.  For more information about the challenges of making historical minstrel music available to online researchers, see Maurice Wheeler’s article “Politics and race in American historical popular music: contextualized access and minstrel music archives”, Archival Science (March 2011), 11 (1-2), pg. 47-75. Online article available to York University community members through the library website here.

Down beat

Cover issue of 1952 issue of Down Beat

A jazz music journal out of Chicago, there are a number of older issues held in Special Collections. Link to catalogue record available here.

Dance

Portrait of Katherine Dunham from "Panorama de la danse en mil neuf cent cinquante deux" by Magdeleine E. Cluzel.

Katherine Dunham is known as the ‘queen mother of black dance.’ The archives has a number of publications related to her work.

Katherine Dunham presents Bal Negre.
Link to catalogue record here.

Katherine Dunham and her company in tropical revue
Link to catalogue record here.

Las danzas de Haití by Katherine Dunham (Spanish version by Javier Romero)
Link to catalogue record here.

Panorama de la danse en mil neuf cent cenquante deux by Magdeleine E. Cluzel (features work by Katherine Dunham).
Link to catalogue record here.

Sheet music from John Arpin Sheet music Collection featuring work by Dunham for Albert Lewis’ production of Cabin in the Sky from 1940 available here.

Link to materials featuring work of Katherine Dunham in Special Collections here.

Early editions of work by James Baldwin

Uncorrected galleys of 1963 Dial Press edition of James Baldwin's Notes of a native son

Notes of a native son by James Baldwin.  “Uncorrected galleys distributed by Dial Press”.
Link to catalogue record here.

Nobody knows my name by James Baldwin.  From the library of Rabbi Gunther Plaut.
Link to catalogue record here.

Another country by James Baldwin. From the library of Margaret Laurence.
Link to catalogue record here.

Go Tell It On the Mountain by James Baldwin. From the library of Margaret Laurence.
Link to catalogue record here.

The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin.
Link to catalogue record here.

A rap on race by James Baldwin and Margaret Mead.
Link to catalogue record here.

Full listing of work by James Baldwin held in Archives & Special Collections, see here.

Members of the Négritude movement in France

AimeCesaire

State of the Union by Aimé Césaire. Translated from the French.
Link to catalogue record here.

Poemes by Léopold Sédar Senghor .
Link to catalogue record here. English translations and introduction by John Reed and Clive Wake available here.

Anthologie de la nouvelle poesie negre et malgache de langue francaise by Leopold Sedar Senghor with essay “Orphee noir” by Jean-Paul Sartre.
Link to catalogue record here.

Lost Body by Aimé Césaire. Translated from the French. Featuring illustrations by Picasso.
Link to catalogue record here.

Pigments : Névralgies by  Léon-Gontran Damas. Featuring illustrations by Max Pinchinat.
Link to catalogue record here.

L’étudiant noir, student magazine started by Damas, Césaire and  that was main source for French colonial students in France involved in Négritude movement.
Link to online resource here.

Black Canadian poetry and performing arts

LillianAllan

Rhythm an’ Hardtimes by Lillian Allen. Link to catalogue record here.

Performance Bound by Wayde Compton. Available from SMIL.  Link to catalogue record here.

Illuminated Verses by George Elliott Clarke.  Link to catalogue record here.

Avec tes motes by Angèle Bassolé-Ouédraogo. Link to catalogue record here.

Showing Grit: showboating north of the 44th parallel by M. NourbeSe Philip. Link to catalogue record here.

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