A treasure trove of material
A 1957 Calgary Stampeder Football program. Glenbow Library and Archives, UCalgary: 00012212300.
It isn’t easy to fathom the depth of the Glenbow Library and Archives, but once you get into it, there’s a treasure trove of material.
Sure, it’s easy to say there are thousands upon thousands of items, all of which take up 3.3 km of shelf space. While that speaks to volume, it’s hard to understand how rich the collection is without seeing it firsthand.
And that could take a lifetime. But UCalgary’s metadata staff have been doing just that as they enter everything from the Glenbow Library and Archives into the university’s library catalogues.
Along with cataloging the items that cross her desk, Brenna Burwash, a metadata assistant with UCalgary’s special collections, has been photographing the ones that catch her eye.
Images tell the story
What follows is a selection of images Burwash has found intriguing, including books, magazines, advertisements, pamphlets and brochures, reports, letters and posters.
Each point to the diversity of the collection of the Glenbow Library and Archives.
Going by this material, men are manly. They hunt (Never Trust a Bear!), take part in winter warfare and live up to being the “ideal man” (body, mind and spirit).
Meanwhile, women are the “weaker sex,” at least according to a House of Tangee cosmetics advertisement from the 1940s. Although, the man in the Stamps vs. the Eskimos program might disagree, as would Mary, a woman from the Enoch Cree Nation. Mary lived to be nearly 100, and she was well-known for her beadwork on moccasins and deer-skin jackets.
Digging through the material that Burwash has photographed shows that politics have always been ugly, Americans think we’re communists, the 1980s had big hair, and Dr. Charles Mayo believed that when it comes to alcohol, “It’s The Brain That Counts.”
Wherever your interest lies, whether it be gender roles, health, history, horses, politics or the 1980s, it’s a safe bet the Glenbow Library and Archives has something to fill out your research, challenge stereotypes or just make you smile (or even cringe).
After all, it is a treasure trove of material.
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And please note that the Glenbow Western Research Centre is still closed. In the meantime, however, some research services are still available.
Women
- A Cree hymn book that belonged to Mary, a member of the Enoch Cree Nation. Ca. 1922. Glenbow Library and Archives, UCalgary.
- A 1957 Calgary Stampeder Football program. Glenbow Library and Archives, UCalgary: 00012212300.
- A 1940s advertisement for House of Tangee cosmetics. Glenbow Library and Archives, UCalgary.
- Calling all Girls Magazine, 1948. Glenbow Library and Archives, UCalgary: 00012152175.
- A plate from The Habit and The Horse: a treatise on female equitation by Mrs. J. Stirling Clarke. Published 1857. Glenbow Library and Archives, UCalgary: 636.134 C598 1860.
Health
- A brochure used by the Alberta Woman’s Christian Temperance Union about the dangers of alcohol, written by Dr. Charles Mayo of the Mayo Clinic. Glenbow Library and Archives, UCalgary.
- Birth Control: a practical guide for working women. Glenbow Library and Archives, UCalgary.
- A Social Hygiene Booklet for Parents, distributed by The Canadian Social Hygiene Council at showings of the 1933 film Damaged Lives. Glenbow Library and Archives, UCalgary.
- A brochure about measles. Glenbow Library and Archives, UCalgary.
History
- An 1885 copy of Grip Publishing’s Souvenir Number of the Illustrated War News: Being a History of Riel’s Second Rebellion. Glenbow Library and Archives, UCalgary: FC3215 .H288 1885C.
- Pages from an 1880 journal. Glenbow Library and Archives, UCalgary.
- A book about horses published in 1668. Glenbow Library and Archives, UCalgary.
- Title page of The Juvenile forget-me-not: a Christmas and New Year’s gift or birthday present. 1839, Edited by Miss Hill. Glenbow Library and Archives, UCalgary: 811 J97.
Horses
- A program for The Stampede at Calgary Alberta 1912. Glenbow Library and Archives, UCalgary: 606.4 C151s.
- A 1912 Souvenir of the Big Stampede. Glenbow Library and Archives, UCalgary: 606.4 172s.
- Hints on Horses: with short notes on camels and pack animals. 1908. Glenbow Library and Archives, UCalgary: 636.104 Y72.
- Are Your Horses Trying? by Fred Rickaby, 1967. Glenbow Library and Archives, UCalgary: 636.1253 R539.
- Pages from The Penycuik Experiments, 1899. Glenbow Library and Archives, UCalgary: 636.1222 E94.
Men
- Canadian Army and Air Force winter warfare research programme 1944-1945: Exercise Eskimo “Dry Cold”. Glenbow Library and Archives, UCalgary: U167.5 .W5 C365 1944).
- Calling all varmints, 1952. Glenbow Library and Archives, UCalgary: 799.2 P829c.
- The Gun Report: why not bayonets? 1976. Glenbow Library and Archives, UCalgary.
- Outdoor Life. Glenbow Library and Archives, UCalgary.
- Ideal Men, a brochure published by the Young Men’s Christian Association, Calgary, 1900. Glenbow Library and Archives, UCalgary.
Oh, the ’80s
- The spring 1988 issue of Okanagan Life (Kelowna, B.C.), Glenbow Library and Archives, UCalgary.
- The 1985-86 Rocky Mountain Visitor guide. Glenbow Library and Archives, UCalgary.
- The Winter 1986 issue of Calgary Alumni Magazine. Glenbow Library and Archives, UCalgary.
Politics
- The cover of a political pamphlet, Is the West Worthwhile? Glenbow Library and Archives, UCalgary.
- Sex and the single Prime Ministe: a study in Liberal lovemaking, 1968. Glenbow Library and Archives, UCalgary: 971.064 C875s.
- A Joe Clark election poster. Glenbow Library and Archives, UCalgary.
- A Dominion of Canada Party letter and banner pushing for one official language. Glenbow Library and Archives, UCalgary.
- American Opinion magazine, 1971 featuring the article Canada: How The Communists Took Control. Glenbow Library and Archives, UCalgary.