Tag Archives: Canadiana

Friends of the LAC and the Treasures found at the Cubby/Librairie Le Recoin

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By Evan Dalrymple

Many people know about the Friends of the Ottawa Public Library and their book stores across Ottawa, but the Friends of Library and Archives Canada (FLAC) and its Cubby bookshop is one of 395 Wellington’s best kept secrets. For those who know, it’s a treasure!

Two images of a book in the shape of a person. The open book is the head, with two hands holding the bottom corners of the cover and back cover. Above one of the images, it says “The Cubby Friends of LAC BOOKSTORE gently used books”. Under the second image, it says “Le Recoin LIBRAIRIE Les Amis de BAC livres légèrement usagés”.

The National Library and Friends’ logo on the bookshop. This logo is derived from the original mural by Alfred Pellan, titled La Connaissance / Knowledge. This mural is in the Pellan Room within the Public Archives and National Library Building at 395 Wellington. (MIKAN 4932244).

The Cubby is open every Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in room 185 on the main floor of the Public Archives and National Library Building. I urge you to visit the Cubby in person or online to find the next addition to your personal library.

History of the Friends in Ottawa

In the early 1980s to the mid-1990s, Friends associations flourished in galleries, libraries, archives and Museums in Canada. Particularly in Ottawa, Friends’ associations earliest examples are the National Gallery of Canada (1958), the Canadian War Museum (1988) and the Ottawa Public Library (OPL) Main Branch (1982), which is the most well known of the associations.

The Friends of National Library of Canada was founded in 1991 by Marianne Scott, a former National Librarian of Canada (1984–1999) and the current president of FLAC.

In 2003, The Friends of the National Library of Canada and the Friends of the National Archives of Canada formed one single Friends organization—The Friends of Library and Archives Canada—in anticipation of the fusion of the National Archives with the National Library, which occurred in May 2004 with the official proclamation of the Library and Archives Canada Act.

The newsletter of the Friends of the National Library, “A note among friends,” published between 1992 and 2008, clearly demonstrate how book sales, boutiques and antiquarian book auctions have been monumentally successful ways to reach out to the larger community and to develop the National Library collection.

Page from a pamphlet with writing and the image of a logo.

A note among friends and The Friends of the National Library of Canada pamphlets (OCLC 1082162430 & OCLC 61127762).

Encouraging donations and gifts of treasures and fundraising for special acquisitions is central to the Friend’s constitution.

The Friends of National Archives organization also formed in 1995 under the leadership of Jean-Pierre Wallot (1985–1997), with their own newsletter “Between friends.” The National Archives also had a boutique, but less is known about their activities.

FLAC’s Big Book Sales and antiquarian book auctions

Many perhaps have heard of OPL’s yearly Mammoth Book Sales (MBS), but did you know that FLAC once hosted its own enormously successful “Big Book Sales”? These book sales, hosted alongside the Friends organizations of the Nepean Public Library, the Kanata Public Library, the Cumberland Public Library and local booksellers, have been a success in Ottawa for well over a decade. Even before consolidating in 2003 to create the Friends of the Ottawa Public Library Association, Friends organizations were thriving in various public libraries across Ottawa.

Photograph of people going through books placed on tables in a mall.

The first sale at St. Laurent mall from A note among friends, 1995, Winter, Volume 4, No. 1. (OCLC 1082162430).

The inaugural Big Book Sale took place September 23–25, 1995 at the St. Laurent Shopping Centre. According to the book sale committee, the sale by all measures was a resounding success. It raised $17,164.49, and an additional 423 books were donated to the National Library. In subsequent years, the Friends often doubled or tripled this amount.

FLAC initiated its first antiquarian book auction in the winter of 2000, continuing it until about 2008. As is the case today, all Canadian book donations are set aside and reviewed by a National Library staff member before they become part of the library collection. The Friends earmarked their rarer books for antiquarian book auctions. Today, FLAC features select books on their online store, inviting bids that are too good to pass up, so don’t miss out!

A history of the Cubby

Initially known as the “Friends Boutique,” the Cubby started in 1993 as a pop-up store situated in the sunken lobby of the Public Archives and National Library building. The Boutique was open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily from June 1st to the end of August.

Page from a catalogue with a title “Friends' Boutique”, a photo with merchandise in the top right corner, descriptions of the merchandise and an order form at the bottom.

Thank you for being a Friend! The Fall 1996 catalogue, which featured the new Friends’ Boutique selling interesting merchandise (OCLC 1082162430).

The Boutique was staffed by two volunteers who also provided tours of the National Library in English and French, and it offered a remarkable selection of items, including postcards, posters, CDs from celebrated Canadian Musicians, as well as magnetic tapes from the National Library Music Division. T-shirts and sweatshirts emblazoned with “WOW” for Wellington Street West became especially popular. Many of the cherished items remain available at the Cubby today. Additionally, membership cards to FLAC are on offer—consider joining today!

In 2014, the Friends’ book sales division relocated to room 185 at 395 Wellington, attached to the Morley Callaghan meeting room. The basement now houses an extensive storage area for sorting a vast collection of books and hosts an office where Library and Archives Canada (LAC) staff can meticulously assess each donation.

By 2017 the FLAC bookstore, affectionately known as the Cubby, made its debut. The Cubby offered gently used books, with proceeds supporting the acquisitions of Canadiana for LAC. The store is open three days a week, bolstering its presence by running an annual big book sale and by opening its doors to the public on special occasions, including Canada Day.

Come 2019, the Cubby had enlisted the aid of over ten volunteers and succeeded in raising $3000, contributing to the purchase of significant works such as the rare edition of “Adventures of a Field Mouse,” by Catharine Parr Traill, and Leacock’s best-known book, “Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town” —the American version in the original dust jacket.

The pandemic in 2020 necessitated the closure of the Cubby, yet in response, FLAC pivoted to an online version of its antiquarian book sales of the past. So bid away!

Treasures found at the Cubby

The second and third laws of library science proposed by S.R. Ranganathan in 1931 (OCLC 1007655699)—that every reader has a book, and every book its reader—are ideas that resonate with my experiences at the Cubby.

In 2019, I visited an exhibit at the National Gallery of Canada which contained the Archives of Thoreau and J. E. H. MacDonald collection and the book West by East and other Poems by J. E. H. Macdonald (OCLC 11487298). This Ryerson Press book, enriched by Thoreau MacDonald’s drawings and the original dust jacket, are images that have etched themselves in my memory.

To my delight, I recently managed to acquire a rare copy—the first of five hundred pulled—through negotiation on the Cubby’s online platform!

Book cover with drawing of a road lined by a fenced going towards a house. A tree can be seen in the background. West by East & other poems by J.E.H MacDonald is written on top of the drawing. Below its written Drawings by Thoreau MacDonald. The Ryerson Press, Toronto.

My copy of West by East by J.E.H MacDonald (OCLC 11487298) is one of the first five hundred copies produced.
Photo credit: J.E.H. MacDonald, West by East and other poems, with illustration by Thoreau MacDonald. Toronto 1933. National Gallery of Canada Library and Archives Photo: National Gallery of Canada

I have since discovered a treasure trove of Thoreau MacDonald-designed books at the Cubby store. These books are all in very good condition with original dust jackets from the 1930s from Ryerson Press Books and adorned with illustrations by Thoreau Macdonald.

First, I discovered a very handsome copy of Thoreau MacDonald: A Catalogue of Design and Illustration. My copy is signed by the humble compiler, Richard Landon, and is noted for its significance in Canadian book illustration history. Richard Landon was the head of Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, which has been referred to as “the house that Richard Built.”

Since armed with this catalogue of book design and illustration, I also located two other treasures by the Confederation poets Duncan Campbell Scott (1862–1947) and Sir Charles George Douglas Roberts. Both books were inscribed and signed by the authors and had rare ephemera placed within. Could it be that these books were waiting on the cart of the Cubby for me?

In the Village of Viger (OCLC 3634059), by Duncan Campbell Scott, was designed and signed by Thoreau MacDonald. Duncan Campbell Scott was a poet and a controversial civil servant, leaving a complicated legacy for Canadians to consider regarding his part as an architect of the Residential Schools.

Book cover with a drawing of a house in forefront, a second house in the back, trees, grass, and a sun in the sky. The middle of the book cover reads In the Village of Viger, followed by the author’s name, Duncan Campbell Scott.

In the Village of Viger (OCLC 3634059) by Duncan Campbell Scott, a Confederation poet and an architect of the Residential Schools in Canada. My copy from the Cubby was signed by Thoreau MacDonald. Photo courtesy of the author, Evan Dalrymple.

My next find was the Selected Poems of Sir Charles G. D. Roberts (OCLC 27780946). This book was personally inscribed, and to my astonishment, I found various pieces of ephemera, including a signed mimeograph of his poem “Those Perish, Those Endure” about the Spanish Civil War and a signed article from the Dalhousie Review in April 1930, “More Reminisces About Bliss Carman”. Bliss Carman was Charles Robert’s cousin and a prolific Confederation Poet.

Cover page of a book with a frame-like rectangle with its title “Selected Poems” and the author’s name “Sir Charles G. D. Roberts” inside.

Selected Poems of Sir Charles G. D. Roberts (OCLC 27780946). My copy from the Cubby was signed and full of ephemera. Photo courtesy of the author, Evan Dalrymple.

The next chapter of the Cubby/ Le Recoin

At Ādisōke, a joint facility shared by the Ottawa Public Library and Library and Archives Canada, construction is well under way. Ādisōke is Anishinaabemowin word that means “storytelling,” and it promises to be a hub for our community. The question is—what will become of our Cubby?

Will it be a charming pop-up as from the bygone days, with “Big Book Sales” and auctions, or will it forge a new path? The fusion of the Ottawa Public Library and Library and Archives Canada may recreate the collaborative spirit we remember.

As we turn the page to the next chapter for the Friends and discover the new gathering space that will emerge at Ādisōke, we anticipate the new treasures that await us.

In closing, find your own treasures at the Cubby Big Book sale that will occur during LAC’s Doors Open Ottawa event on June 1 and 2, 2024. This will also mark 31 years of selling books—see you all at the Cubby!

To contact the Cubby, email Amis-friends@bac-lac.gc.ca or call 613-992-8304.

Further reading

  • Abley, Mark. 2013. Conversations with a Dead Man: The Legacy of Duncan Campbell Scott. Madeira Park, BC: Douglas & McIntyre (OCLC 856726449).
  • Landon, Richard, Marie Elena Korey, and Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library. 2014. A Long Way from the Armstrong Beer Parlour: A Life in Rare Books: Essays. Toronto, Ontario: Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library (OCLC 890957110).
  • From our rare book vault: What makes a book rare?, Library and Archives Canada Blog

Evan Dalrymple is a Reference Librarian for the Access and Services Branch at Library and Archives Canada, located at 395 Wellington.

A new old book for LAC

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By Meaghan Scanlon

Library and Archives Canada (LAC) recently acquired a copy of the book Relation de ce qvi s’est passé en la mission des pères de la Compagnie de lésvs aux Hurons, pays de la Nouuelle France, és années 1648. & 1649. The acquisition was supported by the Library and Archives Canada Foundation.

Published in Paris in 1650, the book is part of a series of publications known as the Jesuit Relations. The Jesuit Relations are reports written by Jesuit missionaries who were stationed in New France. Published annually from 1632 to 1673, these reports served to update the missionaries’ superiors in France about the progress of the mission. Through their publication, the Relations became widely available and thus also helped build support among the French public for the Jesuit efforts in New France. While the content of the Jesuit Relations must be viewed in the colonial context of their production, the books are nonetheless significant documents of the history of New France. They are a valuable—albeit one-sided and heavily edited—source of information about the Indigenous peoples of the area known as New France and their early interactions with the European settler missionaries.

The item purchased by LAC is the first edition of the Jesuit Relation that details the events of the years 1648 and 1649. The credited author, Paul Ragueneau, was the superior of the Jesuit mission in the territory of the Huron-Wendat people. The report deals with major historical events. These include the conflict between the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) and the Huron; the resulting destruction of the Jesuits’ mission in Huron territory (Wendake) by the Haudenosaunee; and the deaths of Jesuits Jean de Brébeuf and Gabriel Lalemant, both of whom were later canonized by the Catholic Church.

LAC’s Rare Book Collection focuses on Canadiana published before 1867. (LAC defines published Canadiana as publications produced in Canada, about Canada, or created by people from or with ties to Canada.) Within the Rare Book Collection, LAC has an outstanding collection of about 65 Jesuit Relations. While LAC does not have a copy of the earliest report published in 1632, it does hold at least one copy of one edition for almost every subsequent year.

Today, the Jesuit Relations are considered “important” rare books, but they were likely viewed as more akin to mass market literature at the time of their publication. This historical perception is reflected in the way the copies in LAC’s collection are bound. Several of the books are in “limp vellum” bindings. A limp binding is opposed to a hardcover binding, in which the book’s cover materials are glued to some type of board to create a hard cover. With a limp binding, there are no boards. Think of limp bindings as the historical equivalent to paperback books, except that instead of paper, the covers of older books are usually made of animal skin. In the case of many of LAC’s Jesuit Relations, the specific skin used is known as vellum, hence the term limp vellum.

Just as modern paperbacks are now an economical option, limp bindings would have been less expensive for seventeenth-century book buyers than hardcover books. Another sign of the inexpensive nature of the bindings of the Jesuit Relations in LAC’s collection is that they are also mostly very plain, with no decorations other than the titles handwritten in ink on the spines. Additionally, the books tend to be very small, typically around 20 cm in height.

The new acquisition is so slight, in fact, that the delivery person who brought it to LAC said he was sure he was dropping off an empty box! It too is in a limp vellum binding. Interestingly, its vellum cover is made from an old piece of sheet music that looks as though it could date from the sixteenth or seventeenth century. Historically, it was common for bookbinders to use scrap materials like old manuscript pages in their work. Of course, recycling supplies is a way to save money, and a cover made from reused vellum is perhaps another indication that the book in question was considered “cheap,” for lack of a better word.

However, there are signs that this binding does not date from the time of the book’s publication. The endpapers are made of different, newer paper than the text block of the book. The margins of the book’s pages are also very thin, indicating that the pages were cropped at some point, likely when the book was rebound.

The specific details of what alterations may have been made to this book over its lifespan are a mystery for LAC’s book conservators to attempt to unfold. However, if, as it appears, the volume was rebound at some point in the almost 400 years since its publication, whoever did the work made the effort to use materials and techniques faithful to those that might have been employed during the era when the book was originally published.

A photograph showing a small book bound in a piece of vellum with musical notations handwritten on it in red and black ink in a calligraphic style. The vellum appears to date from the sixteenth or seventeenth century.

Cover of LAC copy 2 of Relation de ce qvi s’est passé en la mission des pères de la Compagnie de lésvs aux Hurons, pays de la Nouuelle France, és années 1648. & 1649, published in Paris by Sébastien Cramoisy, 1650 (OCLC 1007175731).

Additional resources

Meaghan Scanlon is a Senior Special Collections Librarian in the Published Acquisitions Division at Library and Archives Canada.

Images of moose now on Flickr

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Moose are the largest members of the deer family.

A coloured print of two moose calves lying on the ground and an adult bull moose standing next to them.

“Moose Deer,” coloured lithograph by John James Audubon, 1845 (MIKAN 3025621)

They are typically very tall, having long legs to help them wade through water or snow. Other characteristic features include a humped shoulder region, dark-coloured fur, an elongated face with prominent snout and lips, large ears, and broad flat antlers on the male. They inhabit the boreal forests across Canada and similar regions over the world. Preferring a colder climate, they seek out habitats with seasonal snow cover and move further north during the summer months.

Visit the Flickr album now!

Canoes

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As immigration and settlement expanded across Canada, a variety of travel means were adopted from Aboriginal people’s communities. Many of these methods, like the canoe, are still used today for work and leisure activities.

Discovering the Héritage Collection Through Archives Search

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Since Library and Archives Canada (LAC) extended its long-standing partnership with Canadiana.org to digitize microfilms in August 2013, 17.4 million images and 535 collections have been added to the Héritage website. These microfilms cover personal, administrative and government records.

Up until recently, clients looking for microfilmed records in the collection would start their search on the LAC website, then go to the Héritage website to check if that content was already digitized. But now, you can find out whether a microfilmed record has been digitized or not just by consulting the MIKAN description!

In this example for the Royal Canadian Air Force files, the following graphical notice is displayed at the top of the page in the Title section:Graphical notice indicating that all or part of the records described have been digitized and are available online.Scrolling down to the Finding aid section, you will find the link to the Héritage website:

Exemple of a MIKAN entry with a the link to the Héritage website.

As other microfilms are digitized and made available on the Héritage website, similar links will be added to the corresponding MIKAN descriptions.

Happy hunting!

PS 8000 collection of early 20th-century digitized Canadiana

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To mark Canada Book Day, we take a closer look at the PS 8000 collection of early 20th-century Canadian publications available in the Electronic Collection of Library and Archives Canada. PS 8000 is the standard classification for Canadian literature, one of the core strengths of our holdings.

To browse this collection

• Click “Search the Electronic Collection” on the left side of the screen
• Choose “Any keyword” from the drop-down menu in the first search box
• Enter “PS 8000” in the second field as the search term

This search produces a list of pre-1926 Canadian publications that have been digitized and are accessible online. Other key terms can be used to further refine the search (e.g. world war and poetry).

Figure 1: Search screen for Electronic Collection

Figure 1: Search screen for Electronic Collection

For other online resources, consult our blog articles on how to find digitized publications Part I and Part II.

Also, explore our Flickr album for a selection of cover images of these publications.