Tag Archives: published material

The Ancient Art of Archery

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Version française

By Dylan Roy

This article contains historical language and content that may be considered offensive, such as language used to refer to racial, ethnic and cultural groups. Please see our historical language advisory for more information.

Archery, like most other sports or physical endeavours, can teach an individual many things, including discipline, perseverance, patience and focus.

I began my archery saga very recently and, despite my obvious inadequacies in the sport, I have had a great time learning about its various intricacies. This newfound hobby led me to scour the published and archival collection at Library and Archives Canada (LAC) to see what could be found about the bow and arrow.

Lo and behold, there was a plethora of books to read and many interesting archival materials to choose from. Like Robin Hood of yore, I shall share some precious gems from the rich resources we have at LAC.

First, if you were ever stuck on where to start for archery, there are many beginner guides and archery club-endorsed publications available. One of my personal favourites, due to its charm and whimsical cartoon art style, is the book Archery is fun! This book is mainly geared towards children, but it can also teach adults the basics of archery. With this swell book, you’ll be shooting arrows like Katniss in no time!

Second, as noted in the title of this blog, archery is an ancient art. To learn about the history of archery, why not use a book that was written over a century ago? Archery, by C.J. Longman and Henry Walrond (published in 1894), is a wonderful piece of literature to learn about archery’s ancient roots. Moreover, the book can enable you to understand the shifting thought patterns and language of authors writing over a hundred years ago.

The spine of an old-fashioned book with the title “Archery” printed in the middle.

Spine of the book Archery by C.J. Longman and Henry Walrond. (OCLC 342853)

According to Longman and Walrond, only hunting “can lay greater antiquity than archery.” The archaic allure of archery is one of the things that attracted me to the sport. It’s fun to think that, long ago, our far-distant ancestors were most likely taking part in archery in much the same way as we do today. This intriguing sport connects us with the past through actions in the present.

Longman and Walrond also included a quote in their book from a Hindu poet, which can be seen below:

“May the bow bring us spoils and oxen, may the bow be victorious in the heat of the fight; the bow fills the foe with terrible fear, may the bow give us victory over the world.”

This poem demonstrates the importance of archery and the impact that it has had on human civilization. The unknown poet declares that with the bow, humans may ultimately be victorious over the earth itself—thus indicating the sheer power associated with archery.

The book also provides lovely illustrations of some prehistoric arrowheads, which can be seen below:

Black-and-white illustrations of five arrowheads with a description under each of the drawings.

Five different prehistoric arrowheads found on page 19 of the book Archery. (OCLC 342853)

Many societies have held archery in high regard and many deities have been associated with it, especially in relation to hunting, such as the Greek goddess Artemis.

With the history of archery behind us, I will now share some sources that provide insight on how to get in shape for archery. You’ll be looking buff like Hawkeye in no time!

Floyd W. Johnson’s Fitness for Archery is a wonderful read for anybody looking for some pointers on the types of exercises that facilitate archery. Johnson advises that there are four main criteria needed for fitness as an archer: aerobic capacity (or stamina), flexibility, strength and relaxation.

According to Johnson, “aerobic capacity is the maximum amount of oxygen that can be taken into the blood and delivered to the muscle. Flexibility is the range of movement in a joint or series of joints (spinal column). Strength is the capacity of a muscle to exert force against a resistance.” Finally, relaxation is important because “archery is a sport which demands full mental and physical concentration at all times.” Therefore, if one wishes to practice archery, it is crucial to address all four of these fitness priorities.

Johnson also supplies the reader with several exercises to enhance one’s fitness, which you can see in the images below:

Page titled “Archery: Strength–Endurance Circuit” with illustrations of figures showing how to do seven exercises.

Seven different exercises for building strength and endurance, including bent-knee sit-ups, push-ups, bent-arm weight pulls, bent-over lateral arm raise, star jumps, twisted sit-ups and bent-over rowing. (OCLC 15918112)

Page titled “The Bow Arm (Isometrics)” with instructions and illustrations of figures doing the exercises described.

Three different exercises for bow arm isometrics: shoulder blade lock, arm throw and arm rotations. (OCLC 15918112)

Page titled “The Bow Arm cont’d” with instructions and illustrations of figures doing the exercises described.

Three other exercises for bow arm isometrics: elbow rotations, finger spreads and finger presses. (OCLC 15918112)

By including these exercises in your regimen, you’ll be fit enough to surf down a flight of stairs on a shield while shooting arrows, just like Legolas!

Although our published section provides a vast array of content concerning archery, we also hold many records about archery in our archival holdings.

A good fonds to consult is the Federation of Canadian Archers fonds. This fonds contains a multitude of records concerning the federation. Researchers can garner a wide array of information by consulting the sections found under “Record information – Details.” For example, the “Scope and content” section conveys the following information:

Fonds consists of publications, bulletins, minutes and correspondence; competition records; finances, membership, history; instructional programmes, rules; scrapbooks; athletes’ files; president’s files.

Photographic material depicts various Canadian archery championships and activities of the Federation of Canadian Archers, 1949–1972. Medallic objects consist of six competition medals (1966–1971), and one 1969 Federation of Canadian Archers pendant. Maps contain plans of the competition sites in Montréal and Joliette during the 1976 Summer Olympic Games.

Something interesting I learned from the “Biography/Administrative history” section—also located under the “Record information – Details” header—was the fact that the first time Canada competed internationally in archery was in 1963 at the world championships in Helsinki!

Aside from this fonds, I located many photographs of archery that are available entirely online in our archival holdings. You won’t need to scour the physical records for these!

Some of our photographs show how much a delight archery can be, such as the photograph below:

One woman holding a bow and arrow while another woman with arrows in her pocket helps her with her form.

Two women participating in archery while smiling. (e000762820)

Other photographs demonstrate that archery is practiced by a wide variety of individuals—for example, wheelchair archery is a prominent part of the Paralympics:

Three men and one woman in wheelchairs in position to shoot their arrows.

Four Canadian Paralympic archers in a field. Left to right: Pierre Brousseau, Roch Poirier, Jean Rochon, Thérèse Tourangeau. (e011176636)

Some of our photographs demonstrate some remarkable archery techniques, like the one below wherein the archer is drawing the bow while holding it with his feet—let’s see Robin Hood do that!

A man preparing to shoot an arrow holding the bow string with his hands and bracing the bow with his feet.

Archer John Jamieson Jr. drawing a bow with his feet while lying down. (e011310538-037_s3)

During my search, I noticed that we had several pictures of military service women practicing archery. The photograph below shows a Canadian Women’s Army Corps (CWAC) member next to a target, demonstrating that they were indeed a force to be reckoned with!

A woman in military uniform taking an arrow out of a target while holding her bow.

CWAC archer in front of target. (e010778805)

Throughout my hunt for archery photographs, I came across some offensive language that I think is important to highlight as it is an unfortunate part of LAC’s archival history, such as the original title of the photograph below:

Man kneeling on snow in position to shoot his bow and arrow, with a woman standing behind him.

Inuk man using a bow made of muskox horn as his wife watches. (a211284)

Archival descriptions such as the one above reflect historical language and content that may be considered offensive—for example, language used to refer to racial, ethnic and cultural groups.

Items in the collection, their content and their descriptions reflect the time when they were created and the views of their creators. The items retain their original descriptions to ensure that attitudes and viewpoints are not erased from the historical record. LAC provides additional descriptive information to give background on such records. This is an ongoing process.

If you see records with inappropriate language or content that you think LAC should review, please contact us at reference@bac-lac.gc.ca.

Archery is a sport that requires many faculties to perform well. Although it can be frustrating at times, it is so rewarding to see the arrow strike the centre of a target and to hear that triumphant *thump* as the arrow penetrates its target.

I hope you enjoyed looking through some of the archery-focused holdings we have at LAC, and I hope it inspires you to get out there and try your hand at the ancient art of archery.

Dylan Roy is a Reference Archivist in the Access and Services Branch at Library and Archives Canada.

A new old book for LAC

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Version française

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.

Diversity and the Freedom to Read: Who’s Missing?

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By Liane Belway

Readers and writers across Canada will celebrate Freedom to Read Week this February 18–24. This annual event raises awareness about access to books for all Canadians and about how published material can be challenged, all in support of the fundamental right of Canadians to freedom of expression. One way to gain perspective on the freedom to read is to ask the simple question: who’s missing?

Readers have opportunities to read material that reflects the diversity of Canadian authors, readers and communities, with increased opportunities to discover even more. Now more than ever, we celebrate and support this discovery. For instance, did you know that Canada has our very own Festival of Literary Diversity (FOLD) to celebrate Canadian and international authors? The FOLD even includes a monthly challenge to encourage readers to explore diverse authors and books. Spoiler alert: February’s challenge is to read a book that has been challenged in Canadian schools!

Social media is another great place to find diversity in Canadian books and reading. On some platforms, a quick search with keywords and hashtags devoted to discussing all things bookish will produce a wealth of reading recommendations. Some videos and other content celebrate and critique diverse and exciting books, sometimes bringing them to a mainstream audience that might otherwise have not had the chance to learn about them. Other social media posts include critical and often passionate discussions about why people love, and sometimes don’t love, certain books, all with an eye for the inclusion of ideas and voices and, of course, that encourage people to read! Reading diverse material is one of the best defenses against book challenges, as well as misinformation, misunderstanding, and generally missing out on so many interesting, moving and often award-winning books.

Chairs circling a table in the middle of a room surrounded by shelves with books.

Making sure there are enough seats to discuss diversity in Canadian books (a064449).

Library and Archives Canada (LAC) has always played a unique role in the protection of the freedom to read and in the preservation of Canada’s voices. Diversity takes work, and LAC strives to include and protect all voices, including taking steps to better reflect the realities of the past for the benefit of the present and the future. One example is determining what we might have missed or not fully represented historically, and then working to change that, improving both the collection and the experience of readers and researchers. As Canada’s national library, LAC’s role will also be changing and expanding this year to become a campaign partner for Freedom to Read Week.

For forty years, the Book and Periodical Council (BPC) has been championing Freedom to Read Week. Now LAC, along with the Canadian Urban Library Council and the Ontario Library Association, proudly joins BPC in the important work to support the Canadian freedom to read. In addition, LAC aims to facilitate co-operation among communities involved in the acquisition, preservation and diffusion of knowledge in Canada.

LAC also works tirelessly to preserve the diverse documentary heritage of all Canadians. We collect and make accessible published works that reflect this rich variety and depth. LAC’s mandate includes the monumental task of acquiring copies of Canadian publications. There are a few rules, of course! The Library and Archives of Canada Act requires us to collect works published in Canada: under the Act, a publisher who makes a publication available in Canada must submit copies to LAC in order to make the publication available to the public. This process includes steps like LAC accepting second physical copies, when required, and digital publications in non-proprietary formats to ensure long-term preservation for future generations. LAC also works to collect and preserve publications in formats accessible to all readers.

Did you know that LAC also collects and preserves books that have been challenged in Canada? You can consult the list of Challenged Titles and Authors from our collection to see for yourself. Another spoiler: you might be genuinely surprised by some of the books you find here.

Reading diverse material is more important than ever in a time where challenging publications can interfere with the freedom to read. Canada has a long, if often little-known, history of challenging books and voices. Across Canada, publications can be challenged for different reasons and for various audiences, including school libraries and public libraries with differing mandates and policies. The freedom to read can be notoriously challenging to protect, despite its inclusion in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Libraries and readers share the responsibility to protect and support the freedom to read and always work towards a vital goal: when it comes to authors that Canadians read, no one is missing.

Freedom to Read Week will take place from February 18–24, 2024. To learn more about this year’s campaign, check out the Freedom to Read website.

Liane Belway is an Acquisitions Librarian with the Industry Outreach team in the Private Archives and Published Heritage Branch at Library and Archives Canada.

Canada’s Earliest Printers

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By Meaghan Scanlon

As you walk through the exhibition Premiere: New acquisitions at Library and Archives Canada, you will see two items from Library and Archives Canada’s (LAC’s) Rare Book Collection. One is a short medical pamphlet published in Quebec in 1785 that explains the symptoms and treatment of a disease thought to have been a form of syphilis. The other is a proclamation on the subject of French fishing rights, issued by the Governor of Newfoundland in 1822.

A colour photograph of a book open to the title page. It reads: Direction pour la guerison du mal de la Baie St Paul. A Quebec : Chez Guillaume Brown, au milieu de la grande cote. M, DCC, LXXXV.

Title page of Direction pour la guerison du mal de la Baie St Paul. Printed by Guillaume (William) Brown at Quebec City in 1785 (AMICUS 10851364)

These two publications may not appear to have much in common. In fact, though, they share an interesting historical connection: both are the work of the first printers in their respective provinces. William Brown, publisher of Direction pour la guerison du mal de la Baie St Paul [A guide to treating the Baie St Paul malady], and his partner, Thomas Gilmore, became the first printers in the province of Quebec when they set up shop at Quebec City in 1764. John Ryan, who produced the Newfoundland broadside, holds the distinction of having been the first printer in two separate provinces. Ryan and his partner, William Lewis, were already in business in Saint John when the province of New Brunswick was created in 1784. Ryan then relocated to St. John’s, Newfoundland, in 1806, and opened the island’s first press.

A black-and-white document proclaiming the rights of French fishermen under the Treaty of Paris, which confirmed the rights laid out in the Treaty of Utrecht, to fish in the waters off Newfoundland without hindrance or harassment by British subjects. The proclamation directs officers and magistrates to prevent British subjects from obstructing the French fishery, and gives warnings about potential actions to be taken against those British fishermen who refuse to comply.

By His Excellency Sir Charles Hamilton … a proclamation. Printed by John Ryan at St. John’s, Newfoundland, ca. 1822 (AMICUS 45262655)

Johann Gutenberg introduced printing to Europe in the middle of the 15th century, completing his famous Bible in Mainz, Germany, around 1454. By 1500, Gutenberg’s innovation had been adopted widely in Europe. European colonists then transported printing technology to the Americas. It was not until 1751—almost 300 years post-Gutenberg—that the first press reached Canada. This alone seems to us like an incredibly lengthy interval, accustomed as we are to rapid changes in technology. But it actually took close to another 150 years for printing to spread to all regions of the country. Through holdings like these items printed by William Brown and John Ryan, LAC’s Rare Book Collection documents the long and fascinating history of how printing made its way across Canada.

A colour reproduction of the cover page of a newspaper. The newsprint is creased near the top and sepia-tinged.

The Halifax Gazette, no. 1 (March 23, 1752). Printed by John Bushell (AMICUS 7589124)

This history begins with John Bushell, Canada’s first printer. In 1751, Bushell moved from Boston, Massachusetts, to Halifax, Nova Scotia. There, he published the country’s first newspaper, The Halifax Gazette, on March 23, 1752. As previously noted, Quebec and New Brunswick got their first presses in 1764 and 1784, respectively. By the end of the 18th century, printers had come to Prince Edward Island and Ontario, where Louis Roy established the first press in Newark (Niagara-on-the-Lake) in 1792. After John Ryan’s arrival in Newfoundland in 1806, there were presses in all of the eastern provinces. Many early eastern Canadian printers, including Ryan and Prince Edward Island’s first printer, James Robertson, were Loyalists—Americans who left the United States during the American Revolutionary War out of loyalty to the British monarchy.

The advent of printing in Western Canada and the North occurred before the close of the 19th century. In both Alberta and Manitoba, the first printers were missionaries who produced Indigenous language translations of Christian religious texts. Using a makeshift press and type he had cast himself, Methodist minister James Evans started printing in Cree syllabics at Rossville, Manitoba, in 1840. The Oblate priest Émile Grouard brought the first press to Alberta when he settled at Lac La Biche in 1876. In 1878, Grouard completed the province’s first book, entitled Histoire sainte en Montagnais (“Montagnais” was the term non-Indigenous people used for the Dene language). That same year, Saskatchewan’s first printer, Scottish-born Patrick Gammie Laurie, began publishing his newspaper, the Saskatchewan Herald (AMICUS 4970721), in Battleford. Laurie had walked to Battleford from Winnipeg—a distance of about 1000 kilometres!—leading an ox cart that carried his press.

The Fraser River gold rush lured prospectors to the west coast in 1858. A demand for printed news accompanied this influx of people, resulting in the establishment of British Columbia’s first five newspapers, all in Victoria. One of the five was The British Colonist (AMICUS 7670749), founded by the future premier of British Columbia, Amor de Cosmos. Gold also spurred the introduction of the press to Canada’s northern territories. During the Klondike gold rush in 1898, printer G.B. Swinehart left Juneau, Alaska, with the intention of starting a newspaper in Dawson City, Yukon. Swinehart’s journey stalled at Caribou Crossing due to the weather, so he published a single issue there while he waited. This paper, the Caribou Sun (AMICUS 7502915) for May 16, 1898, is the first document known to have been printed in Canada’s North.

A black-and-white photograph of a group of men standing in front of a log building with a sign that reads The Yukon Sun.

Office of G.B. Swinehart’s paper, renamed The Yukon Sun, at Dawson City, 1899. (MIKAN 3299688)

LAC’s published collection holds a lot of early Canadian printed material, including over 500 items printed in Canada before 1800. This is a significant number, but the collection still has many gaps. It is always exciting for LAC staff when we come across imprints that aren’t already in the collection because documents printed by Canada’s first printers tend to be very rare. The two publications featured in the Premiere exhibition are good examples. Only about five copies of Direction pour la guerison du mal de la Baie St Paul survive today. The John Ryan broadside was previously unrecorded, meaning that no other copies are known to exist.

If you’re in the Ottawa area, check out Premiere: New Acquisitions at Library and Archives Canada to see these rare early Canadian imprints in person, along with new acquisitions from other parts of LAC’s collection. The exhibition runs at 395 Wellington Street in Ottawa until December 3, 2018. Admission is free!

Additional resources

Meaghan Scanlon is Senior Special Collections Librarian in the Published Heritage Branch at Library and Archives Canada.

Tracing history through books

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By Meaghan Scanlon

When you’re browsing in a used book store, you might not want to buy something if its pages are covered in marks left by previous readers. For researchers looking to learn more about where a book came from and how it was used, though, such traces are rich sources. Annotations, inscriptions, bookplates, and stamps are evidence of the history of a book’s ownership. This history, referred to as provenance, tells a story about the book and its owners.

Most of the items in the Rare Book Collection at Library and Archives Canada (LAC) passed through the hands of one or more owners before arriving here, and many of them bear physical signs of their former lives. LAC’s second copy of The Polar Regions, or, A Search after Sir John Franklin’s Expedition by Sherard Osborn is an interesting example. LAC acquired this book only a short time ago, in 2015, as a transfer from the department known at the time as Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada. But the marks on the book’s pages indicate that it has actually been the property of the Government of Canada for about a century.

A colour photograph of two pages of an open book showing a stamp and a signature on the right-hand page.

Pages from copy 2 of The Polar Regions, or, A Search after Sir John Franklin’s Expedition by Sherard Osborn. A stamp at the top-right corner of the right-hand page reads “Commission on Conservation”; a handwritten signature in ink reads “W.A. Malcolm [?] / Jan’y [January] 1864 / Yokohama.” (AMICUS 6359969)

The book was printed in 1854. The oldest evidence of its provenance comes in the form of a signature on one of the pages that tells us the book spent some time in Yokohama, Japan, in 1864. Above the signature is an oval-shaped stamp reading “Commission on Conservation.” This likely means the book was part of the library of the Canadian Commission of Conservation. This commission was an advisory body established by the government to make recommendations on the stewardship of Canada’s national resources. It existed from 1909 to 1921; we can therefore guess that the book joined the public service during that period. In 1921, when the Senate was debating the Commission’s dissolution, one senator asked whether its “valuable library” would become part of the Library of Parliament’s collection. It seems that the books were instead distributed among the libraries of the various government departments that absorbed the Commission’s functions.

A colour photograph of the front endpapers of an open book showing a bookplate on the left-hand page and four stamps on the right-hand page.

Front endpapers of copy 2 of The Polar Regions, or, A Search after Sir John Franklin’s Expedition by Sherard Osborn, showing marks of past owners. Left: Bookplate from Indian and Northern Affairs Canada. Right: Stamps from Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (top right), the Lands, Parks and Forests Branch of the Department of Mines and Resources (blue stamps at middle and bottom left), and the Northwest Territories and Yukon Branch of the Department of the Interior (bottom right). (AMICUS 6359969)

This particular item’s Arctic subject matter made it a resource for the people responsible for the Canadian government’s administration of its northern territories. Over the years, this responsibility has landed with various federal bodies. The book apparently travelled with the staff who needed it, staying with them through several changes in bureaucratic structure. Much like the stamps on a passport, the jumbled departmental stamps on the book’s front free endpaper provide an illustration of its journey. After the closure of the Commission of Conservation in 1921, the book went to the Northwest Territories and Yukon Branch of the Department of the Interior (green stamp at bottom right), where it remained from 1922 to 1936. From 1937 to 1953, the Department of Mines and Resources took over northern administration, and got the book as part of the deal (blue stamps at middle and bottom left). Ownership marks from Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (black stamp at top right, and bookplate on facing page) and the Department of Northern Affairs and National Resources (stamp behind Indian and Northern Affairs Canada bookplate; not visible in photograph) depict the volume’s continuing odyssey through the government.

It is not always possible to glean so much from the traces of a book’s past. Still, next time you find a ratty old tome on a shelf, take a moment to look at what other readers have left behind. Maybe you’ll find more than you expect!

Additional resources

Meaghan Scanlon is a Special Collections Librarian in the Published Heritage Branch at Library and Archives Canada.

ISBNs and ISMNs: did you know?

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Did you know that Library and Archives Canada (LAC) is the national agency responsible for issuing ISBNs (for English publications only) and ISMNs to Canadian publishers?

This week, LAC is honoured to host the annual general meetings for the International ISBN Agency and the International ISMN Agency, and to welcome delegates attending from national and regional agencies around the world. Work done by these international agencies to coordinate and supervise the world-wide use of the standards ensures that they meet the present and future needs of the publishing industry.

What is an ISBN?

ISBN stands for International Standard Book Number. Publishers, booksellers, and libraries have used them since the early 1970s to identify each unique edition of a publication. These numbers provide an unduplicated, internationally recognized identifier used in publisher inventories, online retail systems, and library catalogues. Each different format of a publication (e.g., hardcover, softcover, MOBI, EPUB, PDF) is assigned a separate ISBN, so that the correct format can be easily ordered or retrieved.

A photo of the back cover of four books showing the ISBN and barcode of each.

ISBNs are assigned to monographic publications such as books, e-books, and maps.

What is an ISMN?

ISMN stands for International Standard Music Number. Introduced in 1993 as a unique identifier for notated music, music publishers request ISMNs for scores and sheet music collections, including digital sheet music. They are not used for recorded music or books about music. A separate ISMN is assigned to each separately available format and component (e.g. full score, vocal score).

An image of the first line in the sheet music for the song Oh Canada.

ISMNs are assigned to scores and sheet music.

The elements of an ISBN/ISMN

Far from being a random number, the 13-digit number is composed of four or five meaningful elements providing valuable information about an item’s publishing location or language, publisher, and publisher’s size. For example, ISBN 978-0-660-05896-2 (a Government of Canada publication) breaks down as follows:

978:       The prefix element, needed to create a 13-digit barcode, identifies the number as an ISBN. (The prefix element for ISMNs is 979-0.)

0:  The registration group element identifies the country, region, or language area. English-speaking areas are 0 or 1. French-speaking areas are 2. (ISMNs do not use the group element, since music is international.)

660:  The registrant element identifies a particular publisher. The number of digits in this element varies according to the size of a publisher’s expected output. Large publishers have short registrant elements, while small publishers have long ones.

05896:  The publication element identifies a specific publication by a publisher. A long number indicates that a publisher has published (or expects to publish) many titles, while a short number indicates the opposite.

2:  The check digit verifies that the previous digits are correct, and is calculated by an algorithm.

The ISBN 978-0-660-05896-2 has five elements: 978 is the prefix that identifies the number as an ISBN; 0 identifies a country, region or language area; 660 identifies the publisher; 05896 identifies the publication; 2 is the check digit.

Dissecting the ISBN.

Canadian publishers or self-publishers should contact the ISBN and ISMN agencies at LAC to obtain the appropriate number of ISBNs or ISMNs needed for their publications.

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Please note that French language publishers must obtain their ISBNs from the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec.

New Books in the Genealogy Services Collection at 395 Wellington – October 2016

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We’re excited to announce recently acquired genealogy publications. You can consult them in the Genealogy and Family History Room located on the 3rd floor of the Library and Archives Canada building at 395 Wellington Street.

Check out the list below. The link to the AMICUS record gives the call number you need to find the book on the shelves.

If you’re just starting out in genealogy, you should visit the Genealogy and Family History section of our website.

Happy exploring!

Church, Cemetery and Newspaper Indexes

Obituaries from the Christian guardian, 1891 to 1895, by Donald A. McKenzie (AMICUS 42197735)

Répertoire des naissances, des mariages et des décès de la paroisse de Saint-Ludger-de-Milot, 1934-1941, et de la paroisse de Saint-Augustin, 1924-1941, by the Société d’histoire du Lac-Saint-Jean, Service d’archives et de généalogie, Comité de Généalogie (AMICUS 43692197)

Baptêmes, mariages, annotations marginales et sépultures de Notre-Dame-du-Rosaire de Sherbrooke, 1942-1995, by the Société de généalogie des Cantons de l’Est (AMICUS 42040268)

Baptêmes, mariages, sépultures et annotations marginales de Sainte-Jeanne-d’Arc de Sherbrooke, 1913-2012, by the Société de généalogie des Cantons de l’Est (AMICUS 41994325)

Baptêmes, mariages, annotations marginales et sépultures de Christ-Roi de Sherbrooke, 1936-2012, by the Société de généalogie des Cantons de l’Est (AMICUS 41849903)

Baptêmes, mariages, annotations marginales et sépultures de Saint-Antoine-de-Padoue de Lennoxville, 1878-2010, by the Société de généalogie des Cantons de l’Est (AMICUS 41849905)

Baptêmes, mariages, annotations marginales et sépultures de Saint-Joseph de Sherbrooke, 1946-2010, by the Société de généalogie des Cantons de l’Est (AMICUS 42040250)

Baptêmes des paroisses Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes, 1928-1941 et Notre-Dame-Auxiliatrice, 1939-1941, by Michel Chrétien (AMICUS 41279336)

Baptêmes, mariages, sépultures et annotations marginales de Saint-Fortunat, comté de Wolfe, 1877-2013, by the Société de généalogie des Cantons de l’Est (AMICUS 42160267)

Cataraqui Cemetery burial registers: Kingston Township, Frontenac County, by the Kingston Branch, Ontario Genealogical Society (AMICUS 41669821)

Outremont, naissances : archives civiles (greffe) 1921-1941, St-Germain 1929-1942, Ste-Madeleine 1908-1941, St-Raphaël 1930-1941, St-Viateur 1902-1941, by Cécile de Lamirande (AMICUS 43564793)

Military

American loyalists to New Brunswick: the ship passenger lists, by David Bell (AMICUS 43913838)

Dictionnaire prosopographique des militaires beaucerons incluant le Régiment de la Chaudière depuis 1914, by Sylvain Croteau (AMICUS 43027689)

Family Histories

Généalogie ascendante de Irénée Bergeron, 1838 (Sainte-Croix-de-Lotbinière) – 1923 (Saint-Paul-de-Chester), by Linda Bergeron Szefer (AMICUS 42856232)

Généalogie des familles-souches de Saint-Casimir, by G.-Robert Tessier (AMICUS 43150466)

Saint-Just-de-Bretenières: cent ans d’histoire, 1916-2016: de la mémoire à la plume, by Louise Lefebvre (AMICUS 44279124)

Superheroes of the Digital Universe: Digitizing the Bell Features Collection

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By Meaghan Scanlon

Library and Archives Canada (LAC) is excited to announce a new digital resource for fans of Canadian comic books. The Bell Features Collection of Second World War-era comics has been completely digitized and is now available to researchers online.

The Bell Features Collection consists of 382 comic books, most in multiple copies, published in the 1940s by the Canadian comic book publisher Bell Features. These comics showcase an astounding selection of Canadian heroes such as Nelvana of the Northern Lights, Johnny Canuck, and Dixon of the Mounted.

Between November 2015 and March 2016, LAC’s digitization staff painstakingly photographed one copy of each issue held in the collection—a total of 193 comic books. At between 50 and 60 pages per comic, that’s around 10,000 pages!

Creating electronic copies of these delicate documents from LAC’s collection involved hours of careful labour from technicians in our digitization labs, who follow rigorous standards to get the best possible images while preserving the condition of the items.

The process begins with a technician placing a comic on a flat copy stand under an overhead camera, making sure to line the comic up with the camera so that the image taken will be straight. A sheet of Plexiglas is laid over the item to keep it flat. The Plexiglas is on small risers to ensure as little contact as possible with the surface of the comic. This helps prevent damaging the item by placing too much pressure on its spine. Every superhero has an archenemy, and so, too, does the digitization specialist: dust. A single particle on the Plexiglas can create a spot that ruins an image. The technician keeps an anti-static blower on hand to defeat this threat.

A comic book is placed on a flat black surface underneath a sheet of Plexiglas. A woman leans over the surface, using an anti-static blower to remove dust from the Plexiglas. The lens of a camera is visible above the table.

A digitization technician uses an anti-static blower to remove dust from the sheet of Plexiglas covering the comic book she is about to photograph. The camera lens can be seen suspended above the copy stand.

Once the comic book is in place, the technician uses an overhead camera to take a photograph. For the Bell Features Collection, a Phase One 645DF+ camera body with an IQ260 digital back and an 80-mm lens was used, with an F11 focus and a shutter speed of 1/13th of a second. The image taken with the camera is automatically uploaded to the technician’s computer, where she checks for imperfections. If she is satisfied with the image quality, she crops it in Photoshop and moves on to the next page.

A woman faces a computer monitor showing an image of a page from a comic book.

A digitization technician checks for imperfections in the digitized image of a page from Slam-Bang Comics no. 7 (AMICUS 42623987), with art by Adrian Dingle.

This entire process is repeated for each page of each comic book. Once all the pages of an issue have been photographed and the images corrected, a PDF version is created. Finally, this PDF is uploaded to LAC’s servers and a link is added to the relevant record in LAC’s online library catalogue.

If you’re interested in checking out a few of these newly digitized old Canadian comics, you can find a small sample on our website. Hungry for more? The finding aid attached to the catalogue record for the Bell Features Collection (AMICUS 43122013) includes links to all of the digitized comics. You can also access them via the catalogue records for each of the individual titles in the Bell Features Collection; see for example the record for Active Comics (AMICUS 16526991).

In the Ottawa area? Encounter some of Bell Features’ characters on a bigger scale when you visit LAC’s exhibition Alter Ego: Comics and Canadian Identity. It runs at 395 Wellington Street in Ottawa until September 14th. Admission is free.

Additional resources

Meaghan Scanlon is the Special Collections Librarian in the Published Heritage Branch at Library and Archives Canada.

Anne in the library: introducing the Cohen Collection

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Version française

By Meaghan Scanlon

In five accessions between 1999 and 2003, Canadian lawyer, film producer, and bibliographer Ronald I. Cohen donated his extensive Lucy Maud Montgomery collection to Library and Archives Canada. (See OCLC 1007773673 for a description of the collection.) The collection contains materials related to adaptations of Montgomery’s work, as well as anthologies and periodicals in which Montgomery is featured. But the bulk of the collection consists of various editions of Montgomery’s published novels, including, of course, her most famous book, Anne of Green Gables.

Among the approximately 420 items in the Cohen Collection are no fewer than 46 copies of Anne of Green Gables. Three of these are in Japanese, two in French, and one each in Korean, Finnish, Norwegian, and Swedish. The other 37 are in English.

Why, you might ask, would anyone need 37 English-language copies of Anne of Green Gables? Isn’t the story the same every time? The answer is that for book collectors, it’s often not about the story told in the text. Rather, collecting is an opportunity to discover the story of the book itself, its publication, and the way it has been marketed and received. Many book collectors set out to document the history of an author or title as completely as possible through their collections. For some, this means amassing many copies of the same title.

The Cohen Collection traces the spread of Anne of Green Gables across the English-speaking world through its inclusion of early American, British, Australian, and Canadian editions. The novel was originally published in Boston in April 1908 (OCLC 367111). This first edition was extraordinarily popular and Montgomery’s publisher, L. C. Page, reprinted it at least 12 times before the end of 1909. The Cohen Collection contains copies of the sixth (November 1908) and eleventh (August 1909) printings.

Copyright page of the Cohen Collection copy of the sixth printing of the first edition of Anne of Green Gables

Copyright page of the Cohen Collection copy of the sixth printing of the first edition of Anne of Green Gables (OCLC 367111, copy 5). “Impression” is another word for printing.

The first British edition of Anne of Green Gables was also published in 1908 (OCLC 19230504). Anne then made her way to Australia in 1925 (OCLC 220130129). Interestingly, despite the iconic status of Montgomery and her work in Canada, the first Canadian edition of Anne of Green Gables (OCLC 1006977498) did not appear until 1942. This edition, too, went through several printings; the earliest copy in the Cohen Collection dates from 1948.

Although the story remains the same in each edition, the depiction of its heroine, Anne Shirley, on the books’ covers does not. Audiences in different places and time periods have encountered different representations of Anne, from the mature-looking woman on the first edition to the sometimes cartoonish drawings on later versions. The Cohen Collection’s copies of Anne of Green Gables document the visual history of the character through their illustrations, cover art, and dust jackets.

In fact, when Ronald I. Cohen started collecting L. M. Montgomery’s books, finding copies with dust jackets was one of his main goals. Historically, dust jackets were often discarded by readers (and libraries!) and early examples can be extremely hard to find. The numerous rare dust jackets in the Cohen Collection are therefore a highly valuable resource for researchers looking at the history of one of Canada’s most beloved literary classics.

To learn more about the Ronald I. Cohen Collection of Works by L. M. Montgomery, listen to the latest episode of Library and Archives Canada’s podcast, Kindred spirits after all!

Meaghan Scanlon is the Special Collections Librarian in the Published Heritage Branch at Library and Archives Canada.

New books in the Genealogy Services Collection at 395 Wellington Street—March 2016

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Here is a list of our recently acquired genealogy publications. You can consult them in the Genealogy and Family History Room located on the 3rd floor at 395 Wellington Street in Ottawa. The link to the AMICUS record gives the call number you need to find the book on the shelves. Please note that CD-ROMs must be pre-ordered.

If you’re just starting out in genealogy, you should check out our Genealogy and Family History section.

Happy exploring!

Church, Cemetery and other indexes

La population des forts français d’Amérique, XVIIIe siècle : répertoire des baptêmes, mariages et sépultures célébrés dans les forts et les établissements français en Amérique du Nord au XVIIIe siècle : volume 3 – Détroit by Marthe Faribault-Beauregard (AMICUS 4941584)

Fegan’s homes newsletters. Volume 10: the Red Lamp 1913-1920 compiled by Douglas V. Fry & Fawne Stratford-Devai (AMICUS 32667771)

Arnprior area death notices, 2000-2007: compiled from Arnprior newspapers and funeral home notices [electronic resource] by Andriend Schlievert

Naissances & sépultures de Cabano, 1901-1939, St-Elzéar, 1933-1940, St-Honoré, 1871-1940, St-Louis du Ha! Ha!, 1878-1940 by Cécile de Lamirande (AMICUS 43564794)

Répertoire des baptêmes Saint-Sauveur, 1853-2013 by Société d’histoire et de généalogie des Pays-d’en-Haut (AMICUS 43711495)

Registres paroissiaux de Saint-Adelme de 1930 à 2014 : avec l’historique de quelques familles (extrait du livre du 50ième anniversaire de Saint-Adelme), (paru en 1981) et photo de mariage et d’anciens de chez-nous compiled by Madona Ouellet (AMICUS 43249438)

Inhumations sous l’église Sainte-Famille de Boucherville by Gilles Senécal (AMICUS 43918276)

Répertoire des mariages Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, mise à jour 1972 à 1992 : 70 établissements by Jacques Gagnon (AMICUS 40910246)

Family histories and dictionaries

The Linossier and Montagnon family pioneers in the Interlake region: homesteading – R.M. of Eriksdale, Manitoba, Canada by John Paul Linossier (AMICUS 43525032)

Dictionnaire généalogique des familles Thériault : descendance de Claude, 1601-2011 by Camille Albert (AMICUS 39364192)

Les premiers Audet dit Lapointe d’Amérique by Guy Saint-Hilaire (AMICUS 43306689)

The legend of four Weber brothers by Tim Campbell (AMICUS 43188991)

Les Filles du Roy de 1663 : recueil de biographies des 36 premières Filles du Roy arrivées en Nouvelle-France by Irène Belleau (AMICUS 43919407)

L’Association des Saindon de l’Amérique du Nord : Le recueil (AMICUS 34986778)

Mariages Larocque = Larocque marriages [electronic resource] by Charles G. Clermont (AMICUS 43727175)

Local histories

Mercier fête son histoire : des histoires de familles by La Société du patrimoine et de l’histoire de Mercier (AMICUS 43223569)

Très-Sainte-Trinité, Rockland : regards sur notre histoire, vision vers l’avenir : 125e anniversaire, 1889-2014 by Corporation de la communauté Sainte-Trinité (AMICUS 43474887)