Archival Interventions and Disentangling Legacy Records

Appraisal and disposition of government records at Library and Archives Canada (LAC) focuses primarily on acquiring the “right” records to best document a given function of the Government of Canada. Once records pass into LAC’s care, access is provided through an inconsistent approach of online descriptive records and on-site finding aids, often with minimal or incorrect contextualizing information that hinders their overall discoverability and use. Through a study of both the legacy photographic records in the National Film Board of Canada Fonds and the recontextualization project currently underway at LAC, the author examines the history of the record, from recordkeeping practices to the transfer to LAC, and some of the interventions by the archives to describe and shape these records over several generations of custodial care. All of these various actions have had a hidden impact on the use and understanding of both the individual records and the larger collection. This article provides a case study in how rearrangement based on research into creators, organizational recordkeeping systems, and archival custodial practices can draw out complex, multiple provenances and provide researchers with a fuller contextual history of the record.

Reviewing the Department of Manpower and Immigration collection: a case study on item-level descriptions of immigrants in government archives, MRP

This MRP explores the need for item-level descriptions for a collection of twelve photographs of Yugoslavian immigrants held in the Department of Manpower and Immigration Collection, government documents section, Library and Archives Canada. Drawing on archival theory and the history of governmental photography in Canada, it argues that such descriptions help to properly contextualize the photographs as performative, visual records of immigrants and thus help situate photography’s role in Canadian immigrant history. Exploring the history of the collection to which the images belong, the MRP shows how images produced to promote successful immigrant integration into post-War Canada, can be understood as a more historically nuanced and valuable collection. Focusing on power relationships formed during accession practices within archival spaces, it also addresses the unintentional information provided by the prints and how it has been ignored during record creation to describe the departmental function of the photographs.

Reviewing the Department of Manpower and Immigration collection: a case study on item-level descriptions of immigrants in government archives, MRP

This MRP explores the need for item-level descriptions for a collection of twelve photographs of Yugoslavian immigrants held in the Department of Manpower and Immigration Collection, government documents section, Library and Archives Canada. Drawing on archival theory and the history of governmental photography in Canada, it argues that such descriptions help to properly contextualize the photographs as performative, visual records of immigrants and thus help situate photography’s role in Canadian immigrant history. Exploring the history of the collection to which the images belong, the MRP shows how images produced to promote successful immigrant integration into post-War Canada, can be understood as a more historically nuanced and valuable collection. Focusing on power relationships formed during accession practices within archival spaces, it also addresses the unintentional information provided by the prints and how it has been ignored during record creation to describe the departmental function of the photographs.

Frame by frame: a comparative analysis of professional and amateur films of the 1939 Royal Tour of Canada

This thesis examines ten professional films and ten amateur films depicting the royal tour of Canada, the United States, and Newfoundland taken by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in the spring of 1939. The films, held in the collections of Library and Archives Canada, come from a variety of primarily Canadian producers including provincial and federal governments, newsreel companies, local production companies, and amateurs. A shot-by-shot analysis of each film is used to quantitatively and qualitatively investigate and compare the content, cinematography, and editing styles chosen by these filmmakers, in order to understand the differences and similarities in how they experienced and recorded the tour, and what these differences and similarities reveal about the tour’s impact on Canada and Canadians. This analysis finds that the amateur films tend to show how the tour affected individuals and communities, while the professional films trace its impact on a national, political level.

Frame by frame: a comparative analysis of professional and amateur films of the 1939 Royal Tour of Canada

This thesis examines ten professional films and ten amateur films depicting the royal tour of Canada, the United States, and Newfoundland taken by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in the spring of 1939. The films, held in the collections of Library and Archives Canada, come from a variety of primarily Canadian producers including provincial and federal governments, newsreel companies, local production companies, and amateurs. A shot-by-shot analysis of each film is used to quantitatively and qualitatively investigate and compare the content, cinematography, and editing styles chosen by these filmmakers, in order to understand the differences and similarities in how they experienced and recorded the tour, and what these differences and similarities reveal about the tour’s impact on Canada and Canadians. This analysis finds that the amateur films tend to show how the tour affected individuals and communities, while the professional films trace its impact on a national, political level.

Orphaned in the Archive: The Library and Archives Canada 28mm Film Collection

This thesis provides a spreadsheet of the 28mm films held at Library and Archives Canada (LAC). Consisting of 1,135 film spread over 34 fonds, the collection is one of the largest of both 28mm and government-produced films in the world. Despite LAC promoting the collection as an important part of its audiovisual holdings, current public-facing search options make it difficult for researchers to retrieve or view the 28mm films. With LAC’s mandate in mind, and in order to provide access to these materials, the thesis aims to fill a gap by creating a spreadsheet that acts as an easy access point to the collection Besides producing a comprehensive list of films the thesis briefly traces the history of 28mm film, its importance to early Canadian film, highlights particular films of interest and suggests paths for further research.

Orphaned in the Archive: The Library and Archives Canada 28mm Film Collection

This thesis provides a spreadsheet of the 28mm films held at Library and Archives Canada (LAC). Consisting of 1,135 film spread over 34 fonds, the collection is one of the largest of both 28mm and government-produced films in the world. Despite LAC promoting the collection as an important part of its audiovisual holdings, current public-facing search options make it difficult for researchers to retrieve or view the 28mm films. With LAC’s mandate in mind, and in order to provide access to these materials, the thesis aims to fill a gap by creating a spreadsheet that acts as an easy access point to the collection Besides producing a comprehensive list of films the thesis briefly traces the history of 28mm film, its importance to early Canadian film, highlights particular films of interest and suggests paths for further research.

Development on Indigenous Homelands and the Need to Get Back to Basics with Scoping: Is there Still "Unceded" Land in Northern Ontario, Canada, with Respect to Treaty No. 9 and its Adhesions?

Scoping includes the establishment of unambiguous spatial boundaries for a proposed development project (e.g., a treaty) and is especially important with respect to development on Indigenous homelands. Improper scoping leads to a flawed product, such as a flawed treaty or environmental impact assessment, by excluding stakeholders from the process. A comprehensive literature search was conducted to gather (and collate) printed and online material in relation to Treaty No. 9 and its Adhesions, as well as the Line-AB. We searched academic databases as well as the Library and Archives Canada. The examination of Treaty No. 9 and its Adhesions revealed that there is unceded land in each of four separate scenarios, which are related to the Line-AB and/or emergent land in Northern Ontario, Canada. Lastly, we present lessons learned from our case study. However, since each development initiative and each Indigenous Nation is unique, these suggestions should be taken as a bare minimum or starting point for the scoping process in relation to development projects on Indigenous homelands.

Library and Archives Canada: The next 10 years, post Covid-19

The new Librarian and Archivist of Canada shares experiences of leading Library and Archives Canada (LAC) during a period of transition with the change in leadership and two major construction projects including a new net carbon zero preservation centre and a joint facility with the Ottawa Public Library. This transition leads to the establishment of the two strategic priorities of service transformation and digital optimisation and the launch of a visioning exercise for LAC in 2030. The vision anticipates new audiences in light of the partnership with the public library and the development of new services and highlights the importance of a virtual presence for national libraries. The transition is interrupted by the arrival of Covid-19 6 months into the process and the future of the national libraries and their role must be reimagined post Covid.

Practice of Preserving Collections in the Library and Archives Canada

The Library and Archives of Canada (LAC) is Federal department of Canada established by the Parliament of Canada in 2004 to integrate services and functions of the National library and the National Archives of Canada; and currently it is the fourth-largest library in the world. The article discusses the experience of the Library and Archives Canada in creating modern centres for preserving documentary heritage, organizing the work of collections management, their conservation and restoration, ensuring openness and accessibility of collections. The main sources were materials published on the LAC website, primarily planning, reporting and financial documentation of the institution, as well as publications in the Canadian periodical press. Special attention is paid to the buildings and premises of the LAC storage facilities. The author describes the concept of the project of the Gatineau Preservation Centre, GPC. The complex, opened in 1997, is one of the top architectural objects constructed in Canada in the 20th century and one of the most secure library storage facilities in the world. The article considers organization of collections storage in the GPC and the work of restoration laboratories located in it. The author shows that GPC provides the most favourable storage conditions for the most valuable and vulnerable LAC collections. The paper gives information about the storage facility in the main LAC building in Ottawa on Wellington Street (built in 1967; modernized in the early 2000s), as well as storage facilities in Gatineau, Renfrew and Winnipeg.The author characterizes the new version of the LAC Collections Preservation Program (2018) which defines the strategic objectives of the institution in this area, both for the nearest future and for the long term. The paper presents results of a large-scale study of the state of the collections storage in LAC (2016—2018) and outlines the most acute problems identified in this study. There is emphasized the importance of the construction of the new Gatineau-2 complex, launched in 2019 (Project cost is 330 million Canadian dollars). According to experts, Gatineau-2 will become one of the largest, technologically equipped and environmental centres for the conservation and restoration of library collections in the world, as well as the first zero-energy storage facility in North America. In Canada, special attention is paid to the construction of modern centres for the preservation of documentary heritage, which create all the necessary conditions for long-term security of collections, conservation and restoration work. Implementation of such projects is impossible without government support, without understanding by authorities of the leading role of libraries and archives in the preservation and promotion of the national cultural heritage. The experience of LAC may be of interest to Russia, taking into account the tasks set in the document “The main directions of development of activities to preserve library collections in the Russian Federation for 2011—2020” and elaboration of long-term programs in this area.