"I Never Knew You Had That": Selected recent additions to Special Collections

Simon Fraser University Library’s Special Collections & Rare Books has many collections which highlight significant people, landscapes, and events in British Columbia’s past. Yet, some of these collections have remained hidden in our vault… until now.

Find out about the Piers Island prison camp (off the coast of Vancouver Island near Sidney, BC) where Doukhobor religious dissenters were held in the 1930s. The Doukhobors were arrested due to their membership to the Sons of Freedom group, public displays of nudity, and the state’s desire to Canadianize immigrants.

The Social Credit League (Women's Auxilary)
 

See our collection of pamphlets and meeting minute books produced by the Social Credit Women’s Auxiliary. The British Columbia Social Credit League (Women’s Auxiliary), a group for women who supported the Social Credit Party, held their first convention on November 27, 1952. The party and its women’s auxiliary promoted the brotherhood of man, Christianity, purity, and progression. The Social Credit Party governed from 1952 to 1972 and 1975 to 1991 with the successive leadership of W.A.C. Bennett, William R. Bennett, and Bill Vander Zalm.

Appreciate the artistry of water colourist George Kuthan’s paintings of wild flowers of British Columbia. George Kuthan, 1916-1966, was born in Bohemia, Czechoslovakia, and immigrated to Vancouver in 1950 following his education at the University of Prague and the Ecole Des Beaux Arts, Paris. Kuthan created etchings, wood-engravings, lino-cuts, and pen and brush drawings. He became a significant graphic artist in British Columbia – his work graces illustrated books, Christmas cards, art exhibits, and Victoria’s parliament buildings.

Read William Hoffer's letters. Hoffer, 1944-1997, attended Simon Fraser University’s Political Science, Sociology and Anthropology (PSA) department before becoming a bookseller and publisher of Canadian poetry and fiction in Vancouver. Hoffer’s publications include the works of Norm Sibum, Ernest Hemingway, John Metcalf, and Susan Musgrave. He moved to Moscow, Russia, in the 1990s and continued a friendship with Sibum through mailing letters, one of which is displayed here.

Enjoy Gerald Giampa's print works. Giampa, 1950-2009, was a British Columbian printer, typographer, author, and founder of Cobblestone Press – later renamed Northland Letterpress Company. Giampa produced internationally renowned publications with fine machine and handmade papers and inks that were hand-mixed for colour and tone. Giampa made many types of publications, including wedding and party invitations, business cards, bookmarks, and book bindings. Displayed here are ornamental prints made by Cobblestone Press and a June 1989 edition of Amphora, a quarterly journal for the Alcuin Society. This collection of Giampa’s work provides documentation of the commercial use of fine presses during the 1970s and 1980s in Vancouver.

This display was curated by Chelsea Bailey during her professional experience practicum for the School of Library and Archival Studies at the University of British Columbia. The materials will be on display until the end of October in Special Collections/Rare Books. Visit the new display in the glass cases at Special Collections on the 7th Floor of the W.A.C. Bennett Library at the Burnaby campus.

For more information, contact Eric Swanick, Special Collections/Gift Librarian at 778-782-4626 or eswanick@sfu.ca.