Canadian War Poster Collection
Introduction:听罢丑颈蝉 contains basic descriptions and images of each poster, an artist index, a search facility, and an essay about Canadian War Posters. The search facility enables you to search by World War, by Category, by Artist, or by keyword. The results of your search are displayed as thumbnail images. Click on a thumbnail to obtain a larger image and a full description. Each description includes the following information: the poster ID number and title or lead text; the date, artist, and publisher, when known; size, and appropriate notes.
贰虫迟别苍迟:听The holdings of the Print Collection include some 250 Canadian posters from the two World Wars.
Access to the collection: The posters may be requested by contacting the librarian or visiting the Rare Books and Special Collections reading room. A printed finding aid is available.
Librarian & curator: Jennifer Garland, Assistant Head Librarian (e-mail:听jennifer.garland [at] mcgill.ca, telephone: 514-398-4785)
Max Stern Collection
Introduction: Dr. Max Stern鈥檚 generous bequest of his working library of over 2,500 volumes to the three universities close to his heart 鈥撎鼵oncordia,听平特五不中听and the听Hebrew University of Jerusalem听鈥 was Solomonic in that he delegated the division of his books to the beneficiaries 鈥 no simple task given the scope, uniqueness and overall intellectual coherence of the Stern Collection. Art history, connoisseurship, individual artists and the business of art, the four subjects at the heart of the Stern library, were inextricably linked and for a while it seemed that no equitable separation was possible.
It is a tribute to the co-operative spirit of the three institutions, as well as to the technological revolution experienced by libraries in recent years, that by working together we have devised a way in which we are now able to preserve the Max Stern Collection as a shared legacy, regardless of its physical location. Both Concordia and 平特五不中, joint beneficiaries of the larger part of the collection, have collaborated to devise the best possible way of representing close to 2,000 books and journals in their respective听online catalogues, even though the Stern Collection itself is actually housed at 平特五不中. Distant from Montreal by some 9,000 kilometers, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem was given the 鈥渇irst cut鈥 of titles from the Stern Collection; nevertheless,听the Hebrew University's books are linked听to the new Max Stern Book Collection website.
On the eve of the centenary of Dr. Stern鈥檚 birth, in 2004,听平特五不中鈥檚 exhibition听of highlights from Dr. Stern鈥檚 library听is part of an important series of projects听honouring Dr. Stern鈥檚 philanthropy to Canadian museums and universities; projects that together remind us of the tremendous contribution to Canadian culture of the generation of refugees from Nazism who found fertile ground as well as appreciation for their talents in their new home.
See this for more information.
Access to the collection:听Researchers are able to search and request catalogued material via the 平特五不中 Library . Requests can also be made by contacting the librarian or visiting the Rare Books and Special Collections reading room.
Librarian: Jennifer Garland, Assistant Head Librarian (e-mail: jennifer.garland [at] mcgill.ca, telephone: 514-398-4785)
Print Collection
Introduction: The Print Collection听comprises more than 11,000 original prints representing a wide range of subject matter, styles, and techniques. The major strengths of the Collection are prints on Napoleon and the Napoleonic era, old master and other European prints, and Canadian prints, both historical and contemporary. There are also significant holdings of late 18th and early 19th century caricatures, Japanese woodblock prints, optical views, religious chromolithographs, and American historical prints. A large collection of posters, housed with the Print Collection, is strong in those from the two World Wars, and in travel posters from the 1920s to the 1960s.
Access to the collection:听Prints may be requested by contacting the librarian or visiting the Rare Books and Special Collections reading room.听
Librarian & curator:听Jennifer Garland, Assistant Head Librarian (e-mail: jennifer.garland [at] mcgill.ca, telephone: 514-398-4785)
Arthur Szyk Collection
Introduction: The Norman Friedman collection of the Polish Jewish artist Arthur Szyk (1894-1951) was acquired in 1976.听An exhibition and 1-day conference on Arthur Szyk was held at 平特五不中 in November听2012. For more information, please see this听.
Extent and types of material: The collection comprises 55 titles including the听Haggadah听(1939, one of 125 copies) and a presentation copy in wrappers of听Le juif qui rit听(1926); 13 drawings and six boxes of illustrations, ephemera and various other material relating to Szyk.
Access to the collection: Researchers are able to search and request catalogued material via the 平特五不中 Library catalogue. Requests can also be made by contacting the librarian or visiting the Rare Books and Special Collections reading room.听A printed finding aid is available.
Librarian:听Jennifer Garland, Assistant Head Librarian (e-mail: jennifer.garland [at] mcgill.ca, telephone: 514-398-4785)
Architecture
Blackader-Lauterman Collection
*Quoted text from Meetings with Books
Introduction: The Blackader-Lauterman Collection includes rare and beautiful historical and contemporary works on architecture and art. 鈥淧articular strength is found in iconography, catalogues raisonn茅s, modernism and the avant-garde, and Renaissance architectural treatises (Leon Battista Alberti, Sebastiano Serlio, Antonio Labacco, Andrea Palladio, Vignola). Also collected are architecture and planning monographs, treatises on painting and the arts, and material related to Canadian art.鈥
Extent:听About 10,000 titles
Types of material: Books
Highlights: 鈥淧articular strength is found in iconography, catalogues raisonn茅s, modernism and the avant-garde, and Renaissance architectural treatises. Among this last group are works by Leon Battista Alberti (15th c), Sebastiano Serlio (15th鈥 16th c), Antonio Labacco, Andrea Palladio, and Vignola (all from the 16th c.), and Vitruvius Pollio (1st c. BCE), who was such an inspiration to them. The collection of 19th and 20th century journals includes important Canadian and European titles: Canadian Architect and Builder, Canadian Homes and Gardens, Construction, The Builder, Camera Work (Stieglitz), and Verve (T茅riade).鈥
Date range: The bulk of the collection dates from the 19th century听to the present, with key works from the 16th-18th centuries.
Language/s: The collection is primarily English, French, and German.
Geographic coverage: Europe, Britain, United States, Canada.
Provenance: 鈥The origin of this collection dates to the early 1920s, when an endowment was made in memory of Captain Gordon Home Blackader, B.Arch 1906. Established by his family and friends, the Blackader Library was created to build a working collection of architecture and art books. It was significantly expanded in the 1940s by the family of Montreal sculptor Dinah Lauterman, with an endowment in memory of her, and has since been expanded through purchases and donations.鈥
Access to the collection: The collection is fully catalogued. Researchers are able to search and request catalogued material via the 平特五不中 Library catalogue. Requests can also be made by contacting the librarian or visiting the Rare Books and Special Collections reading room.
Related RBSC collections:听The Blackader-Lauterman Collection complements other holdings related to architecture and art, including the John Bland Canadian Architecture Collection*, the Max Stern Collection*, and the Lawrence Lande William Blake Collection*, as well as those related to caricature, printing, and illustration, such as the Napoleon Collection*, the William Colgate History of Printing Collection*, the Woodblock Collection*, and the Children鈥檚 Collection. And, finally, the Prints Collection offers a great many scenes and images for study, including several large size early editions of Giovanni Battista Piranesi鈥檚 architectural etchings.
Librarian & curator: Jennifer Garland, Assistant Head Librarian (e-mail: jennifer.garland [at] mcgill.ca, telephone: 514-398-4785)
John Bland Canadian Architecture Collection
*Quoted text from Meetings with Books
Introduction: 鈥淔ounded in 1974, the John Bland Canadian Architecture Collection (CAC) documents the work of architects associated with 平特五不中. Projects relate particularly to the development of the 平特五不中 campus, the City of Montreal and the Province of Quebec, as well as national and international sites.鈥 The CAC is also the repository for 107 student papers submitted to the course History of Architecture in Canada, from approximately 1950 until 1994.
Extent: More than 100 fonds, arranged by architect.
Types of material: Architectural drawings (large-format hand-drawn measured drawings, presentation watercolours, blueprints, sketches of ornamentation and interior finishing), photographs, correspondence, project files and office records.
Highlights: 鈥淚mportant late 19th听and early 20th century works by Edward and W. S. Maxwell, Percy Nobbs, and others forming a core of material relating to the built heritage of Montreal, both residential and institutional. Significant works include the Maxwells鈥 Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, John Archibald鈥檚 Masonic Temple, blueprints for Windsor Station designed by Bruce Price and altered by the Maxwell brothers, and Percy Nobbs鈥檚 designs for the 平特五不中 Union, now the McCord Museum. The collection also houses some contemporary designs, including the work of outstanding graduates such as Moshe Safdie and Arthur Erickson. Also included are interior and furniture designs by Sigrun B眉low H眉be and landscape design by Cornelia Hahn Oberlander and John Schreiber. The collection contains extensive material relating to several 平特五不中 campus buildings and serves as an important archive of the 平特五不中 School of Architecture. It houses selected projects by former professors and directors, as well as a significant number of drawings executed by students enrolled in the School of Architecture and instructed by such professors as John Bland and Ramsay Traquair.鈥
Date range:听19th-20th century听designs
Language/s: Primarily English with some French
Geographic coverage: Primarily Quebec and Canada, with some international projects
Provenance: 鈥Professor John Bland (1911鈥2002), distinguished architect and director of the 平特五不中 School of Architecture from 1941 to 1972, is credited with uniting and organizing the core collection, which has been subsequently developed and augmented over the years.鈥
Access to the collection: The collection is described in the . Access to the archive is by appointment. Contact the curator.
Related RBSC collections: The CAC is complemented by several other rare 平特五不中 collections relating to Canada and Quebec, including the Lawrence Lande Collection of Canadiana, the Blackader-Lauterman Collection of Architecture and Art, and the 平特五不中 Archives.
Librarian & curator: Jennifer Garland, Liaison Librarian (e-mail: jennifer.garland [at] mcgill.ca, telephone: 514-398-4785)
Performing arts
English Theatre Collection
Introduction: 平特五不中 has strong holdings of 18th,听19th, and 20th听century English language theatre, mainly from Britain and the United States, with some Canadian material. These holdings include playscripts, theatre programmes, and play bills.
Extent: This collection includes nearly 3,000 playscripts and over 300 theatre programs.
Types of material: Some printed playscripts are bound into volumes, while others remain in pamphlet form. Also included are a number of manuscript playscripts from the 18th听and 19th听century, along with theatre programmes, from the 19th听and 20th听centuries, housed in archival folders and boxes.
Collection highlights: The 77 volumes assembled by Sir John C. Hobhouse (1786-1869), the friend of Byron, contain some 480 play scripts, 1711-1818. In addition to the play scripts there are numerous contemporary clippings inserted. The collection includes an edition of Bell's British Theatre (1777) and various other collected editions of plays including Dodeley's. The eight volumes of P.A. de la Places' Th茅芒tre anglais (London, 1746-1749) contains translations of Shakespeare, Fletcher, Johnson, Rowe, Otway, Dryden, Congreve, Hughes, Young, Southerne, Addison and Steele. The manuscript scripts from the 18th and 19th centuries are by a number of generally minor or unidentified dramatists including George Coleman, William Henry Wills and Oswald Hughes.
The collection also features some Canadian material related to the drama. Of particular note is the "Montreal Theatre Programme Collection", ca. 1840鈥揷a. 1990. It includes close to 5,000 programmes and play bills for Montreal theatres and theatre companies including Her / His Majesty's Theatre (ca. 1890鈥揷a. 1970). Both English and French material is included as are musical and dance performances.
Date range: Material ranges from the early 18th听century to the 20th听century.
Languages: The main languages represented are English and French; the collection also includes materials in Dutch, German, Italian, Spanish, and Welsh.
Geographic coverage: European countries are well-represented, with a focus on Britain and France. Also includes a fair amount of Canadian material.
Provenance: The collection of playscripts was assembled by antiquary Adam de Cardonnel-Lawson (d. 1820) or possibly by his son of the same name (d. 1838) whose name is inscribed on many title pages. The Canadian theatre programmes have been acquired through multiple donations over time, and the collection continues to be added to.
Access to the collection: The majority of the playscript collection has been catalogued, and is accessible via the 平特五不中 Library . The theatre programmes have been listed in a paper finding aid, which is available for consultation in the Rare Books and Special Collections reading room. For specific questions about the collection, please contact the librarian.
Librarian: Lauren Williams, Liaison Librarian (e-mail: lauren.williams [at] mcgill.ca; telephone: 514-398-1364)
Rosalynde Stearn Puppet Collection
Introduction: The Rosalynde Stearn Puppet Collection is the second largest collection of puppets in Canada and one of the largest, globally, outside of specialist museums and institutions. It was originally developed by the puppeteer Rosalynde Osborne Stearn (1888鈥1990), who aimed to create a culturally and historically representative collection of puppets, puppetry-related literature, and related artefacts. The collection is notable for its considerable range of Punch and Judy material, as well as puppets made by Stearn herself.
Extent:听The collection consists of approximately 1,600 items, including some 175 puppets and 1,300 written works.
Types of material: Primarily puppets (including marionettes or string puppets, rod puppets, glove puppets, and shadow figures) and related literature (including reference and instructional works, periodicals, and play scripts). Additionally, the collection houses toy theatres, portraits, posters, pantins, and several dozen dolls.
Date range: The bulk of the collection dates from the early twentieth and late nineteenth centuries. The oldest puppets, characters from the Commedia dell'Arte, date from 1760.
Language/s: Primarily English, French, and German, with some Czech, Italian, and others.
Geographic coverage: Printed material is largely from England, France, and Germany, while puppets are from countries including England, France, Indonesia, and Italy.
Provenance: The core of the collection was donated by Stearn in 1952. It was subsequently augmented by purchases made by Richard Pennington, University Librarian between 1947 and 1965. Since that time, a number of additions have been made through purchases by library staff.
Highlights: As handmade objects, the puppets of the collection are innately one-of-a-kind. Of particular rarity is a complete set of a 19th听century Punch and Judy production, as well as shadow puppets used in the films of German animator Lotte Reiniger. Elsewhere, there is rare Czech language material and rare play scripts.
Catalogued holdings: A majority of the books in the collection have been catalogued and are searchable via the听平特五不中 Library . Puppets and other non-printed material are described听in the collection inventory, which is available upon request to the librarian.
Access to the collection: Researchers are able to request catalogued material directly via the 平特五不中Library, while all other material, including material catalogued on the 平特五不中 , may be requested by contacting the librarian. Requests can also be made by visiting the Rare Books and Special Collections reading room. A digital exhibit has been built around the collection, providing access to some digital surrogates:
Related RBSC collections: English Language Theatre Collection
Librarian:听unassigned. Contact听rarebooks.library [at] mcgill.ca听for more information.听