Digital Collections | Archives and Special Collections

Digital Collections – Archives and Special Collections

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Digital Collections

The University of Calgary Digital Collections contain over 250,000 items from digitized and born digital materials in our holdings. These collections feature highlights from our archival collections including photographs, maps, books, architectural drawings and more.

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40 Years of Autonomy, 1966-2006

40 Years of Autonomy, 1966-2006

2006 marked the University of Calgary’s 40th anniversary. Explore the University of Calgary’s 40 years of autonomy in words and images through this anniversary site.

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50th Anniversary of the University of Calgary

50th Anniversary of the University of Calgary

This collection was created by the University Archives in celebration of the University of Calgary’s 50th anniversary in 2016. It draws from a wide variety of resources held by the University of Calgary Archives, including photographs, newspapers, yearbooks and convocation booklets. The University of Calgary traces its roots back to the Alberta Normal School. Established […]

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Bob Gibson Collection of Speculative Fiction

Bob Gibson Collection of Speculative Fiction

This unique collection of speculative short fiction published in popular periodicals from the nineteenth century to contemporary time encourages students and scholars to engage with the remarkable expertise of Bob Gibson, an industrious and discerning fan, and with the practices of popular culture fandom more generally. And yet, because Gibson’s compilations contain a wide range […]

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Dene Crafts Collection

Dene Crafts Collection

The Athapaskan women have a long tradition of crafting brightly colored clothing and utility items decorated with traditional floral and geometric designs. While techniques have evolved over centuries as a result of experimentation and contact with European clerics, Dene crafts remain tangible historic records of Athapaskan culture and tradition. This repository brings together a collection […]

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Dr Eung-Do (Ed) Cook English-Chipewyan Dictionary

Dr Eung-Do (Ed) Cook English-Chipewyan Dictionary

Dr Eung-Do (Ed) Cook was a Professor of Linguistics at the University of Calgary from 1969-2000. Dr Cook’s work focussed on First Nations languages — Chipewyan (Dene Suline) and Chilcotin in particular. Amongst the resources he created is this English-Chipewyan dictionary.

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Emerging Alberta

Emerging Alberta

A collection of images selected from the Alberta Report fonds. The images were published in the Alberta Report magazine during the period 1973-2003 and are now jointly owned by the University of Calgary and the Provincial Archives of Alberta. The Emerging Alberta photograph digitization project is based on three eras and 13 themes. You can […]

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The Gauntlet

The Gauntlet

The Gauntlet is a University of Calgary campus newspaper published by the Gauntlet Publications Society in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It has a circulation of 6,000 as well as approximately 10,000 monthly online hits. It is the official student newspaper of the University of Calgary. The original newspapers are held in the University Archives, Accession number […]

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The Gazette

The Gazette

The Gazette was the University of Calgary’s campus newspaper from 1968 until 2003. The University Gazette became the general campus newsletter in 1968 when the “Faculty Gazette” became an insert. One issue titled University Gazette is dated April 1967, vol. 1, no. 3. The first issue of the Gazette was called the University Gazette, but […]

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George Stewart Collection of Photographs

George Stewart Collection of Photographs

During the late nineteenth century, literary journalist and theatre critic, George Stewart, Jr. (1848 – 1906), collected numerous autographed photographs from actors and singers while writing reviews for newspapers in Quebec City and Saint John, New Brunswick. Many of the featured performers encountered Stewart while working for the acclaimed McDowell Theatre Company. In addition to […]

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Honorary Degree Recipients Digital Collection

Honorary Degree Recipients Digital Collection

A digital collection containing recipients’ portraits and citations.

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James Wheeler Davidson Family Collection

James Wheeler Davidson Family Collection

James Wheeler Davidson has been described as a modern Marco Polo and a renaissance man.  Born in the United States in 1872 but later becoming a naturalized Canadian, Davidson was an Arctic explorer, war correspondent, author, US consul agent in the Far East and recipient of the Japanese Order of the Rising Sun. Davidson was […]

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John P.L. Roberts, the CBC and Music in Canada

John P.L. Roberts, the CBC and Music in Canada

The John P.L. Roberts, the CBC and Music in Canada Digital Collection contains items from the John P.L. Roberts fonds held at the University of Calgary Archives and Special Collections. The items include over 100 CBC concert programs which document emerging and accomplished artists, musicians, and composers and their works performed across the country from […]

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Landscapes and Monuments: McCarter Nairne’s Marine Building

Landscapes and Monuments: McCarter Nairne’s Marine Building

One of the great Art Deco buildings of the world, the Marine Building stands 21 floors high on the corner of Burrard and Hastings streets in downtown Vancouver. Built over 16 months beginning in the Spring of 1929, the building is covered in intricately carved marine life, exotic wood inlays, and according to the architects, […]

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One Hundred Miao Pictures

One Hundred Miao Pictures

The original covers of the book were in disrepair and the jade amulet which Mrs. Sharples had also donated became separated from the text. Courtland Benson of Victoria, British Columbia, restored the cover, strengthened the pages along the folds, and created a box which now houses both the book and the amulet.   As with […]

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Order of the University of Calgary Recipients Digital Collection

Order of the University of Calgary Recipients Digital Collection

A digital collection containing recipients’ portraits and citations. The Order of the University of Calgary Recipients collection is published by the University of Calgary Archives in cooperation with the University Senate office. The collection is updated following each convocation with images and citations for each new member. The site will remain a current and accessible […]

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Philip Sidney Smith Collection of Photographs

Philip Sidney Smith Collection of Photographs

At the turn of the twentieth century, the United States Geological Survey employed numerous geologists to study the state of Alaska. Survey parties were sent into the bush for months at a time, engaging in topographic mapping and geologic exploration in Alaska. One such individual was Philip Sidney Smith. Due to his extensive research activities […]

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Political Papers

Political Papers

The politics of the western provinces has had a significant impact in shaping the nation Canada is today. The University of Calgary Archives has a large and growing collection of records pertaining to western Canadian political parties and politicians. This digital collection contains a selection of textual and photographic records from the Archives’ holdings created […]

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Postcards of British Actors and Actresses

Postcards of British Actors and Actresses

Picture postcards offer a glimpse into life. At the turn of the 20th century postcards were a relatively new phenomenon but quickly became a popular method of communication for those away from home. This album belonged to Elsie Taylor and was compiled during 1906-1910. Elsie lived in Hampstead in London, a fairly affluent borough of […]

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Road to Autonomy, 1905-1966

Road to Autonomy, 1905-1966

The University of Calgary was established in 1966, yet its roots date back more than half a century earlier to the establishment of the Normal School in Calgary in 1905. The history of Calgary’s efforts to obtain a university of its own is virtually as old as Alberta itself. Disappointed in 1906, when the newly […]

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Theatrical Scene and Costume Design

Theatrical Scene and Costume Design

Costume and scene design are two essential components of performance art. Operas, operettas, stage plays, ballets, and films rely on design to create worlds that inspire the imagination. The Theatrical Scene and Costume Design collection, presented by Special Collections at the University of Calgary, features a selection of such designs dating back to the mid-nineteenth […]

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University of Calgary Class Projects

University of Calgary Class Projects

Digitization projects undertaken by students at the University of Calgary.

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University Publications

University Publications

Provides access to a variety of printed resources created by the University of Calgary community, including reports, university calendars, campus newspapers etc. This collection is in development: watch for updates and additions as resources allow us to expand it!

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Vienna on the Bow: Thomas Mawson’s City of Calgary Plan

Vienna on the Bow: Thomas Mawson’s City of Calgary Plan

Thomas Mawson was an internationally famous town planner and landscape architect. In 1910, he came to North America on a lecture tour of several universities, including Harvard, Cornell, and Yale. While Mawson was on tour, the Canadian Governor General, Earl Grey, invited him to Ottawa to create interest in civic improvement. With Grey’s support, Mawson […]

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Views of 20th Century Canada: Architectural Photography Image Portal

Views of 20th Century Canada: Architectural Photography Image Portal

This project was made possible through the Canadian Culture Online Program of Canadian Heritage, Library and Archives Canada and the Canadian Council of Archives.

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Vox Magazine

Vox Magazine

In September 1983, under the editorship of station manager Grant Burns and Shelley Youngblut (later to helm The Calgary Herald’s entertainment weekly magazine Swerve) CJSW 90.9 FM printed and distributed the first issue of VOX magazine, a monthly publication containing a program guide, music reviews and interviews, and features on local and independent bands. Subsequent […]

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W.O Mitchell 1914-1998

W.O Mitchell 1914-1998

Tribute to an author beloved by readers and studied by scholars.

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Women and texts=Les Femmes et les textes: a celebratory exhibit

Women and texts=Les Femmes et les textes: a celebratory exhibit

In the exhibit you will see works by and about women: women who work individually or in close collaboration with other artists and writers; women who work with the fabric of words, images and textures of paper, cloth and form; women who enjoy presenting “what is valued in our daily lives / la richesse de […]

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