The Special Collections Division was established in 1960 to preserve and make the Library's rare and valuable books, manuscripts, maps, and special subject collections available to researchers. However, its origins date to 1943 and 1945, when the private libraries of Judge Frederic William Howay and Dr. Robie Lewis Reid, respectively, were donated to the Library. These collections included thousands of books and other publications regarding the history of British Columbia and Canada and numerous maps, photographs, and manuscripts. They together surpassed the "Canadiana" holdings of almost every other Library in the country. Since 1960 the Division's holdings have grown to include graduate theses, university archives, cartographic and architectural materials, fine press books, and early children's books. The Division has been headed by Basil Stuart-Stubbs (1960-1964), Anne Yandle (1964-1991), Hans Burndorfer (1992-1996), Brenda Peterson (1996-2001), and Ralph Stanton (2001- ). In 1991 the name was changed to "Special Collections and University Archives Division" to reflect the increased operational and administrative importance of the University Archives within both the Division and the university.
The sous-fonds consists of records generated in the course of the Division's activities and include correspondence, reports, minutes, financial documents, and printed/published materials. They are arranged in the following series: Division and Library Records, U.B.C. Committees and Departments, External Correspondence, Special Collections Records (continuation of Division and Library Records), Correspondence - Incoming and Outgoing (continuation of External Correspondence), and Map Collections.
The early records in this sous-fonds complement and, to some extent, overlap those in the Basil Stuart-Stubbs series in the Librarian's Office sous-fonds, reflecting that Stuart-Stubbs was head of the Division immediately before he became University Librarian.