Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
Special Collections Division sous-fonds
General material designation
- Textual record
Parallel title
Other title information
Title statements of responsibility
Title notes
Level of description
Sous-fonds
Repository
Reference code
Edition area
Edition statement
Edition statement of responsibility
Class of material specific details area
Statement of scale (cartographic)
Statement of projection (cartographic)
Statement of coordinates (cartographic)
Statement of scale (architectural)
various scales
Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
-
1960-2000 (Creation)
Physical description area
Physical description
4.01 m of textual records.
Publisher's series area
Title proper of publisher's series
Parallel titles of publisher's series
Other title information of publisher's series
Statement of responsibility relating to publisher's series
Numbering within publisher's series
Note on publisher's series
Archival description area
Name of creator
Custodial history
Scope and content
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.