Item 12 - Exhibitions - Displays

Queen's University Archives undertakes its activities in order to manage, preserve, conserve, and make accessible the information assets of the University; to maintain an authentic record of the programs, people, and operations of the University; to provide archival management and conservation for culturally significant records of external organizations and individuals in support of the teaching, research, service, and administration interests of Queen's University.

A long archival tradition exists at the University, the first archival document being presented to Queen's in 1869. At first, archival collections were held in the University Library. In 1960, the first Archivist was appointed. By 1981, through the generosity of Mrs. Kathleen Ryan and the Queen's Quest, the New Medical Building, built in 1907, was renovated and made available for the University Archives. Renamed Kathleen Ryan Hall in 1982, in honour of its generous benefactor, its facilities include a reading room for consultation and research, a conservation lab, and large secure, climate-controlled storage vaults. The Archives collections and fonds are described in a searchable database on the QUA web site.

The holdings fall into six main thematic areas: the records of the University; public affairs; business records; fine arts; Canadian literary papers; and regional collections. The University collection includes the historical records of the University administration, faculty papers, and University publications – including Queen's theses, and student publications such the "Queen's Journal" from the first issue published in October 1873. These records document campus history and student life in all types of media, such as photographs, letters, diaries, sound and moving image recordings, and architectural drawings. The public affairs collections include the papers of Governor General John Buchan, Sir Joseph Flavelle, the Liberal and New Democratic Parties of Ontario, and microfilm copies from other institutions of the papers of Sir John A. Macdonald, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, William Lyon Mackenzie King, Arthur Meighen, and John Diefenbaker. Business collections include the Canadian Steamship Lines and the McLaughlin Carriage Company, the forerunner of General Motors. The literary collection includes the papers of Lorne Pierce (editor of the Ryerson Press from 1920 to 1960), George Woodcock, Al Purdy, Dorothy Livesay, and many other writers, plus the records of Oberon and Quarry Presses. The regional collection includes numerous records and papers of local families going back to Loyalist times. Kathleen Ryan Hall also houses many of the historical records of the City of Kingston, and the former Frontenac County.