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Tag:

internet archive

    Hidden Gems: The Wiedrick Collection

    by Erin Sanderman January 31, 2023
    written by Erin Sanderman

    The University of Alberta Library offers access to numerous resources that are core for certain disciplines, but also really deserving of wider attention. Here is one of those gems…

    Attention education researchers, students and those fascinated in the evolution of school curricula! Access to primary resources related to the first one hundred years of Alberta’s education history is easier than ever through the Wiedrick Collection, available through Internet Archive. 

    The Wiedrick Collection on Internet Archive

    The Wiedrick Collection contains digitized versions of the over 4000 books and print resources that make up the collection built by Dr. Laurence “Laurie” Wiedrick [1925-1982] over his 30+ year career. Dr. Wiedrick began his career as a teacher-librarian eventually becoming the Supervisor of School Libraries at Edmonton Public Schools and a professor of Education here at the University of Alberta. Among his significant achievements here at the UAlberta were coordinating the Faculty of Education’s Curriculum Laboratory from 1967 to 1981 and helping to establish the University’s School of Library Science. 

    In 2012 the Library received a bequest from Dr. Wiedrick’s wife Marie to digitize the collection built by her husband, so that education researchers and students would have greater access. Throughout the next several years over 20 members of the Library’s staff, including student employees and interns, worked to make Marie Wiedrick’s wish possible. 

    An example of the approval statements and download options available in Internet Archive

    Thanks to this work the entire collection, which contains items used in Alberta’s K-12 school between 1885 and 1985, is available online with the added benefit of Internet Archive’s search capabilities to help researchers pore through the abundance of information these resources contain. It’s possible to do text searches to see when a particular term or concept was first explored in the Alberta curriculum. You can also narrow your search to books used in a certain subject area, or for a certain grade. Each resource even contains an approval statement that indicates the years a text was used and the grades and subjects it was approved for. Internet Archive also allows users to download these materials in a rich array of file formats (DAISY, EPUB Kindle, PDF and more) giving those with special accessibility needs or researchers interested in textual analysis a multitude of options to work with.

    Home and Family: A Home Economics Textbook from 1932
    A page from Clothes: Part of Your World 1968


    Why is this collection such a gem? Well, for starters it offers a window into what Alberta elementary and secondary students were being taught throughout the province’s first century. As you can imagine, a science textbook from 1920 contains much different information than one from 1970. It’s also possible to trace the progression of ideas about certain social aspects, like how young girls were taught about the roles they could inhabit, and how those in other marginalized groups were represented to students during various eras. Those interested in the design and visual representations manifesting in these resources are able to see how ideas and concepts were communicated to students, thanks to the full colour, cover to cover scans made by folks at Internet. This is really just skimming the surface of the research this collection makes possible.

    If you’re looking for more information about the Wiedrick collection and how it is being used to support teaching and research here at UAlberta, we have a video that goes into greater detail.

    January 31, 2023 0 comment
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  • Indigenous Peoples and National Parks Behind the scenes: A confluence of requests, resources and collaboration

    by Guest Author December 8, 2022
    by Guest Author December 8, 2022

    This post is written by Map Collection Staff, Larry Laliberte & Bonnie Gallinger. The Indigenous Peoples and Canada’s National Parks guide is a multidisciplinary literature review that introduces the historical and current relationship of Indigenous people and Canada’s National Parks. The creation of this guide is part of ongoing work in re-positioning the William C. Wonders (WCW) map collection. As one might expect, within such a large academic library the WCW map collection is…

  • Searching the University of Alberta Archives: An Introduction

    by Laurel Warkentin November 1, 2022
    by Laurel Warkentin November 1, 2022

    So you’re doing research and wondering if the University of Alberta Archives might have relevant materials.  Maybe you’re doing some family genealogy research and your Uncle Bob went to the University of Alberta, or perhaps your professor gave you a local history assignment that requires you to consult primary sources. How do you search the archives, anyways? The University of Alberta Archives (UAA) is the official repository for the permanently valuable records…

  • Web Archiving Government Information

    by Guest Author August 23, 2022
    by Guest Author August 23, 2022

    This post was written by Katie Cuyler, Librarian (Arts & Law) & Government Information Librarian Today, governments share almost all of their public information on their websites. But, what happens when these websites change? When policies, mandates, or governments change? How can researchers access government information from previous governments? The answer is often through the Wayback Machine and Archive-it. Archive-it and the Wayback Machine are invaluable tools when it comes to accessing…

  • Wish you were here! – Greetings from the Prairie Postcard Collection

    by Elisabet Ingibergsson August 5, 2022
    by Elisabet Ingibergsson August 5, 2022

    We invite you on a trip through historic Alberta as seen through the lens of the postcard photographer and the greetings written to family and friends. The Golden Age of the postcard The early 1900s was the Golden Age of the postcard. An album bulging full of collected postcards provided great shared entertainment in an era before radio or television. Cards were collected as souvenirs, or mailed ahead to announce a visit,…

  • Internet Archive your secret research (and boredom busting) weapon

    by Erin Sanderman July 12, 2022
    by Erin Sanderman July 12, 2022

    Among many commemorative titles including Blueberry Month and International Zine Month, July is also anti-boredom month. When you work at a library there are endless amounts of resources to pour over when you need a brain break. Oftentimes during quiet periods at the desk, I like to poke around in the collections our digitization team have made available through Internet Archive. We’ve examined the process of digitization in a previous blog post,…

  • Digitization Spotlight: Alberta Street News

    by Emily Zheng March 2, 2022
    by Emily Zheng March 2, 2022

    U of A Library has completed a digitization project, which made the entire run of Alberta Street News‘ archives available to read online.  Known at its 2003 inception as Edmonton Street News, and later renamed Alberta Street News in 2011, the newspaper is sold by vendors on the streets of Edmonton and Calgary. It features writing by folks experiencing homelessness, and gives a voice to these perspectives, especially on topics related to…

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