Hours: Tuesday to Friday, 8:45am-12:00pm and 1:00pm-4:00pm (September to May); Tuesday to Friday, 8:45am-12:00pm and 1:00pm-3:30pm (June to August); Reading Room by appointment only
Location: 100, Marie-Curie Private (corner of King Edward), Room 012,
Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5
Contact: (613) 562-5750; GIA-IAM@uOttawa.ca
Access: Open to the Public; Before visiting, the researcher request to consult historical records. It is also recommended that the researcher read and review the Reading Room Regulations and Archive regulations to access
Website: http://www.uottawa.ca/archives/en
The University of Ottawa Archives are in two locations, 100 Marie-Currie and Morisset Hall, and house the archives of the University of Ottawa as well as private papers of individuals and organizations, faculty and departmental collections within the University. There are special strengths in Canadian women’s health, midwifery and the Ontario Midwifery task force. The Archives and Special Collections houses the largest collection of feminist publications in Canada. It currently holds over 900 titles and national publications such as Branching Out and Broadside. These periodicals represent women from diverse regions of the country and concern social action in various subject areas including women’s health, the right to abortion, child-care services, literature, art, culture, and assistance for immigrants.
The University of Ottawa Archives include collections from the Faculty of Medicine (1940-2009, 160.93m of text and 100 multimedia files), the Department of Epidemiology and Community Medicine (1968-1978), the Health Services Collection (1961-2007), whose task was to give each full-time student a complete medical examination, The School of Human Kinetics (1947-2005) established as The Institute of Physical Education in 1949 and then joined the Faculty of Health Sciences in 1978, the Department of Kinanthropology (1968-1987), the Department of Biochemistry collection (1966-1986, 1997), and the Department of Psychiatry, established in 1949 in the School of Medicine. Its collections include a Psychiatric Journal of the University of Ottawa (1976-1988). The Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine was established in 1947 in the School of Medicine and is responsible for the Canadian Tumour Reference Centre. The Department of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology was established in the School of Medicine in 1949 and records include annual reports (1983-1986) and residency programme (1986-1987). The Department of Surgery (1946-1990) was established in 1946 as a part of the Faculty of Medicine. The chairman of the Department, Dr. Wilbert Keon, performed the first successful implantation of a mechanical heart in 1986. The Department of Biology, active since 1946 in the School of Medicine, transferred to the new School of Pure and Applied Sciences in 1954.
The School of Nursing collection (1929-2008, 64.36m of textual material and 413 multimedia documents) was known as the École d’infirmières de l’Université d’Ottawa since 1943 and became the first bilingual school of nursing in Canada. The Medical Communications collection (1969-1986) includes 1757 multimedia documents representing teaching and support staff in the Faculty of Health Sciences. Also included are the Canadian Documentation Centre, Fitness and Sport collections (1962-1968).
Notable private papers of faculty include professor Burke J. Ewing’s collection (1938-1976).
The Archives also contain records of various medical organizations, including the University of Ottawa Heart Institute At The Civic Hospital (1972-1994). The Aesculapian Society was formed in 1945, representing the medical students of the University of Ottawa and their association with the Faculty of Medicine and other organizations. The Academy of Medicine (Ottawa) was founded in 1874, as the Ottawa Medico-Chirurgical Society. This association of medical doctors met regularly since the 1870s to discuss medical papers and issues of medical concern. Records of the Academy include minutes (1874-1985), correspondence (1893-1994), annual reports (1960-1962), scrapbooks, and account books (1922-1962). Dr. Henry Small documented the development of medicine in Ottawa. Old medical instruments from the 19th and 20th century are also contained within these holdings.
The Archives and Special Collections
Hours: Open by appointment Monday to Friday, 9:39am-4:30pm
Location: Morisset Hall, Room 039, 65 University Private, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5
Contact: 613-562-5910, arcs@uottawa.ca. To speak with the head archivist Julie Roy, dial ext. 3453
Access: Open to the Public; Appointments are recommended. Researchers must complete and sign the Request to Consult Documents form and submit it to staff with a current piece of identification with photo in order to consult documents.
Website: https://www.uottawa.ca/library/archives-special-collections
The Archives and Special Collections house more than 26,000 documents, including various manuscripts, photographs and rare book collections. There is also graphic and audiovisual material such as posters, drawings, recorded interviews, music, presentations and documentaries. Its principal holdings are the Canadian Women’s Movement Archives and Slovak Archives.
The Canadian Women’s Movement Archives, established in 1982, contains more than 150 archival collections related to the history of women in Canada, emphasizing the feminist movement since the 1960s. More than 350 grassroots organizations are represented, with private collections of activists dedicated to the improvement of political, social and economic conditions of Canadian women. The Healthsharing collection (1979-1993), “Canada’s first women’s health magazine,” was a Toronto-based publication concerned with women’s health issues and alternatives to mainstream health care from feminist viewpoints. The Midwifery Task Force of Ontario (MTF) and Mothers are Women (MAW) collections (c. mid 1970s-1993) include journals, documents, correspondence, minutes, flyers, pamphlets and financial records. The National Action Committee on the Status of Women, was established in 1972 and has since played an important role as one of Canada’s largest women’s groups in raising awareness and enacting positive changes for women in Canada. These records (1970s-1990s) include records from annual general meetings, campaigns, executive committees, administration as well as other financial records, journals, publications and videocassettes. The Recovered Memory Task Group (RMTG) (1942, 1956-1999), created in July 1993, was part of the Sexual Assault Network (SAN), a subcommittee of the Regional Coordinating Committee to End Violence Against Women (RCCEVAW). Members of the RMTG included therapists, psychologists, lawyers and victims of assault. Other notable organization collections include Women’s Resource Centre of the University of Ottawa, Montreal Women’s Network, the Women’s Press, the Feminist Bookmobile, Bold Print, and Wages for Housework.
The archives also contain personal papers from women involved in the women’s movement in Canada such as the collections of Helen Levine, Margaret Fulford, Barbara M. Freemans, Emma Joy Crone, Lou Nelson and Monique Frize.