Hours: By appointment, Tuesday to Friday 10:00am-12:00pm and 1:00pm-4:00pm.
Location: 3 Campus Drive, Room 301, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, S7N 5A4.
Contact: ua.sc@usask.ca; (306) 966-6029
Access: Open to the public.
Website: https://library.usask.ca/uasc/
The University of Saskatchewan Archives and Special Collections has university archives, government records, private papers, and the archives of associations. The archives have strengths in psychiatry, aboriginal studies, gender and sexuality, geography, pharmacy, and AIDS.
Materials directly relevant to medicine include the fonds of the non-profit organization AIDS Saskatoon (1979-2001), The Royal University Hospital (1946-1998), and the Saskatchewan AIDS Network (1995-2002). Saskatchewan is well known for its study and treatment of psychiatric illness. The extensive Griffin-Greenland Collection on the History of Canadian Psychiatry (c. 1885-1977) has correspondence, petitions, copies of government records, and trial transcripts on how this field of study developed in Canada. The finding aid for this collection is available online. There are private papers on medical subjects like neurology, psychiatry, oncology, and surgery. These include the A.A. Bailey fonds (1954-1963), R.W. Begg fonds (1946-1980), the F.E. Coburn fonds (1946-1979), B.P.D. Conquhoun fonds (1969-1975), Louis Horlick fonds (1942-1997), C.S. Houston fonds (1922-1996), V.L Matthew fonds (1945-1988), D.F. Moore fonds (1969-1983), J.F. Morgan fonds (1946-1976), Viktor Pollak fonds (1963-1997), the Andrew Everret Porter collection (1880-1953), Rudolf Altschul (1901-1963) fonds, a Doctor of Universal Medicine who fled the Nazi occupation of Germany in 1939, and Anatomist Sergey Fedoroff (1925-) fonds, who was brought to Germany by the Nazis. They latter two became the heads of the Anatomy Department at the university.
The Wesley Claude MacAulay fonds (c. 1884-1975) has information on the Saskatchewan Pharmaceutical Association whereas the Emmie Ducie Oddie fonds (1921-2003) discusses nutrition as well as the Saskatchewan Women’s Institute. There are records of various organizations in the fonds of Psychologist G.A. McMurray (1949-1981), and materials related to the history of psychology in the fonds of John Aitken Mills (1968-1997). Most significantly, records like the W.P. Thompson fonds discuss the history of medicare in Canada. Other materials on medicare, such as pamphlets circulated in the 1960s by the Department of Health, the Canadian Labour Congress, Nurses, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, and House of Commons debates on this topic, are also available in the archive.
This university has a rich collection of Aboriginal records related specifically to the First Nations, Métis, and Inuit. These include the papers of organizations and programs like the Indian and Northern Education Program (1969-1984), the Institute for Northern Studies (1959-1983), and the Native Law Centre (1983-1993). Individual and family collections include the fonds of the McKay family (1878-1984), a prominent Métis family, and of Harold Nelson Woodsworth who served as an Indian Agent (1885-1963), a government representative who worked with territorial, educational, governance, and families issues for aboriginal peoples.
This archive also houses materials on gender and sexuality. Materials specific to the LGBTQA+ community can be found in the Neil Richards fonds (2003-2012), the Canadian Gay and Lesbian collection, the Cross-Dressing in Saskatoon fonds (1983-2004), the Greystone Secrets fonds, the Robin Maugham collection (1967-1981), and the Donal McNamee fonds (1954-1993), the latter of which focuses on human rights.
Fonds on immigration may be of interest, such as those of the Assiniboia Club (1915-1917) that studied Canadian settlers, of Geoffrey Bilson (1960-1987) including his professional work on immigration and health, and of M.F. Timlin, particularly her SSRCC study on immigration policy in Canada (1889-1975). The library also has over 70 maps depicting immigration and settlement patterns in the seventeenth to twentieth centuries. There are also important records related to the fur trade, such as in the large (10 linear metres) Arthur S. Morton Manuscripts collection. The Alexander Malcolm Shaw fonds (c. 1900-1986) are useful for the discussion of livestock breeding, agriculture, and other topics central to life in the prairies. Related to these, the archive has collections that discuss the environment and conservation, such as the South Saskatchewan River Project papers (1921-1952) and the Richard St. Barbe Baker papers (1952-1980), the latter of which focuses on tree conservation. Additional collections to note include those related to the military, such as the Saskatoon Light Infantry fonds (1940-2000), those related to veterinary sciences, horticulture, and much more.
The University of Saskatchewan Archive has digital projects on topics such as Gender and Sexuality, Aboriginal Studies, and Science and the environment. The digital projects can be accessed here. Note that archive has very detailed finding aids available online.