British Columbia
This was the background leading to the founding in 1965 of the Vancouver based Alcuin Society. The chief aims of the Society are “to further the interests of book collectors and to promote a wider appreciation of fine books…”. To that end the Society provides a wide range of book oriented activities, including since 1981 an annual Awards for Excellence in Book Design in Canada. The Society continues to flourish. The Society’s From Hand to Hand: A Gathering of the Book Arts in British Columbia… (1986) is a very useful introductory although dated directory of British Columbia fine printing and book arts. The 1970s were important to the British Columbia fine private press/typography scene.
Background Multicultural Canada: Our Diverse Heritage The Multicultural Canada digitization project grew from our conviction that the cultural groups that make up our country have little-known stories that need to be researched and told. Through newspapers, interviews, photographs, print and material culture people tell us who they are. Yet research into Canada’s multi-ethnic communities has been hampered by the relative lack of availability of non-English language materials and other artefacts originating from minority groups. Archives and libraries have long worked with individuals and cultural communities in Canada to collect and preserve the historical record of their experience; but these documents are seldom available beyond the walls of the institution.
HARRISON BROWN The Sian Incident and Beyond "Harrison Brown: The Sian Incident and Beyond" is a chronicle of author and journalist Harrison Brown's voyage to China between 1936 and 1937, and the events that unfolded during that time in what has become known as 'The Sian Incident'. The events are presented largely through the eyes of Harrison Brown himself - 'H.B.' as his friends called him - through the journals that he kept during his trip, the photographs he took, and the articles and manuscript that he wrote during and after his journey. You may browse through a collection of 137 of H.B's photos, his 22-chapter manuscript "On the Trail of a Freelance", his original hand-written journal pages, and much more.