Opening the College to the community so they could celebrate the work being done in class was a brilliant move. It attracted money. It attracted students. It got attention. Who made this decision is unclear, but the College did not open to the public in this way until after President Cramp arrived in 1851. Archivist Wendy Robicheau looks at the exams being given on campus, 173 years ago today....
Rev. Dr. John Mockett Cramp arrived on campus in the late summer of 1851 as the new Acadia College President. Did he know what he was getting into? He had visited Wolfville in June 1846, met the faculty, and examined the construction of the new College building. But the situation was so very different when he took up residence. Did he recognize the campus he had visited only seven years ago?...
Over the next few weeks, the 173rd anniversary of an Acadia tragedy will be marked and unfold in real time through a series of articles on this blog by Archivist Wendy Robicheau. On 7 June 1852, four Acadia students, one professor, and one Acadia Governor set out on a day-long geological expedition to Cape Blomidon. With them were two boatmen, who navigated the small vessel from Wolfville harbour...
This Mi’kmaw History Month, it’s important to acknowledge the gaps in our collections in Archives & Special Collections related to Indigenous peoples. In our collections, there are some perspectives that are overrepresented due to the history of library and archival collecting practices. Other groups are underrepresented, including perspectives on Indigeneity, Blackness, women, and diverse...
Today we are featuring the amazing technical drawings of French engineer and military commander Louis Franquet. You can see many of Franquet’s 1750s drawings of French fortifications in North America on our digital collections page, but today we are focussing on this beautiful drawing of Fort Beauséjour, built close to the New Brunswick-Nova Scotia border in 1751 and the scene of critical events...
The past few weeks, the Archives have been partnering with Dr. Chelsea Gardner, Classical Archaeologist and professor in the Department of History and Classics, her RA, Cameron Barnard, and SteamSpace students Anna Jean Ferguson and Zach Adams to explore innovative ways of imaging and reproducing our artifact collection for teaching and learning. Last week, Anna Jean and Zach visited the...
This summer, thanks to funding from Young Canada Works, we embarked on an exciting project to digitize a significant yet under-utilized collection from the Nova Scotia Sanatorium. Established in 1904 in Kentville, the Sanatorium was the province's first tuberculosis hospital. The Sanatorium’s patient newsletter, X-Ray/Health Rays, provides a humanizing glimpse into the lives of patience and staff...
Archives and Special Collections once again teamed up with the Kings Hants Heritage Connection over the summer to create a series of posts highlighting some gems from our collection! The KHHC theme this year was “The Acadians” in honour of Congrès mondial acadien 2024: An International Celebration of Acadian Culture, which took place from August 10-18. We have chosen four of those fascinating...
