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Clifford Pereira – Canadian Secret Sailors

November 29, 2016

Webcast sponsored by the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre and hosted by the UBC Library’s Rare Books and Special Collections. Historical geographer Clifford Pereira delivers this lecture about his current, groundbreaking work on the history of Chinese crews on Canadian vessels during the First World War. After a century of silence, a story emerges of hundreds of Asian crew working, and thousands of Chinese transported on ships of the Canadian Pacific “Empress” line as part of the First World War Effort. Clifford Pereira is Kenyan-Asian of Goan heritage, formally based in London, UK and now based in Hong Kong (SAR), who worked in several places around the world and in several industries before embarking on the current career in the heritage industry. This talk is part of the Remembrance Day speaker series, in conjunction with an exhibit at the Chung Collection curated by Clifford Pereira.

This event happened on November 8, 2016.

Select Articles and Books Available at UBC Library

Macri, F., & Franco David Macri. (01/01/2011). Journal of the hong kong branch of the royal asiatic society: Canadians under fire: C force and the battle of hong kong, december 1941 The Branch. [Link]

Roland, C. G. (2001). Long night’s journey into day : Prisoners of war in hong kong and japan, 1941-1945 Wilfrid Laurier University Press. [Link]

The damned : the Canadians at the battle of Hong Kong and the POW experience, 1941-45 / Nathan M. Greenfield. [Available at Koerner Library Stacks- D767.3 .G73 2010]

UBC Library Research Guides

History

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BC History Digitization Program Now Accepting Submissions for Funding

November 29, 2016

bc-history-digitization-program

The British Columbia History Digitization Program (BCHDP) promotes increased access to British Columbia’s historical resources by providing matching funds to undertake digitization projects that will result in free online access to unique historical material from around the province. The BCHDP demonstrates the Learning Centre’s dedication to sharing knowledge and supporting education by making local information resources available to people throughout the province and beyond.

Uno Langmann Family Collection of BC Photographs Project

The program, launched by the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre in 2006, provides matching grants to support projects that make B.C. history freely available.

In 2015 the program awarded more than $198,000 to 24 different community groups in B.C. Projects have included digitization of community newspapers, photographic collections and church and museum archives. In total, the BCHDP has awarded more than $1.6 million dollars since its inception.

The BCHDP is now accepting submissions for the 2016 application round. Applicants can receive up to $15,000 in funds for their projects, and can submit for multi-year projects.

Application Information:

The British Columbia History Digitization Program welcomes applications from private or public institutions and agencies that have the preservation of historical British Columbia materials as part of their mandate. This includes, but is not necessarily limited to, libraries, archives, museums, historical societies and post-secondary institutions.

The application submission deadline for 2017/2018 is Monday December 19, 2016. Completed applications (signed, scanned to pdf) will be accepted electronically via email at bc.historydigitization@ubc.ca.

For assistance or clarification on completing the application, please contact the Coordinator at bc.historydigitization@ubc.ca.

Guidelines and Instructions (pdf)

Application Form (doc)

More information about the program and the application process is available on the BCHDP website. To view images of past projects, please visit the B.C. History Digitization Program website.

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Sherrill Grace-Landscapes of War and Memory

November 28, 2016

Webcast sponsored by the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre and hosted by the UBC Library’s Rare Books and Special Collections. Since 1977, a new generation of Canadian writers and artists has been mapping the cultural landscapes formed by the memories of war we have inherited, and also the ones we are expected to forget. Challenging, even painful, the art and literature in Grace’s magisterial study build causeways into history, connecting us to trials and traumas many Canadians have never known but that haunt society in subtle and compelling ways. A contemporary scholar of the period under examination, Grace exemplifies her role as witness, investing the text with personal, often lyrical, responses as a way of enacting this crucial memory-work. A professor emerita, Sherill Grace, OC, holds the title of University Killam Professor at the University of British Columbia, where she has taught Canadian Literature and Culture for more than 35 years. She is also professor of English, Distinguished University Scholar, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. This talk is part of the Remembrance Day speaker series, in conjunction with an exhibit at the Chung Collection curated by Clifford Pereira.

This event happened on November 10, 2016

Select Articles and Books Available at UBC Library

Klassen, A. J. (1997). Alternative service for peace: In Canada during World War II, 1941-1946. Abbotsford, B.C.: MCC (B.C.). [Available at Koerner Library Stacks- D810.C82 A48 1998]

Landry, P., Scully, A. L., & MacFadden, J. (2003). Juno Beach: Canada in World War II. Toronto: Penguin Canada. [Available at Education Library- D768.15 .L36 2003]

UBC Library Research Guides

History

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Cameron Cathcart – Battle of Hong Kong during WWII

November 18, 2016

Webcast sponsored by the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre and hosted by the UBC Library’s Rare Books and Special collections. Mr. Cathcart served as a member of the Royal Canadian Artillery before choosing a broadcasting career. He worked with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for 30 years, much of the time as a Parliamentary reporter in Ottawa and foreign correspondent in Washington, D.C. In the Second World War, Canadian soldiers first engaged in battle while defending the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong against a Japanese attack in December 1941. The Canadians at Hong Kong fought against overwhelming odds and displayed the courage of seasoned veterans, though most had limited military training. They had virtually no chance of victory, but refused to surrender until they were overrun by the enemy. Those who survived the battle became prisoners of war (POWs) and many endured torture and starvation by their Japanese captors. The fighting in Hong Kong ended with immense Canadian casualties: 290 killed and 493 wounded. The death toll and hardship did not end with surrender. Those Canadians who fought in the defence of Hong Kong sacrificed much in their efforts to help bring peace and freedom to the people of Asia and the Pacific. Their task was a difficult and costly one, but their sacrifice would serve as an example of the kind of effort that would be required to eventually triumph. The survivors’ ordeal that followed as prisoners of war serves as an additional reminder of the great cost of war. This talk is part of the Remembrance Day speaker series, in conjunction with an exhibit at the Chung Collection curated by Clifford Pereira.

This even took place on November 4, 2016.

Select Articles and Books Available at UBC Library

Roland, C. G. (2001). Long night’s journey into day : Prisoners of war in hong kong and japan, 1941-1945 Wilfrid Laurier University Press. [Link]

The damned : the Canadians at the battle of Hong Kong and the POW experience, 1941-45 / Nathan M. Greenfield. [Available at Koerner Library Stacks- D767.3 .G73 2010]

UBC Library Research Guides

History

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Lara Logan – The Future of National Security In the Age of ISIS

November 16, 2016

Webcast sponsored by the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre and hosted by the Vancouver Institute. A native of South Africa, Ms. Logan has earned a reputation as one of the world’s best foreign correspondents, reporting stories from most of the world’s major conflict zones including Egypt, Afghanistan, Northern Ireland, Israel and Kosovo. Her courageous work has earned her some of the most prestigious awards in her field, including a duPont-Columbia University Silver Baton, an Emmy, an Overseas Press Club Award, an Edward R. Murrow Award, and five American Women in Radio and Television Gracie Awards. She was the only journalist from an American network in Baghdad when the U.S. military invaded the city, reporting live from Firdos Square as the statue of Saddam fell. Before formally joining CBS, Ms. Logan already had 14 years of journalism experience in the international broadcast news arena with ITN and Fox/SKY, ABC, NBC, CNN and the European Broadcast Union. This lecture is cosponsored by UBC’s Global Reporting Centre.

This event took place on September 17, 2016.

Select Articles and Books Available at UBC Library

Beg, M. A. (1999). National security: Diplomacy and defence. Rawalpindi: FRIENDS Publication. [Available at Koerner Library- UA853.P3 B444 1999]

Snow, D., & Taylor & Francis eBooks (2016). Thinking about national security [Link]

UBC Library Research Guides

Government Publications-U.S Statistical Resources

Newspapers and News Sources

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UBC Continuing Studies: Cool Canadian History

November 15, 2016

One Day @ UBC

Take a journey through some of the most interesting, unique, weird, and significant moments in Canadian history. From a rebellion on the prairies to coureurs de bois serving on the Nile River, learn about some of the people, moments, and events that changed the course of the nation, the continent, and the world, proving that Canadian history is both important and entertaining.

Speaker:

DAVID BORYS, PhD, is a writer and lecturer who currently teaches history at UBC and Langara College. He specializes in Canadian history and the study of war and society. David has written for the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star and has a list of publications in various edited collections and scholarly journals. He is also the writer and host of the podcast, Cool Canadian History, showcasing all the weird, wacky, wild and wonderful things to do with Canadian history. Find him on Twitter @docborys

Course Format

The format of this course is in-class.

Code: UP927F16A

Offered: Saturday Nov 26, 2016 9:30am-4:00pm

Location: Irving K Barber Learning Centre Room 191

Instructor: David Borys

Click here to register for this session and for more information about UBC Continuing Studies.

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Citizen Science: New Challenges for Information Studies

November 8, 2016

citizen-science_talk

As part of the 44th Annual Conference of the Canadian Association of Information Science (CAIS), Jennifer Preece, Professor of the College of Information Studies at University of Maryland will be hosting a discussion about the new challenges for Information Studies in this period, known as the anthropocene. Humans are now having a profound influence on the planet, changing the atmosphere we breathe and reshaping the earth’s surface, thereby triggering species extinction at an alarming rate.

Information Studies professionals and students can have a profound influence on the data that is collected, how it is stored, retrieved and communicated with citizens and communities. We have a responsibility to help to heal our planet by raising awareness and triggering action. This talk challenges researchers, practitioners, teachers and students to lead the way in shaping a sustainable future. We can change information processes and technology, raise awareness, and engage citizens to contribute to science and their own communities by becoming “citizen scientists”.

Speaker:

preece_jenny_fixed Jennifer Preece, co-author of Interaction Design: Beyond Human Computer Interaction (4th Edition, 2015), helped to define research on online communities through her book Online Communities: Designing Usability, Supporting Sociability, 2000. Her current research focuses on information processes and technology for supporting citizen and environmental science; with an emphasis on community participation for collecting biodiversity data. Preece was dean of the College of Information Studies – Maryland’s iSchool for ten years from 2005 – 2015. Click here for further information about her career.

Event Details

When: November 9, 2016 12:00-1:00 p.m.

Where: Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, Dodson Room (Room 302)

congress_2016_badge_en

For more information about the CAIS conference, click here.

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Remembrance Day Speaker Series and Display

November 4, 2016

Remembrance Day Banner

The Rare Books and Special Collections has sponsored a series of talks in honour of Remembrance Day. The talks will all be held in the Lillooet Room (301) of the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre.

Tragic Bravery: Canada and the Battle of Hong Kong

When: November 4, 2016 12:00-1:30 p.m.

Speaker: Cameron Cathcart, President of the Royal United Services Institute – Vancouver Society (RUSI) and director of Vancouver’s Remembrance Day ceremonies at Victory Square

A trench bridge (World War I 1914-1918 British Press photograph collection, BC_1763_0955)

When asked if he thought the British Colony of Hong Kong could be defended against an invasion by the Japanese in 1941, Winston Churchill replied, “not the slightest chance”. This prediction forms the background to the fatal decision by Ottawa 75 years ago to send Canadian troops into the maelstrom that became known as the Battle of Hong Kong. As the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Hong Kong approaches, Cameron Cathcart will provide an overview of the battle, its aftermath, and delve into the personal lives of the brave Canadians whose lives were changed forever.

Canada’s Secret Sailors: Asian Crewmen and Canadian Vessels in the Indo-Pacific Theatre

When: November 8, 2016 12:00-1:30 p.m.
Speaker: Clifford J. Pereira, FRGS, Independent researcher, curator, and museum consultant

Based on research gathered over the last two years from national, provincial, and naval archives in Canada, Australia, and the U.K, Clifford J. Pereira will tell the forgotten story of hundreds of non-resident Asian seamen on vessels of the Canadian Pacific Railway deployed by the British Admiralty in the Pacific and Indian Oceans during the First World War.

Remembering the Great War with Canadian Writers and Artists

Sailors and Chinese labourers abroad the Empress of India (Chung Collection, CC_PH_02426)

When: November 10, 2016 12:00-1:30 p.m.
Speaker: Sherrill Grace, OC, FRSC, Professor Emerita of English and University Killam Professor

While Canada has been surprisingly low key about commemorating the Great War since 2014, we do have a wealth of artistic material that does important work in reconstructing and remembering the war. Dr. Sherrill Grace will consider how Canada remembers the war, and why it is important to do so, focusing on works by Canadians writing about the war from a late-20th century perspective.

In conjunction with the talks, a special display, Empires and Empresses at War, will be featured in RBSC’s Chung Collection exhibition room from November 4-November 30, 2016. The display, curated by Clifford J. Pereira, with curatorial assistance from Katie Sloan, showcases the importance of Canadian shipping vessels and the role of Asians and Asian-Canadians serving on Canadian vessels during World War I.

For more information, please contact Rare Books and Special Collections at 604 822-2521 or rare.books@ubc.ca.

The talks are free and open to the public.

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The Resonance Prism: Canadian Graphic Scores of the 21st Century

November 1, 2016

Graphic Scores Banner

Canadian composer Howard Bashaw’s sound-art performance installation The Resonance Prism was premiered in 2014 in a concert event entitled Sound Space Architecture in the University of British Columbia’s Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability. Performers were required to both realize the specific material presented in the score and generate imaginative, inspired improvisations. The chosen venue functioned metaphorically as a prismatic enclosure, refracting and transforming light into complex and layered dimensions of color, time and sound. With this work, Bashaw abandons the constraints of traditional music notation for innovative possibilities inherent within graphic notation and visual symbols. The viewer is invited to experience this collision between music and art and to imagine the translation of this graphic score into sound.

The Resonance Prism contains ten contrasting sequenced movements that are each separated in the form of a graphic collage, where the conductor combines and recombines a range of components during the performance through layering and evolving. Accompanying each collage is a visual statement that is projected during the performance and viewed simultaneously by the performers and the audience. These images facilitate the performance and evokes various sonic images in the minds of the audience, creating a dynamic engagement between the conductor, the audience, and the performers.

Artist’s Statement- Howard Bashaw

“Although not new, ‘sound, space and architecture’ certainly endures as an alluring compositional challenge. I began by imagining the atrium as an enormous prism; one that reflects natural light (metaphorically speaking) into new broad, successive regions: the first containing various manifestations of colour and harmony, and the second, various manifestations of rhythm and pattern. The score is designed specifically to inspire more so than to prescribe, and therefore takes form as ten full-colour, highly-detailed graphic collages. It uses specific pitch-color correlations throughout, and, in extension, incorporates the natural spectrum as the fundamental, organizing principle for the entire work. The ensemble is divided into three groups: the background source spectra (electronics); the middle-ground transitional spectra (percussion and electric guitar), and the foreground antiphonal spectra (three spatialized choirs: winds, brass and strings). The conductor functions as a dynamic collaborator, interpreting and shaping the wood anew with every performance.”

Graphic Scores

Bashaw shows how art and music are colliding in the 21st century with the use of musical notations in his graphic scores. Artists and musicians can now experiment with musical notations to create beautiful visual scores as modern works of art. This becomes a performance installation that provides a different experience to the audience than the traditional concert style performance.

American Musicological Society

The exhibition coordinates with the American Musicological Society‘s joint conference with Society for Music Theory held at the Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre Hotel. The AMS was founded in 1934 as a non-profit organization to advance “research in the various fields of music as a branch of learning and scholarship”. In 1951, the Society became a member of the American Council of Learned Societies. Today, the society currently has 3,500 members and 1,000 institutional subscribers from forty different nations.

The American Musicological Society and the Society for Music theory bring together academics, graduate students and other professionals specializing in musicology and music theory. This joint conference marks the largest single gathering of participants in the field of music and humanities in the world this year. This conference marks the eightieth-second meeting for the AMS and thirty-ninth annual event for the SMT. The event will provide attendees an opportunity to a wider network, share knowledge, and explore new directions in music research and practice. The event has scheduled over 350 presentations, a number of large performances, small meetings, receptions, and other exciting events.

Register: Registration rates for regular members before October 28th are $135 and $75 for members who are students or retired. Non-member registration fees are $225 and $135 for non-members who are students or retired.

The exhibition will take place from Tuesday, November 1st to December 28th, 2016.

UBC Library Research Guides

Music

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SLAIS Welcomes Archivist Anne Lindsay as Speaker for 2017 Colloquium

November 1, 2016

The School of Library, Archival and Information Studies is pleased to welcome Anne Lindsay, Access and Research Archivist for the NCTR, as a speaker in the iSchool’s Winter 2017 Colloquium program. She is speaking Wednesday, January 18, from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. on the topic of “Beyond Jenkinson: Authority, provenance, and Arrangement in a Complex Digital Collection at the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation.”

Event Details

The talk will be given in the Dodson Room (Room 302), 3rd floor of the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre. Registration is not necessary and the talk is open to all interested members of the community. Light refreshments will be served.

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