As a webmaster, the redesign of a website attracts my creative side. As a genealogist, a redesign of an archival websites makes me re-visit to discover what is new and what I may have overlooked during my last visit.
A new design often makes collections stand out and easier to find. Such is the case with the University of British Columbia Archives’ redesigned website that is now more user friendly.
If you were a frequent visitor to the old UBC site, you will be pleased to learn all of the UBC Archives’ online historical resources – including inventories of textual records, digitized photographs and publications, virtual displays, and general historical information about the University – are still available, as are links to their access policies and procedures, records management services, and Flickr and Twitter accounts.
UBC Archives’ online collection of yearbooks document student live at the university from 1911 to 1966.
Some of the main categories are:
- About the Archives
- Using the Archives
- Finding Aids
- University Publications
- General History (about UBC)
- Historical Documents
- First Nations Historical Resources
The Historical Documents section is a good place for most genealogists to start their research. Collections worth noting within this section are UBC Scrapbooks (1890-1941); Record of Service [First World War] – 1914-1918; Record of Service in the Second World War; and the MUCBC/UBC Yearbooks (1911-66).
Students and employees who served during WWI
The Record of Service, 1914-1918, is a 147-page digitized book that lists the names of male members of UBC, Vancouver College, and McGill University College. Names can be found using the CTRL+F function on a PC and Command+F on a Mac.
Yearbooks
In the MUCBC/UBC Yearbooks, 1911-1966, you can search names by year. The yearbooks document graduating classes, sports teams, student clubs and organizations, social events, governance bodies, and fraternities and sororities. The search function works well at finding names on text pages, but less well (or not at all) for photo captions.
Scrapbooks
The digitized UBC Scrapbooks collections can only be browsed. The CTRL+F function did not work on any scrapbooks I tested. Be aware that some of the files can be large and slow to open.
These scrapbooks document the origins and early history of the University of British Columbia. They contain newspaper clippings from Vancouver-area newspapers regarding University issues, student activities, and special events. Most were found in the grandstand of the old stadium when it was torn down in 1968.
Newspapers represented in the scrapbooks include the Vancouver Sun, the Province, the Daily News-Advertiser, the Vancouver Daily World, the Vancouver Star, and the New Westminster Columbian. The clippings include both articles and letters-to-the-editor, so they document both the history of UBC and the evolution of public opinion about the University.
If there is any chance one of your ancestors attended, taught, or worked at UBC, its digital archives are worth a visit. Start your search on the University of British Columbia Archives home page.
