Canoe of the Ancestors: Reclaiming Indigenous Knowledge at Trent
October 2024, Trent University Archives exhibit cases, Bata Atrium and the Archives (BL 117)
Curator: Karen Suurtamm, in collaboration with Ashley Thompson and First People's House of Learning
A display to celebrate the construction of a traditional birch bark canoe in the Bata Library. Exhibit includes photographs and drawings of traditional canoes, showing the range of designs and uses across Turtle Island and across generations. These archival photographs come from collections compiled by local historians, educators, and researchers, and are now housed in the Trent University Archives. Some photographs were captioned by those researchers and faculty members, and the captions reflect the terminology of the time and the disciplines/contexts in which these researchers worked. These photographs can now be used to reclaim and understand histories of canoe building and use, Indigenous practices, and relations with early settlers.
World Letter Writing Day – September 1st
September 2024, Trent University Archives exhibit cases, Bata Atrium and the Archives (BL 117)
Curator: Tori Cartwright
This exhibit has been created in celebration of World Letter Writing Day which began after Australian author, artist, and photographer, Richard Simpkin, wrote letters to Australian legends. By 2005, he had received enough responses from his personal list of Australian legends to write a book about them. He attributed the use of handwritten letters in his book as the personal touch that grabbed the attention of the legends.
Living in our “digital age,” handwritten letters may be more time consuming to complete than typing an email or sending a text message. However, combining the physical effort of writing with the process of organizing thoughts on paper can show the receiver of the letter that care, and effort were put into communicating with them.
Letters help us reflect on past events, lifestyles, and experiences. Memories are created when writing letters to others and they typically become keepsakes, tucked away in a box for future reflection. Letters allow us to look back and relive a period spent with someone we shared an experience or emotion with about a life event.
Letters are also beneficial to researchers as they can find out intimate details in a series of letters about people, places, and events. Piecing together a timeline can be effortless in a series of archival records that contain letter correspondence between family, friends, and colleagues. In this exhibit you will find an array of letters discussing love, friendship, Indigenous language, war, hardships and daily living – all available in the Trent University Archives.
Celebrating Indigenous Performance History
June-July 2024, Trent University Archives exhibit cases, Bata Atrium and the Archives (BL 117)
Curator: Angela Bell
This exhibit highlights a recent acquisition of Indigenous performance materials, donated in August 2023 by Professor Emerita Marrie Mumford, Canada Research Chair in Aboriginal Arts and Literature at Trent. Prof. Mumford was integral to the development of many Indigenous performance initiatives, including Nozhem, The First People’s Performance Space at Trent.
Performance in various forms is a prominent aspect in Indigenous cultures across the world. Further, it is an integral part of resurgence and reclaiming Indigenous identity.
The collection documents Mumford’s work with many organizations, including the Native Theatre School (Toronto), the Association for Native Development in the Performing and Visual Arts (ANDPVA), the Aboriginal Arts Program at the Banff Centre, the Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards, and of course Nozhem. This one-of-a-kind collection – which will amount to more than 100 boxes – includes posters, programs, sound and video recordings, photographs, correspondence, scripts, planning notes, and much more. It is currently being processed so that it can soon be accessed by researchers.
MAY DAY: An Exhibit of Labour Collection Holdings from the Trent University Archives
April 12 – May 31, 2024, Exhibit cases, Bata Library Atrium and in the Archives (BL 117)
May 1 is May Day, or International Workers Day, which has been celebrated worldwide for 138 years. The Trent University Archives has 38 archival collections about labour, including many collections documenting the power of unions and workers’ organizing. This exhibit features some of those collections and histories. See photographs from the 1991 Trent University faculty strike, song sheets used by the International Workers of the World (Wobblies), a 1916 telegram from union organizers in Winnipeg to the Peterborough Trades and Labour Council, and much more. This exhibit marks the Archives’ recent acquisition of the records of the Peterborough & District Labour Council and local labour organizer, Henry Nokes.
Women in the Archives
March-April 2024, Bata Library Atrium
International Women’s Day is March 8th and what better way to celebrate than by diving into records from Trent University’s own archives. We have chosen to represent contemporary and historical women who have pushed through gendered and racial barriers; making waves in their professions and paving the way for future generations.
Whitman and Twain: Highlights from the Feinberg Collection
October and November 2023, Bata Library Atrium
Curated by Gina Nemati
The Feinberg Collection of materials on Walt Whitman and Mark Twain, which includes first editions, rare printings, photographs, ephemera, and even a bronze cast of Whitman’s hand, is on permanent loan from the Peterborough Public Library and kept in Archives and Special Collections at Trent. The exhibit was curated by Gina Nemati (MA 2023), as part of her Public Texts internship placement with the Trent University Library and Archives.