University Archives
& Special Collections

History of the Archives

Prior to July 1970 the University Archives existed only as a small collection of manuscripts (including some of the early records of the Board of Governors) in the Special Collections department of the University Library. While these records were available to researchers, they had not been properly catalogued.

In July 1970 the first University Archivist, Dr. Charles Armour, was appointed and was placed in charge of the Archives as part of the Special Collections department. The Archivist's responsibilities incuded acquiring and organizing the extensive university records, which were scattered throughout the many administrative and faculty offices on campus. In addition, the Archivist was to set up a new Theatre Archives and a Business Archives; to catalogue the private manuscripts which had been donated to the University, and to solicit papers from former Dalhousie administrative and Academic staff. Within a year a Music Archives was added.

In the early 1970s the Archives moved to its current location on the fifth floor of the Killam Library, and in the fall of 1975 the Archives became a separate department within the University Library. New collections were added over the next few years including the Nova Scotia Labour History Archives, a Medical Archives section, a collection of papers of Citizen Action Groups, and an expanded collection of Canadian and British shipping records. The Archives' collection of private manuscripts also grew to include the papers of both Dalhousie and local individuals, including professors, historians, and writers. In addition to the above archival collections the Archives has also acquired an extensive collection of Dalhousie memorabilia, a large collection of theatre and music programmes, business brochures and catalogues (including an excellent collection of Eaton's and Simpson's catalogues from 1894 onward), and copies of Dunn and Bradstreet's business ratings (1882-1950). The Archives has also compiled extensive reference files related to its major acquisitions areas, a huge collection of photographs relating to both Dalhousie and Nova Scotia, and numerous video and audio tapes.

In October 2000, Michael Moosberger was appointed the second University Archivist of Dalhousie University. Since that time the Archives has made a number of significant acquisitions, including the literary papers of Donna Morrissey, theatre company records from Two Planks and a Passion, Jest in Time, Upstart, as well as art gallery records from Eye Level Gallery.

Since 2000, more than a dozen student assistants have contributed to the creation of the Archives' several digital collections, including the award-winning Recorded Memory of Theatre Life in Nova Scotia, and work by students in the Archives class (taught by Michael Moosberger) in the School of Library and Information Studies/School of Information Management have enabled the Archives to process more than 30 collections in under 3 years.