University of Winnipeg Archives

Are you curious about history? Ask the UW Archives! We preserve records on the University of Winnipeg and its communities, as well as the downtown and special collections that support research like the Two-Spirit Archives.

Great find! Thanks for sharing this Don. I think many of these photos in the University Relations collection are from the exact same year as this Winnipeg Tribune article.

Hi, Thanks for the note! That gives me a title to do some searching within our records.

Another mystery in the University Relations fonds! This collection contains images taken around campus by the Media Centre, depicting various events.

Throughout the 70's there are photos of students in European Medieval costumes, but unfortunately the Archives still searching for more information.

Modern scanning produces sharable digital copies, but microforms require special equipment to view in person. While you could digitally scan a microform, the image quality is often low. As well, to save space the original documents were regularly discarded after a microform was produced.

Libraries and archives began using them in the mid-20th century to both preserve at risk records and deal with growing collections in limited spaces. Rooms of historical newspapers or reference books could be stored compactly, but there are some notable downsides to relying on microforms.

While today its a legacy medium, microforms were once part of the miniaturization wave.

Coming as a microfilm reel, microfiche sheet, or aperture card, they are a way to shrink a document onto a film negative. Rather than keeping a whole shelve of binders, you only needed to store a few reels.

Winnipeg Blue Bomber, Erie Pitts (center) reviews play book with two rookies An image of Winnipeg Blue Bomber, Erie Pitts (center) reviewing a play book with two rookies. The original negative was 2" X 2".

This photo and others from the WCPI are preserved at the UW Archives and digitized online - digitalcollections.uwinnipeg.ca/digital/coll...

Pitts played as a wide receiver and defensive back from 1957 to 1970 for both the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the BC Lions in the Canadian Football League (CFL).

With the Blue Bombers he was in 6 Grey Cups, winning 4, and was inducted into the Canadian Football League Hall of Fame in 2019.

The #ACAhashtagparty for this month is #ArchivesBlackHistory!

This is a photo of Ernie Pitts and two rookies of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers reviewing a play book together. Its part of the Hugh Allen Collection in the Western Pictorial Index (WCPI).

Register here - us06web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

Dr Osborne specializes in Caribbean history, the Garifuna, and Scottish presence (settlers and enslavers) in the islands of St Vincent and the Grenadines in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

The Centre for Research in Cultural Studies is hosting a virtual lecture by Dr Désha Osborne (U of Edinburgh) tomorrow, 12.30pm CST!

This talk will consider the settlement of Scottish, Irish and Welsh colonists to the Caribbean islands and Canadian areas from the mid 17th to the 18th centuries.

While we list our collections on the UW website, archives staff also provide research assistance. We can help if you are looking for a specific historical record or are working on a research project.

You can book an appointment by email - archives@uwinnipeg.ca or phone - 204-786-9162.

This clip is from a longer 1998 VHS in our Marketing and Communications fonds. Titled "Sun Valley Interactive Raw Stock Footage", it includes footage of tours, student discussions, as well as this music performance on campus.

The full video is available on our youtube - youtu.be/kHRyfMCgho4

The prints were then traded to Gerald Dupont in exchange for a coyote fur hat and a promise to later donated them to an archives. Dupont did indeed donate them to the UW Archives in 2021.

You can see all six prints digitized by the archives here - cdm15931.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/coll...

The print was originally retained with five others by an E. J. Pattison and was passed down to his granddaughter Carla Davidson.

E.J.'s father, John Pattision, had served with the 95th Battalion of the Manitoba Grenadiers and bought the photos from a photographer.

To mark Louis Riel Day we want to share a photo from the Gerald Dupont and Carla Davidson Collection.

The print below is of Fort Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan in 1885, during the events of the Northwest Resistance. In the image you can see the Fort's buildings as well as horses and Red River carts.

Winter Reading Week is here! Take some time to relax and catch up on projects before classes resume February 21st. Campus will be closed on February 16th for Louis Riel Day.

Do you have a piece of UW or downtown Winnipeg history you want to preserve? Let us know at archives.uwinnipeg.ca!

We collect records from the University and its preceding colleges, community or activist groups in the Downtown and West End, as well as Indigenous organizations and individuals.

As its difficult to acquire players for these formats, we instead digitized the Kern-Hill tapes. The digital videos now live on our youtube channel for easy access and the tapes remain preserved in the Rare Book Room.

U-matic is a magnetic cassette tape predating VHS, debuting in 1971 with wide adoption in broadcasting. Betacam came later in 1982 and largely replaced U-matic as a tape format until the adoption of digital in television studios. Neither of these formats can be played with a VHS player.

Kern Hill Furniture Share your videos with friends, family, and the world

A challenging aspect of media preservation is all of the different formats! A great example comes from the Kern-Hill Furniture Co-op fonds. This Manitoban furniture company became locally famous from its commercials recorded on Umatic and Betacam cassettes - www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...

BIPOC collections | Archives | The University of Winnipeg The Archives supports and strives to adhere to the Association of Canadian Archivists' statement condemning racism, injustice, and violence against Black people. We acknowledge the history of White…

Photo credits: Déandra Grace.

The Archives' exhibit will remain on display until May in our reading room and you can find the related records in our BIPOC collections - archives.uwinnipeg.ca/our-collecti....

Thank you to everyone who came to Archiving the Black Canadian Experience!

A whopping 49 people attended to see exhibits and presentations by Nadia Thompson (Black History Manitoba) Gabriel Bell-Gam (Bell-Gam Digital Cultural Heritage Center) and Judy Williams (Black Canadian Experience Centre).

Event tomorrow at the Archives!

Register for the panel and exhibit Archiving the Black Canadian Experience: Education, Innovation, Preservation, happening between 2:30 - 4:00pm. More info here - uwinnipeg.ca.libcal.com/event/3989522

Archiving the Black Canadian Experience | University of Winnipeg News In honor of Black History Month, and sharing the Black narrative, the University of Winnipeg Archives is presenting "Archiving the Black Canadian Experience" and exhibit with an accompanying talk on…

In honour of #BlackHistoryMonth, @uwarchives.bsky.social presents a panel discussion, "Archiving the Black Canadian Experience: Education, Innovation, Preservation" on Tuesday, February 3 from 2:30 to 4 p.m. in the Archives Reading Room.

An accompanying exhibition runs until April 30.

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WCPI | Archives | The University of Winnipeg The Western Canada Pictorial Index consists of reproductions of more than 70,000 images related to the history of Western Canada, gathered over nearly three decades. It began as a centennial project…

The photo highlights the dangerous nature of railway work prior to the establishment of stricter safety standards, including the Railway Safety Act in 1989.

Check out this photo and others in the Western Canadian Pictorial Index - archives.uwinnipeg.ca/our-collecti....

The #ACAHashtagParty this month is #ArchivesOnTheMove!

This photo is from the Flin Flon Collection, part of the Western Canada Pictorial Index. Photographed by John William "Stan" Smythe, it depicts workers on an electric train used by the Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting Company in Flin Flon, MB.

Come visit the UW Archives to explore the collection! - main.lib.umanitoba.ca/virtuosi-rec....

A new donation (2021.06) is available! This collection is from Virtuosi Concerts, an organization that presented musical performances of local and international talents from 1991 to 2025. Virtuosi Concerts held many events on campus at the Eckhardt-Gramatté Hall, using it as its primary venue.