Skip to main menu Skip to content
Summer Hours: We are open Monday to Friday from 9am to 4pm. To schedule an appointment, please fill out our appointment form or email us at asc@torontomu.ca
Toronto Metropolitan University Archives & Special Collections
Home

All the news that’s fit to print – a brief history of Ryerson’s news outlets

Posted on by

In the age of social media there are many ways for news to be communicated. Faculty, staff, students, alumni, and the general public can find out what is going on around campus through Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and many other sources. How did Ryerson get the word out there before the internet and smart phones – let’s take a look.

University Media

Ryerson has had various departments and offices responsible for getting the official news out to the community and the public. The Office of Information Services, the Department of Community Relations, the Office of University Advancement, and now University Relations  were/are responsible to spreading the official word of Ryerson.

What’s Happening around Ryerson

What’s Happening around Ryerson (1971-1977) was published once a week as an events calendar by the Department of Information Services. It was replaced by On Campus this Week (1977-1986). The Office of University Advancement published Campus News (2004-2009) which was emailed out to the Ryerson Community announcing individual events, campus notes, and other related information. This was discontinued in 2009 with the creation of Ryerson Today. The Office of University Advancement, and now the Department of Communications, Government, and Community Engagement periodically send out news releases about significant Ryerson occurrences and events.

What’s Happening around Ryerson/On Campus this Week (RG 4.01)

The FORUM newsletter

The FORUM was a newsletter of information and opinion first published by the Department of Information Services September 12, 1977. The FORUM continued to be published by the Department of Community Relations, and the Office of University Advancement changing styles and formats. It went to a digital only format in 2006 and continued on until 2009 when it too was replaced by Ryerson Today.

  • FORUM Newsletter (RG 4.10)
  • FORUM Newsletter (RG 122.04)
  • FORUM Newsletter (RG 122.04)
  • FORUM Newsletter (RG 122.04)
  • FORUM Newsletter (RG 395.06)
  • FORUM Newsletter (RG 395.06)
  • FORUM Newsletter (RG 395.06)

The Ryerson Rambler

The Ryerson Rambler (RG 151.01) was first published in June of 1962, was Ryerson’s alumni magazine. It was published initially by the Students’ Union. According to then Ryerson Principal Howard Kerr, “It is hoped in time that the Ryerson Alumni Association will be sufficiently strong to assume the responsibility involved in the financing of this project…”. It would appear that the Alumni Association took over publication in 1967. The Rambler continued publication until 1972, when it was replaced by Technikos as a source of information for Ryerson Alumni.

Technikos and Ryerson Review

Technikos the news magazine for Ryerson Polytechnical Institute was first published in the Spring of 1971 by the Department of Information Services and according to then Ryerson President “it would be mailed to the home address of each undergraduate…Copies will also be sent to potential employers…high schools, colleges, universities, and Ryerson alumni…”. It was published twice yearly until Summer 1977 when, according to the Ryerson Rambler, “…the costs have caught up with us and a quality magazine like Technikos cannot be produced economically enough to enable us to send it to you regularly…” so publication was cut down to one magazine per year sent out during the summer months. In 1978 the name was changed to The Ryerson Review. Its last publication was Summer 1980.

Technikos Magazine (RG 4.26)
the Ryerson Review (RG 4.27)

The Rambler redux

The Rambler returned in February of 1978 when the cost of producing Technikos became economically unfeasible. It was published 3 times per year. In 1994, the winter issue of the magazine was discontinued – replaced by What’s On, a newspaper-style newsletter. In 1997 they discontinued What’s On and started publishing the winter edition of the magazine again.

  • Ryerson Rambler (RG 151.01)
  • Ryerson Rambler (RG 151.01)
  • What’s New (RG 151.04)
  • Ryerson Rambler (RG 151.01)

Ryerson Magazine

With the spring 1997 edition the name changed to Ryerson Magazine (RG 395.07.02)and began publishing only twice a year. In 2001, it changed its name to Ryerson University, the magazine – reflecting the name change of the University from Ryerson Polytechnic University to Ryerson University. It changed its name again in 2002 to Alumni Magazine, with a final name change in 2022 to Ryerson University Magazine.

Student Media

On the student side of the School, Ryerson has had student created publications since its inception in 1948.

The Ryersonian

The School of Journalism began publishing a newspaper called the The Ryersonian (RG 95.05) in 1948. The first paper was published in December of that year. Starting in January of 1949 until April of 1951, the paper was published on a monthly or bi-monthly basis. In the 1951-1952 school year the paper began being published on a daily basis. It continued this way for many years, until they began publishing Tuesday – Friday, and then only on Wednesdays and Fridays. During the 1993-1994 school year it started its present schedule of weekly publication on Wednesdays. The paper is also available online at www.ryersonian.ca/.

Ryerson Daily News

In June of 1949, the School of Graphic Arts,  and the Journalism program started printing Ryerson Daily News. It was a one page leaflet with Canadian and International news stories.

30_RG95_25_RDN
Ryerson Daily News (RG 95.25)

The Little Daily

It was replaced in September 1950 by The Little Daily. A one page information leaflet with news about Ryerson.

The Little Daily (RG 95.23)

The Little Weekly

Starting in 1950 they also published the Little Weekly, a larger format newspaper style publication. Both the Daily and the Weekly ended publication in January of 1951.

33_RG95_29_TLW
The Little Weekly ((RG 95.29)

The Blue, The White, and the Gold

To replace The Little Weekly, Journalism students started printing three different small newspapers on three different days – The Blue (RG 95.31) on Tuesdays, The White (RG 95.28) on Wednesdays, and The Gold (RG 95.30) on Thursdays. They were produced between February and April of that year. In March and April of 1951 Journalism also printed The Blue Review (RG 95.33).

  • RG 95.31
  • RG 95.28
  • RG 95.30
  • RG 95.33

The Campus Week and TY-PI

The Campus Week also was created to replace the Little Weekly. First printed February 3, 1951, it was written and edited by Journalism students and printed by the the School of Graphic Arts. It had a four page format – mirroring that of The Ryersonian. It does not appear that this continued to be published in the 1951-1952 school year. There was an independent publication created in 1951 called “TY-PI”, created by first year students in the Graphic Arts and Journalism programs.

The Campus Week (RG 95.32)
The TY-PI (RG 95.27)

The Eyeopener

In 1967 the Eyeopener Newspaper (RG 146.1) – at first called the Eyeopener Magazine took its name from the Calgary Eye Opener, newspaper published by Bob Edwards 1902-1922. It was created because, as its first editor Tom Thorne stated, many students felt that the Ryersonian was not representative of all of Ryerson’s students. Published on Tuesdays by the Students’ Administrative Council on a weekly basis, it was a member of the Canadian University Press. During the 1968-1969 school year it began being publishing on Thursdays and starting in September 1990 it changed to its current schedule of publication on Wednesdays. The Eyeopener is available online at theeyeopener.com.

All of these publications contain valuable information about the life and times of Ryerson and its students, staff, and faculty. They have been an invaluable resource for many research projects.

They are available for viewing in Archives & Special Collections. Please call (416) 979-5000 ext. 7027 or email asc@ryerson.ca for an appointment.

Such Beautiful Shirts: Gatsby-era Fashion at Ryerson A&SC

Posted on by

For those who can’t get enough of Gatsby fashion, RULA Special Collections recently acquired a small donation of 1910s- and 20s-era stylebooks from American clothiers Hart, Schaffner & Marx and The House of Kuppenheimer.

The companies date back to the late nineteenth-century. Hart, Schaffner & Marx began operations as Harry Hart & Bro. in 1872, when brothers Harry and Max Hart opened a small men’s clothing outlet in Chicago. By 1887, the company had undergone two name changes and a series of new partnership agreements but settled on the name Hart, Schaffner & Marx. It was soon the largest manufacturer of men’s clothing in America, selling nearly $1 million worth of clothing annually.[1]

The company’s rival, The House of Kuppenheimer, was also based in Chicago. Established by Bernard Kuppenheimer in 1876, the company reached sales of $1 million per year by the 1880s. By the 1910s, it employed nearly 2000 workers.[2]

The companies specialized in tailored clothing for men, young men, and boys and distributed their catalogs through the retailers that sold their products. These catalogs capitalized on the allure of the wealthy American elite as the companies hired well-known illustrators[3] to create images that associated the brands with the fulfillment of the American dream. Taglines referring to “prep school boys” and “stylish business men” accompanied images of young men and women hunting, horseback riding, attending lavish banquets and performing other activities associated with America’s burgeoning leisure class.

Yet, much like F. Scott Fitzgerald’s iconic literary portrait of the era, the catalogs also reveal the tensions underlying the pursuit of this elusive lifestyle. Indeed, the catalogs’ subjects are, like Gatsby himself, often as remarkable for their gaiety as for their unshakeable ennui. Meanwhile, the catalogs’ recurring concern with ‘rightness’ and ‘correctness’ betrays the intense pressures of conformity that governed the American upper classes.

Despite the catalogs’ glamourous subject matter, their emphasis on value and economy additionally reveals a target consumer more likely to pinch pennies and aspire to upward social mobility than to enjoy the breeze from an already-purchased yacht. In their most disconcerting form, the images flatly expose the American dream as a reality accessible to only a precious few in terms of race and gender.

The catalogs thus stand as a rich resource not only for those interested in the history of fashion, graphic design, or advertising, but also for anyone exploring race, class, and gender politics in America in the 1910s and 20s. Stop by Ryerson Special Collections on the 4th floor of the library to see these small but powerful documents of American history (call numbers: TT620.K87 1916-1921 ; TT620.H36 1911-1925) and to peruse other resources related to the history of fashion in North America, Europe and elsewhere.

Bibliography

1. Hart, Schaffner & Marx. (2005). In J.L. Reiff, A. D. Keating, & J.R. Grossman (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Chicago. Chicago: The Chicago Historical Society.

2. Kuppenheimer (B.) & Co. (2005). In J.L. Reiff, A. D. Keating, & J.R. Grossman (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Chicago. Chicago: The Chicago Historical Society.

3. Price, C.M. (1922). Poster design: A critical study of the development of the poster in continental Europe, England and America. New York: George W. Bricka.

Leninism as Political Religion: Soviet Iconography and the Deification of Lenin

Posted on by

Commanding People

Lenin and Jesus speaking and gesturing to their crowds of followers from up above.

Left: V. I. Lenin Proclaims Soviet Power. 2008.005.07.006. Leniniana Collection, Toronto Metropolitan University Archives & Special Collections. Right: A 19th-century painting depicting the Sermon on the Mount by Carl Heinrich Bloch via Wikipedia. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ABloch-SermonOnTheMount.jpg

In many ways, living in the USSR was quite unlike what we experience in present day Canada.  Because of the stark contrast in the portrayal and treatment of political leaders between our cultures, researchers do not have to be familiar with Soviet history to identify unmistakable differences.

Banner Baby

An infant Lenin was the face of the Little Octobrists, the Soviet children’s league. Similarly, Baby Jesus is often depicted in Christian art. This Lenin banner resembles those common in Eastern Orthodox Christianity, the dominant religion of the areas encompassing the former Soviet Union. The Lenin image makes use of the familiar Eastern Christian halo design, as depicted in the Byzantine-style icons being carried in the procession.

Left: Little Octobrists small banner. 2008.005.01.013. Leniniana Collection, Toronto Metropolitan University Archives & Special Collections. Centre: Baby Jesus 04 by Waiting For The Word via Flickr. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC-By-SA). Right: A cross Procession in Novosibirsk, Russia. By Testus (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons.

In Canada, it is not commonplace to find flags, banners, note cards, statues or paintings created and showcased in devotion to our Prime Minister.  Conversely, Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin was featured on these sorts of materials and more, achieving a venerable status throughout the Soviet Union and beyond.  This is easily seen in Toronto Metropolitan University’s Leniniana Collection, which consists of more than 800 items featuring the image of Lenin. A messianic Lenin effectively filled the void brought about by the USSR’s violent suppression of organized religion:

Certain symbolic forms probably recalled religious icons. The extensive use of the colour red, the distorted perspective (Lenin is far larger than the sun, the globe, and the worker and peasant on either side), the composition (Lenin flanked by the worker and peasant, just as Christ was sometimes flanked by two apostles), and the circular frame that surrounds Lenin (Christ was often situated in an oval frame) must have been familiar to Russians accustomed to the conventions of religious icons. (Bonnell, 1999, p. 146)

Tower of BabelLenin

The towers of Lenin and Babel.

Left: Lenin: Posters, Portraits, Leaflets 1917-1924. 2008.005.07.049. Leniniana Collection, Toronto Metropolitan University Archives & Special Collections. Right: The Confusion of Tongues by Gustave Doré via Wikimedia Commons. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AConfusion_of_Tongues.png

By applying Lenin’s likeness, the colour red and Communist slogans and imagery such as stars, hammers and sickles onto a wide range of materials, Lenin and his party became omnipresent – like a god.  When they replaced the paranormal God with themselves, Soviets made their party into an alternative to Christian theocratic rule (Riegel, 2005).  The fact that Lenin was not supernatural was irrelevant: Leninism became the political religion of the state.

Confession

Lenin tells followers to let the party know everything, much like religious confession.

Left: More light, let the party know everything… 2008.005.07.004. Leniniana Collection, Toronto Metropolitan University Archives & Special Collections. Right: Traditional confessional by I, Dontworry [GFDL http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html ), CC-BY-SA-3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC BY-SA 2.5-2.0-1.0 via Wikimedia Commons. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ASt.leonhard-ffm-beichtstuhl001.jpg

Despite the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the propagated deification of Lenin continues to fascinate scholars and non-academics alike.  Much like saints of Christianity, Lenin’s corpse lies in a sacred mausoleum.  This site remains popular among tourists and researchers continue to seek to learn more about this infamous figure of revolution.

They Live

A lapel pin reads, “Lenin lives.” The banner next to it proclaims the same about Jesus.

Left: Mounted object with various lapel pins of Lenin. 2008.005.06.005. Leniniana Collection, Toronto Metropolitan University Archives & Special Collections. Right: Jesus Lives – Signage And Posters In Dublin by William Murphy via Flickr. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC-By-SA). https://www.flickr.com/photos/infomatique/4674198019/

To discover the Leniniana Collection at Toronto Metropolitan University’s Special Collections, please make an appointment between 9am-5pm, Monday-Friday.  Contact us at asc@ryerson.ca or at 416-979-5000 ext 4996.  We are located on the fourth floor in the library in room LIB 492.

Above Crowd

Lenin and Jesus: both in the clouds, above the people.

Left: V. I. Lenin on a Podium. 2008.005.07.011. Leniniana Collection, Toronto Metropolitan University Archives & Special Collections. Right: Jesus’ ascension to heaven, as depicted by John Singleton Copley via Wikimedia Commons. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AJesus_ascending_to_heaven.jpg

To read more about Leninism as a political religion, refer to the works cited.  Both sources are available through the Toronto Metropolitan University Library.

Lenin God is with us.ipg

The Lenin lapel pin reads, “Lenin is always with us. Kaliningrad.” The shirt reads, “We are Russian! God is with us!” Leninists appropriated this common religious saying.

Left: Mounted object with various lapel pins of Lenin. 2008.005.06.005. Leniniana Collection, Toronto Metropolitan University Archives & Special Collections. Right:Мы русские-с нами БОГ by ФестивальБратья via Wikipedia. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0, 2.5, 2.0 и 1.0.

Works Cited

Bonnell, V. E. (1999). Iconography of power: Soviet political posters under Lenin and Stalin. Retrieved from http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=acls;idno=heb05220

Riegel, K. (2005). Marxism‐Leninism as a political religion. Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions, 6(1). http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/14690760500099788