Fall Hours (Sept. 2 - Dec. 19): We are open Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm. To schedule an appointment, please fill out our appointment form or email us at asc@torontomu.ca
Designed by architect William Thomas to hitch horses in front of his residence, which he named Oakham House, these two handsome canines guarded the home until Thomas’ death in 1860. In 1899, the house, along with the dogs, was sold to the Society for Working Boys; a home for disadvantaged youth in Toronto. When Toronto Metropolitan University purchased the building in 1958, the dogs, originally located at the building’s Church Street entrance, were no longer there. They had been removed to the new location of the Boys Home. When Ryerson retrieved the dogs in 1982, the Toronto Historical Board wanted the pair to be mounted in their historical place in the front of the house. In the interest of protecting them from vandalism, however, they were placed inside the house. Since 2010, the Ryerson Library Archives has had the pleasure of their company. Drop by and pay them a visit if you’re on the third floor of the library!
Welcome to the first in a series of blogs highlighting interesting and unique objects we come across in the Toronto Metropolitan University Archives & Special Collections. There’s a lot of amazing objects in our stacks, and here are just a few….
AMERICAN BURLESQUE PHOTOGRAPHS IN SPECIAL COLLECTIONS.
Special Collections number : 2008.001.1637
The Lorne Shields Historical Photograph Collection was donated to Special Collections in 2007 and includes many albums, professional portraits and amateur snaps as well as an interesting series of Cigarette Cards and Cabinet Cards featuring popular American Burlesque performers from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Not the famous Gypsy Rose Lee, but just as sassy! Special Collections number : 2008.001.1650
In America, Burlesque began as a bawdy form of theatrical entertainment, popular from the 1870s to the 1920s, that borrowed from the British Music Hall format of combining comic skits and musical performances, but evolved into a risqué variety show focusing on dirty jokes and (most familiar) sexy women. As it was considered unseemly at the time for “decent” women to perform in the theatre, even the most serious of female thespians could find a home performing in the suggestive, and often ill-reputed Burlesque shows where the performers were mainly female and the audience was mainly working class.
These actresses could gain quite a following from the general public however, and their comings and goings (and divorces and affairs) were often reported in the daily papers. Seeing the potential gain, Cigarette cards and collectible photographs featuring the women in seductive poses (is that an exposed ankle? Gasp!) were produced by enterprising photographers.
Special Collections number: 2008.001.1634
Following are some of the stars of the bygone days of Burlesque found in the Lorne Shields Historical Photograph Collection. To see more, check out the Special Collections Flickr account (see right) or visit us on the Library’s 4th floor.
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For more information on Burlesque and the American theatre, check out these book resources in the Library:
You are looking at the new blog space for the Toronto Metropolitan University Archives, located on the 3rd floor of the Ryerson Library building, and the Library’s Special Collections, located one floor up on the 4th – now happily combined online as Archives & Special Collections. This is your one-stop shop for browsing the history of the university and campus, including past student newspapers, speeches, manuscripts, correspondence and many, many photographs, as well as the cultural artifacts collected to support courses at Ryerson, including the Kodak Canada Archives, Canadian Architect Image Collection, Leniniana and Historical Photography Collections. Each month, we’ll feature an item or two from one of these collections, post information about displays and contests, and keep you updated on our progress launching a new database on this website. (We’ll work on that whole on-different-floors-thing next.)
Check back here regularly for updates on exhibits on the Library’s 4th floor, movie night and special lecture announcements, contests and more! Welcome again to your Archives & Special Collections.
