Intrigue and interest are heightened at the University of Toronto’s iSchool with the acceptance of a new archival donation to its library containing items owned by the first Director of the Faculty of Information—Winifred G. Barnstead.
Miss Barnstead’s grand nephew, David MacRae, donated the box containing numerous documents that belonged to his great aunt, including an original Life Magazine article, which itself is currently valued at $95 on eBay.
The donated items also include syllabi from Library Science classes from the 1960s, hand written notes from Barnstead for her talks to the Toronto Public Library (TPL), alumni dinner speeches, and rough notes with mathematical equations.
Thanks to the generous donation of MacRae, who preserved the records so well, the University now has enriched its information stores giving greater depth to those conducting research in this area.
Further credit also goes to iSchool student, Eden Rusnell (pictured above, right), who did the bulk of organization and archives creation/ management, under the supervision of Nalini Singh (pictured left), Inforum Academic Librarian.
“The documents provide you with a sense of time and history, as well as a connection, in this case, with the person, herself, who was key figure in terms of the history the faculty,” Singh says. She adds that the vast array of documents, which span decades, can be studied to observe any changes in values, philosophies and pedagogies in library science.
Ms Rusnell, Singh’s work-study student, agrees the documents “form an official record that helps to complete a broader picture” of the iSchool and its history.
To help, she conducted significant research to find out the source of the magazine article and all other relevant information not apparent. Drawing on her background of archival methodology, Eden created an inventory entry for each item, which included a description and contextual information.
Miss Barnstead was born in 1884 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where she attended public school, and later, Dalhousie University. She joined TPL, later becoming chief of the cataloguing department. It was during this time that she became involved in the education of librarians, as the first courses in library science training were developed by the Department of Education. This role quickly led Barnstead to a one-year diploma program at the University of Toronto, jointly administered by the Ontario College of Education and the Ontario Department of Education.
In his recommendation of Winifred Barnstead as the first Director of the Library School, Ontario College of Education, William Pakenham (first dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of Toronto) made Miss Barnstead’s merit clear: “In the opinion of the experts consulted, no other available person possesses the qualifications for this post superior to those of Miss Barnstead.”
If you would like to learn more about U of T archives or Winifred G. Barnstead, visit the UTARMS website at https://utarms.library.utoronto.ca.
