Did you Know? Q&A – meet a different faculty/staff member each month (to familiarize internal audiences with our various programs). This month: interview with Jessica Zimmerman, Archivist, Visual Resources & Special Collections.
Jessica Zimmerman
1. What sets the OCAD U Archives apart from other library collections and services?
The OCAD University Archives responds to a unique mandate. We acquire, preserve and make available records that document OCAD’s history, legacy, and contribution to art education and student life in Ontario since 1876; as well as selected private records associated with Canadian art and design. We are part of the ‘special collections’ within the Library’s Visual Resources & Special Collections unit.
We provide research assistance and support to all OCAD U community members, as well as the general public. We are here to help connect you to resources such as course calendars, prospectuses, meeting minutes, yearbooks, photographs, student and departmental publications, and much more.
2. Why are the Archives important to the OCAD U community?
The types of materials we preserve supply context for the official records of the University, facilitate curriculum and policy development, support marketing and publicity activities, as well as alumni relations. The archive can provide a sense of individual and collective memory. This historical resource is a unique collection of materials covering many aspects of student life and university experiences at Canada’s largest art and design university.
Our researchers use the collection as a means to understand and interpret the past, conduct scholarly and genealogical research, and collect documentary evidence. Records are often creatively repurposed in ways unimaginable to their original creators. For example, archival materials are utilized in art installations, as course materials, and in international publications.
3. What is one thing you want the OCAD U community to know about the Archives?
That we exist! We’re here and ready to provide access to archives materials and we can also lend support for other kinds of research using original documents and materials that are otherwise unpublished. You can find us on the 8th floor of 230 Richmond St., W., and once we’re on campus again, you’ll be able to see materials firsthand. Contact us to make an appointment (jzimmerman@ocadu.ca).
4. What are some initiatives you’re working on?
We are constantly working to increase access to the archives collection through cataloguing, digitization, and research services. In response to COVID-19 we are working towards greater online availability of our research materials. As a means of increasing visibility and celebrating the contributions of Indigenous members of the OCAD U community throughout its history, we are compiling an index to facilitate discovery and consultation of relevant materials in the collection. Overall, we engage with essential questions related to social, economic, environmental, and cultural change.
5. What are you reading these days?
Afterlives of Indigenous Archives, Edited by Ivy Schweitzer and Gordon Henry
Did you Know? Q&A – meet a different faculty/staff member each month (to familiarize internal audiences with our various programs). This month: interview with Jessica Zimmerman, Archivist, Visual Resources & Special Collections.
Jessica Zimmerman
1. What sets the OCAD U Archives apart from other library collections and services?
The OCAD University Archives responds to a unique mandate. We acquire, preserve and make available records that document OCAD’s history, legacy, and contribution to art education and student life in Ontario since 1876; as well as selected private records associated with Canadian art and design. We are part of the ‘special collections’ within the Library’s Visual Resources & Special Collections unit.
We provide research assistance and support to all OCAD U community members, as well as the general public. We are here to help connect you to resources such as course calendars, prospectuses, meeting minutes, yearbooks, photographs, student and departmental publications, and much more.
2. Why are the Archives important to the OCAD U community?
The types of materials we preserve supply context for the official records of the University, facilitate curriculum and policy development, support marketing and publicity activities, as well as alumni relations. The archive can provide a sense of individual and collective memory. This historical resource is a unique collection of materials covering many aspects of student life and university experiences at Canada’s largest art and design university.
Our researchers use the collection as a means to understand and interpret the past, conduct scholarly and genealogical research, and collect documentary evidence. Records are often creatively repurposed in ways unimaginable to their original creators. For example, archival materials are utilized in art installations, as course materials, and in international publications.
3. What is one thing you want the OCAD U community to know about the Archives?
That we exist! We’re here and ready to provide access to archives materials and we can also lend support for other kinds of research using original documents and materials that are otherwise unpublished. You can find us on the 8th floor of 230 Richmond St., W., and once we’re on campus again, you’ll be able to see materials firsthand. Contact us to make an appointment (jzimmerman@ocadu.ca).
4. What are some initiatives you’re working on?
We are constantly working to increase access to the archives collection through cataloguing, digitization, and research services. In response to COVID-19 we are working towards greater online availability of our research materials. As a means of increasing visibility and celebrating the contributions of Indigenous members of the OCAD U community throughout its history, we are compiling an index to facilitate discovery and consultation of relevant materials in the collection. Overall, we engage with essential questions related to social, economic, environmental, and cultural change.
5. What are you reading these days?
Afterlives of Indigenous Archives, Edited by Ivy Schweitzer and Gordon Henry