In its 214 years, the University of Toronto has played a central, and sometimes starring role, in the city's history. It's hosted royals, prime ministers, writers and politicians. It was the site of the discovery of insulin. The first-ever Grey Cup was held on its field.
Last Monday, in an attempt to help disseminate that history, U of T announced the formal launch of a new heritage website. The site (
www.heritage.utoronto.ca) gives visitors instant access to videos, photographs and artworks that document the school's history.
"It's basically a one-stop site where individuals can get more information about the university's history," says University of Toronto archivist Loryl MacDonald.
Rare video of the 1939 royal visit, photos of historic sports events and celebrations, and a history of the construction of the iconic Robarts Library, are among the thousands of archives made available on the website.
Different units within the library dug into their own archives to find the best material.
"The different units, including the university archives, U of T Scarborough library, U of T Mississauga library and the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, started working together to build up content for the site in April and March of this year," says MacDonald. "Different libraries contributed different databases, it was a lot of intensive work."
This is just phase one of the project.
"[The site] is really ongoing and growing. What's available on the website is really the tip of the iceberg in terms of content we have in our archives, and we'll be continuing to add photographs, videos and more."
"We're also going to be looking at other departments on campus, other associations, other groups to see what they can add. We really encouraging everybody and anybody that has content to contribute."
Most of the content on the website has been long been available the public through U of T's libraries, but this is the first time it's all been organized on one online site.
Writer: Katia Snukal
Source: Loryl MacDonald, Archivist, University of Toronto