By the early 1950s Toronto had outgrown the formidable Romanesque-style city hall building at the corner of Queen and Bay streets, its home since 1899. The city’s projected space needs could not be accommodated within existing buildings, and so… Read the full post.
Through the Revolving Door: Fisher Blog
On 15 December 1853, William Henry Pearson took up a new and oddly macabre hobby. In a hardcover notebook he would write out his first entry under the auspicious title: "Dates of the decease of those who are my friends, or with whom I was… Read the full post.
Each week, the Fisher Library highlights an item from one of its many digitized collections available to anyone for free on the Internet Archive. This week, Rachael takes a look at a popular… Read the full post.
Whether familiar and long-established or decorative and experimental, typographical treasures are bound to be discovered across a wide range of rare book materials. A great place to start exploring and identifying printed typefaces as well as… Read the full post.
A night out on the town in Toronto is ephemeral by its very nature. After the lights at a dance club come on, a restaurant closes its doors, or a dinner party breaks up, the event inevitably fades from memory and from the historical record. There… Read the full post.
March 6 marks the 187th birthday of the City of Toronto. To celebrate, the Fisher staff have gone through our collections and picked some items to highlight some of the richness of the material related to this great city. We will post these… Read the full post.
Pulp fiction books hold an important place in special collections libraries. As a genre, pulps were initially marketed in the United States to adult audiences with a combination of eye-catching covers, low prices, and racy story lines. The genre… Read the full post.
Yellowback books, named for their yellow covers, originated in England during the latter half of the 19th century. These books were often referred to as “railway novels” because they were frequently sold at train stations when early publishers… Read the full post.
Starting next Friday, we will be featuring a series of posts on the subject of categories of rare books commonly found in special collections libraries. The posts will showcase the work of graduate students in the fall session of the… Read the full post.
Each week, the Fisher Library highlights an item from one of its many digitized collections available on the Internet Archive. To kick off the new year, Rachael takes a look at an interesting… Read the full post.
Every week, the Fisher Library highlights an item from its vast holdings on the Internet Archive. For the final IA Book of the Week post of 2020, Rachael takes a look at an almanac from our… Read the full post.
Every week, the Fisher Library highlights an item from one of its many digitized collections held on the Internet Archive. This week, Rachael takes a look into an Eaton’s Christmas catalogue… Read the full post.
Back in 1992, when I was a student in Belgium, I spent Christmas in Salzburg, Austria. It was one of the most perfectly disorienting holidays I had ever experienced. I distinctly remember going to a concert on the afternoon of Christmas Eve in… Read the full post.
Every Monday, the Fisher Library highlights an item from one of its many digitized collections on the Internet Archive. This week, Rachael takes a look at a short children's book from our… Read the full post.
Every week, the Fisher library highlights an item from one of its many collections available on the Internet Archive. This week, Rachael takes a look at an interesting book from our Canadiana… Read the full post.
There is a sad feeling when exhibitions at Fisher are taken down after their usual three-month run to make room for the next one. That said, the current year notwithstanding, our cases are never empty for long. The exhibitions themselves… Read the full post.
Each Monday, The Fisher Library highlights an item from one of its many collections available for all to explore on the Internet Archive. This week, Rachael explores an intriguing item from… Read the full post.
Every November 11th, we pause and remember the sacrifice of those who fought and died in defence of this country. This year we acknowledge the 106th anniversary of the onset of the First World War (1914-1918). Due… Read the full post.
Each week, the Fisher Library presents an item from one of its many collections housed on the Internet Archive, which is open to anyone to explore. In honour of Remembrance Day, this week… Read the full post.
Every week the Fisher Library highlights a book from its digitized collections on the Internet Archive, which is open to anyone and great to explore. This week, Rachael takes a look at an item from our Canadiana Collection.
“History of… Read the full post.
Each week the Fisher Library highlights a book from its many collections available to anyone on the Internet Archive. This week, Rachael takes a look at an item from our chapbook collection… Read the full post.
Every Monday, the Fisher Library highlights a book from one of its many collections on the Internet Archive. This week, Rachael takes a look at a beautiful item from the Biodiversity… Read the full post.
Each week, the Fisher Library highlights an item from its collections on the Internet Archive, which are open to anyone to explore. This week Rachael takes a look at a medical encyclopedia… Read the full post.
Each week, the Fisher Library highlights a piece from its digitized collection on the Internet Archive. This week, Rachael kicks off spooky season by taking a look at an item from our… Read the full post.
Each Monday, the Fisher Library presents a piece from its collection on the Internet Archive, which is open to anyone to explore. This week, Rachael takes a look at a book from the Canadiana… Read the full post.