Unique Collections
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Introduction
Items included in Unique Collections may be about a common subject, or may have been donated by a particular person.
Some collections are located in the Special Collections Room at the Vanier Library, some are distributed throughout the Libraries and can be accessed through CLUES as Unique Collections. From CLUES main menu, select "More Options" to browse a Unique Collection.
Antique Maps
Approximately 80 ancient maps, mostly early cartographers' depictions of Upper and Lower Canada, the Saint Lawrence River, and the East Coast of North America, make up this collection.
Azrieli Holocaust Collection
A major specialized collection for scholarly research and teaching focused primarily on the history of antisemitism and Jewish-Christian relations and their contexts in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; the history of Nazi Germany and of the specific events that together comprise the Holocaust; the impact of the Holocaust on post-Holocaust life and thought with special emphasis on Canada and the United States. The collection presently contains over 7,000 titles from virtually every discipline and includes major microfilm collections of government records and trial transcripts, doctoral dissertations, and extensive holdings of survivor memoirs and diaries. Materials in the collection are primarily in English and French.
Christopher Fry's Works
The first editions of most of the British playwright's works can be found. Also included is original correspondence between Fry and his biographer, Derek Stanford, and some of Stanford's notebooks and photographs.
Collection Adrien Arcand
Clippings of newspaper articles about Arcand, copies of his periodical Serviam, photocopies of letters, in English and French, regarding the activities of Arcand's political party, the National Unity Party of Canada, are included in this collection.
Collins Political Cartoon Collection
The collection includes more than 200 books, pamphlets and periodicals reflecting one hundred years of cartooning (1880's to 1980's) in Canada and the United States. Histories of cartooning and cartoons by individuals and groups are included in this collection donated by John Collins, former editorial cartoonist at the Montreal Gazette.
Concordia University Performance Recordings Collection
The collection consists of over 1,200 recordings of musical performances by Concordia students, faculty and guests. They were recorded at the Loyola Chapel and at the Oscar Peterson Concert Hall between 1986 and 2005. Most are in audio cassette format with the latest ones on compact disc. There is a finding aid with a chronological list of performances in the Vanier Library Reference and Special Collections office.
D'Arcy McGee Collection
This collection includes some letters and books by, as well as biographies of D'Arcy McGee, journalist, poet, politician, and one of Canada's Fathers of Confederation. The collection also features a large number of books dating from the mid-19th and early 20th centuries about the Irish in Europe and in North America. The majority of these books are part of the circulating collection.
Gay and Lesbian Literature Collection
This collection consists of 19th and 20th century American, British, Canadian, French-Canadian and some European materials. Most of the collection is 20th century fiction and poetry, with some books about film and fine arts. Many of the books are first editions and some include original dust jackets. There are selected issues of gay and lesbian periodicals as well as general periodicals with gay and lesbian content.
Hilaire Belloc
This collection consists of some 255 monographs by and about the noted British writer and poet. It includes first editions and limited editions of his poems, essays, biographies, histories, novels, satires and light verse.
James Card Cinema Collection
International in scope, this collection includes approximately 120 general, technical and biographical works dealing with the history of film from the silent era to the 1960's. Most works are in English with some German, French, Spanish and Swedish titles.
Jonassohn Genocide Collection
The Jonassohn Genocide Collection is intended to support the comparative study of genocides, both historical and contemporary. To this end, it will support the acquisition of materials on all relevant cases other than the Holocaust, which is already covered by the Azrieli Holocaust Collection.
Layton Collection
The collection comprises published works, many original manuscripts, and the lifetime correspondence of the poet Irving Layton. In addition, there are notebooks, audio and videotapes of public appearances, photograph albums, newspaper clippings, and various personal memorabilia. Digitized audio recordings may be consulted in the Special Collections room. Additional information on the collection is available.
Some of the published works in the Layton Collection are represented in CLUES, the library catalogue. For a description of unpublished archival works such as manuscripts, personal and professional correspondence, photographs, or memorabilia researchers can consult the following reference tools:
- A catalogue of the letters, tapes and photographs in the Irving Layton Collection
- A catalogue of the manuscripts in the Irving Layton Collection
- Irving Layton, a bibliography, 1935-1977
The Layton Collection is available for consultation in the Vanier Library Special Collections, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.
For further information contact Vanier Library Special Collections by e-mail.
Lillian Davies Memorial Collection
An eclectic collection of books written primarily in Russian. This collection comprises books published between 1739 and 1969, the great majority being within the 1950-1969 range.
Max Stern Bequest to Concordia University Libraries, McGill University, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
This collection includes over 2500 publications from the personal and working library of Dr. Max Stern (1904-1987), art collector and owner of the Dominion Gallery in Montreal. The books and journals covering art history, connoisseurship, individual artists and the business of art are housed in the McGill Libraries Rare Book and Special Collection Division.
The Marjorie & Gerald Bronfman Sociology Library Collection
A major gift from the Marjorie & Gerald Bronfman Foundation, which created the Marjorie & Gerald Bronfman Sociology Library Collection, is enriching Concordia Libraries’ collections in Sociology and related disciplines.
Beginning in 2006, this gift of $100,000 over four years supports the acquisition of books, films, media, and electronic resources in Sociology, a discipline which focuses on human action and behaviour in all its social, political, and religious contexts. Since Sociology is one of the most interdisciplinary of the social sciences, this gift strengthens research and teaching in Sociology and Anthropology and other departments engaged in the study of society and human social action.
Items added recently to the Marjorie & Gerald Bronfman Sociology Library Collection include:
Participation Quebec
Participation Québec, a public interest group formed in 1976 and active until 1981, dedicated itself to increasing non-francophone involvement in Quebec society. This collection consists of letters, reports, briefs submitted to various groups, newspaper clippings and other documents recounting the work of this organization.
Peter Desbarats Collection
Collection of manuscripts and material related to the preparation of the book entitled: René: a Canadian in search of a country by Peter Desbarats. The collection includes mainly manuscript documents, some of these handwritten by René Lévesque, biographical material, audio tapes and transcripts of interviews with Lévesque and other Quebec political figures.
Quinn Collection
Canadian political pamphlets covering the period from the 1930's to the mid-1970's are contained in this collection. The pamphlets present the platforms and agendas of a dozen Canadian political parties as well as several foreign parties.
Rudnyckyj Archives
This collection of books, pamphlets, and unpublished papers relating to the 1963-71 Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism has been donated by Professor J. Rudnyckyj. Also included are items dealing with bilingualism and multiculturalism with an emphasis on Ukrainian Quebec groups.
S. A. Rochlin Collection of South African Political and Trade Union Organizations
This is a collection of pamphlets, newspapers, periodicals and ephemeral documents such as flyers, letters, minutes, etc., of left-wing political and labour organizations in South Africa, including the Communist Party of South Africa, the International Socialist League, the South African Trades Union Congress and the South African Association of Employees’ Organizations. The dates of the documents range from 1912 to 1960, but most are from the 1920’s and 1930’s.
The documents are extremely fragile. Digitization of the documents is underway and approximately 89 items are currently available in pdf in CLUES. Records for all items in the Collection are listed in CLUES.
Walton Hannah Masonic Collection
Donated by Reverend W. Hannah, this collection includes over 500 books and periodicals on the history and rituals of Freemasonry. Official or authentic versions of Masonic degrees and orders, books on occultism, and materials on the history of Freemasonry and other secret societies can be found. Coverage includes Great Britain, North America and Europe.
