The SFU Special Collections and Rare Books (SCRB) department within the SFU Library is home to thousands of manuscripts, books, papers, and photographs from throughout history. The newest exhibit in the department, Archival Oddities, features an array of items from the archives that are out of the ordinary. The Peak spoke with David Kloepfer from the Special Collections department on the exhibit and its significance. Since the SCRB’s founding in 1965, Kloepfer said efforts have been made in gaining “material to support research, teaching, and learning at SFU and beyond.”
In 1965, the SCRB was an off-branch of SFU’s English Department to house their collection of experimentalist publications. The SCRB now works within the library to support research and learning. Kloepfer’s intent with the newest exhibit was to “give a peek inside our collections and show off a variety of interesting objects.”
The objects in the exhibit transcend mediums, which reflects “the university’s wide-range of academic interests,” said Kloepfer. Special areas of interest include Canadian politics, environmental and 2SLGBTQIA+ activism, Indigenous authors and artists, book publishing, arts, and immigration.
An example of the archive’s focus on immigration is the Doukhobor Collection. The Doukhobors are a community of Russian-speaking Ukranians who fled their homelands due to persecution, settling in Canada in the 20th century. The items from this community in SFU’s possession include iron nails, hand-woven textiles, and carved wooden spoons.
Kloepfer noted, “We thought most people are probably unfamiliar with our archive and would assume we hold almost exclusively books and paper archival records.” For Kloepfer, “The exhibit was an opportunity to give a peek inside our collections and show off a variety of interesting objects. All the staff in the department contributed by selecting items they had come across in their work.”
Some of the other peculiar items in the exhibit include avante-garde and beatnik poetry, such as Rob McLennan’s poem Death and Trauma, which includes a plastic bag of soil. They also have Richard Brautigan’s poem Please Plant this Book, which includes seeds and instructions on garden cultivation. Mark Laba’s untitled poem includes a dried worm.
Items in the archives were acquired from specialists like Kloepfer through donations. “Many kind people are interested in donating their beloved archival material or books to us, and we appreciate it,” he said. The archives also “purchase books and archival material that support our collections policy. We buy material from institutions, businesses, individuals, book sellers, and others,” Kloepfer explained.
“These items illustrate that archives are not just about preserving the past, but also about exploring the unexpected and the unconventional.”
The exhibit Archival Oddities can be visited on the third floor of SFU’s WAC Bennett Library on Burnaby campus.
