Over the past 12 months the number of onsite researchers
at the Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives has returned to
pre-pandemic levels or higher, with a total of 240
scholars, students and private researchers consulting materials in
person between July 2021 and June 2022. Remote requests continue at
high levels as well, drawing on the high visibility of our
web-based catalogue The Canadian Jewish Heritage Network at
http://cjhn.ca as well as referrals from
other Archives and previous clients. With the increased
workflow brought on by this remote and onsite traffic, for the
first six months of 2022 the Archives added a part time third
person to the staff in order to assist with reference and enhance
the content of the web-based catalogue.
As in pre-pandemic times, the CJArchives has maintained its
commitment to mentoring interns in Canadian Jewish Studies
and Information Sciences. From Fall 2021 through to Summer
2022 we accepted practicum students from Concordia University's
Department of Religion, the EXCELR program of the Department of
History at McGill University, and the Archives program of John
Abbott College. With their help important progress was made in
cataloguing large recently-received collections such as that of Dr.
Jim Torczyner, the sisterhood of the Beth El synagogue, and Rabbi
Wilfred Shuchat of Congregation Shaar Hashomayim, as well as
numerous smaller acquisitions.
A major portion of our audiovisual archives in
Betamax and 16 mm format was digitized this spring under
the auspices of a Quebec project aimed at increasing the
online presence of Quebec audiovisual materials, funded by
the Digital Ambition ("Ambition numérique") initiative of the
Quebec Ministry of Culture and Communications. Meanwhile, Archives
assistant Hélène Vallée has now completed the in-house
digitization from microfilm of Canadian Jewish Congress'
immensely useful weekly newsletter "Inter Office
Information", thus allowing a detailed indexation of the
entire run of the publication.
Over the course of the past year we participated in significant
joint projects with several Canadian Jewish archives and other
organizations; notably, in cooperation with the Ontario
Jewish Archives we submitted a proposal through CCUNESCO asking
that the Canadian Jewish Congress fonds, housed at both our
institutions, be included in the UNESCO World Memory
Register. This would be the first Canadian Jewish
contribution to the Register.
The CJArchives staff have met several times with the
Azrieli-grant-funded contract personnel at the Jewish Public
Library Archives with the objective of helping orient these new
additions to the staff and to participate in cooperative projects
such as an upcoming "Archives Roadshow." Janice
Rosen continues to serve as editor for the "Archives
Matter" section of the Canadian Jewish Studies Journal,
overseeing contributions from archivists in Jewish repositories
across Canada. We have also been assisting with commemorative
projects of national and local organizations; one example being the
JIAS 100 year anniversary celebrations.
Outreach to university classes and other groups has
continued virtually and has resumed onsite. In June
Archives Director Janice Rosen spoke about recent research trends
and changes brought about by the pandemic at a round table on
Canadian Jewish Studies organized by the Association for Canadian
Jewish Studies, and on March 1 she presented a general talk about
the Canadian Jewish Archives to the Quebec Anglophone Heritage
Network (QAHN). The latter presentation was one of the most
highly-attended of their Heritage Talks series and continues to be
viewed on Youtube at https://youtu.be/u9LdWR4_EPs. Other virtual
presentations of the 2021-2022 period included an orientation
session for a Public History class at Concordia University in
October 2021 and one for a Quebec history class at McGill in
January 2022. In May 2022, for the first time since the start of
the pandemic, a group of research fellows from the Jewish Museum of
Montreal was welcomed onsite for an introduction to archival
materials.
Shelley Mellor & David Maerzohn, circa 1900
from the Maerzohn-Marks collection
Newly acquired collections of
note in 2021-2022 include: a fascinating group of family
immigration and Montreal-related documents from Karin Marks, the
former mayor of Westmount Quebec; notable original materials about
the YMHA Minstrels and other Montreal Jewish leisure
activities of the 1930s through 1970s, from Gloria and Joseph
Gilbert of London Ontario; human-rights activity and biographical
materials from Professor Jean-Claude Bernheim, and rare family
history documents about early 20th century Minister of
Parliament / lawyer Samuel W. Jacobs, donated by a grandson. We are
currently in the process of acquiring a major collection of
documents from the Samuel and Saidye Bronfman Family
Foundation.
In order to better process and
disseminate collection information, in December 2021 the Archives
implemented significant improvements to its core database
structure. Upgrading to Claris Filemaker Pro 19
entailed the installation of a dedicated Mac server, an enhancement
that has allowed for more effective and secure access for staff
working both on and offsite.
The period from summer 2021 to summer 2022 was also
characterized by an administrative transition
which in September 2021 saw the financial and human resources
management of the Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives move from
the responsibility of United Israel Appeal Canada to that of
Federation CJA in Montreal. However, ownership of the Canadian
Jewish Archives' assets and collections remains with
UIA-Canada.