Lyn Cook (1918–2018) was a Canadian librarian, storyteller, poet and author of books for children and young adults. We preserve her archive as part of our Osborne Collection of Early Children’s Books. Her fonds (collection of records) holds material related to all aspects of Cook’s professional life, including early writings and two unpublished novels. Left: […]
During the First World War, several comedy-musical troupes entertained the Canadian Corps. The most famous was the Dumbells from the 3rd Canadian Division. Like similar variety-act groups, known at the time as “concert parties,” the Dumbells featured men in drag as part of their morale-boosting shows. The troupe became a hit back home in North […]
In 2022, Susan Anderson donated a set of postcards to TPL from her grandfather William Alfred Anderson, a photographer and postcard maker from Muskoka, Ontario. We've digitized many of these vintage views of cottage country, dating back to 1911. Read on to learn about Anderson and to see highlights of his bucolic postcards — and […]
This year, Toronto Public Library celebrates 140 years. However, lending libraries have been part of the city for more than two centuries. We preserve rare items on our Digital Archive that showcase the history of these 19th-century libraries in what is now downtown Toronto. A big piece of this history is the little-known forerunner to […]
Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) was an American novelist who won a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and Nobel Prize in Literature. He's known for titles such as The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms and The Old Man and the Sea. What you may not know is that Hemingway had a four-year association with Toronto and […]
Did you know that we once had a branch devoted just to music? The Music Library opened its doors in 1959 and operated for nearly two decades. It offered thousands of records, books and scores to borrow or use on the spot. Here's a look back at this largely-forgotten location in Deer Park, featuring images […]
In 1922, Canadian writer Lucy Maud Montgomery and her family vacationed two weeks in the small town of Bala in Muskoka, Ontario. She took the proof of her novel Emily of New Moon to edit. But this trip would inspire The Blue Castle, one of her only two books for adults and her only novel […]
The Young Men's Christian Association, now known simply as the YMCA, has a long history in Canada. Its first North American location opened in Montreal in 1851. Early services extended to Canada's military, including support for men recruited during the First World War. In Toronto in 1917, the Y.M.C.A. opened a recreational club specifically for […]
Lucy Maud Montgomery OBE is one of Canada’s most cherished authors known particularly for creating the beloved heroine Anne of Green Gables in 1908. She published 21 novels, as well as 530 short stories and 500 poems. In 1921, Montgomery participated in a week-long event to promote Canadian literature — the first "Canadian Book Week." […]
We preserve some of TPL's own history in the Toronto Public Library Archives, part of our Special Collections. In addition to vintage photos of branches and annual reports, available on our Digital Archive, this collection has mysterious objects like a flat wooden shovel. Believe it or not, this shovel was used to retrieve hot fruit […]