A Guide to the Fonds d'Archives and Collections in the Holdings of the York University Archives

Johanne M. Pelletier is a Toronto-based archivist advisor.

Several Canadian archives have recently published guides to their
holdings. These guides, which offer researchers descriptions of fonds
(the French term for the whole of the documentation created or
accumulated by an individual or an organization, as donated or
transferred to an archives), represent the first standardized form of
description endorsed by the Canadian archival community. In this guide
to the York University archival holdings, the entries are written
according to the Rules for Archival Description.

The York University Archives is the repository for all of its official
records (the records of Atkinson and Calumet Colleges, administrative
records, class lists, graduation photographs, student organization
records, alumni records, and so forth), as well as for such
nonuniversity materials or private fonds d’archives as those of the
CBC, the Canadian Film Development Corporation, Allan Grossman, Jack
Granatstein, Margaret Laurence, and the Toronto Telegram. In addition to
the entries describing these holdings, the guide includes an
introduction, appendixes, some photographs, and an index.

Unfortunately, the guide’s format is bulky, its text is dense, and
the few photographs included are poorly reproduced. However, the
information it provides is extremely useful, and the guide will likely
best serve archives, libraries, and other information resource centres
that cater to researchers.