Michael Primiani is a fourth-year History major and a student in Prof. Jennifer Bonnell’s History 4840: Public History course. This past semester, he worked with Stacy-Allison Cassin, the W.P. Scott Chair in E-Librarianship at Scott Library, to research, curate and develop a digital exhibit focusing on three coffeehouses and the role they played in the folk music scene in 1960s Toronto. During the 12-week placement at Scott Library, Primiani used the physical and digital archival holdings of the Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections, the City of Toronto Archives, as well as photographing the neighbourhood in the current day. Primiani states: “I got to learn so much about a period of Toronto’s music history that I was not aware of prior. In an era where we continuously are witnessing the closing of historic music venues to make way for more and more condos and real estate developments, I believe this work is crucial now more than ever. Although the physical space is no longer available, the memories of the moments in which that live music magic poured out from the instruments and singers on stage have a chance of being kept alive.” The exhibit is entitled Yorkville and the Folk Revival in Toronto and can be viewed at http://scalar.usc.edu/works/musictoronto/index
For more information about Public History placements and History 4840, contact Prof. Bonnell at bonnellj@yorku.ca.