Archives event offers guests a blast with the past

Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane once said, “If you remember the '60s, you weren’t there.”

Memories of that pivotal decade were restored for a number of guests at the Clara Thomas Archives & Special Collections Night to Remember the '60s event on Oct. 27.

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From left, Aubrey (LLB '59, LLM ’90) and Judith Golden. Case files from the Aubrey Golden fonds were among the items released from the archives for evening.

For one night only, the archives opened its vault of rare pieces of Canadian cultural history – from photographs capturing the mood, hairstyles and fashions of Yorkville’s hippie community to political cartoons by famed Canadian cartoonist Ben Wicks to records and memorabilia from the long-running Mariposa Folk Festival.

University archivists were joined by a small group of library patrons and friends of the University, in perusing old photographs, newspaper clippings, letters and other documents that captured the spirit of the '60s. A short discussion period followed.

Among the items showcased were a significant number of gifts to the archives:

• Recordings, primary documents and other memorabilia from the earliest years of the Mariposa Folk Festival.
• Case files from Toronto lawyer Aubrey Golden, documenting the now infamous Yorkville rebellion and the arrest of David Depoe.
• Photographs and materials from the Toronto Telegram documenting Toronto’s Yorkville district.
• A collection of political cartoons by late Canadian cartoonist Ben Wicks.
• Personal papers from acclaimed television producer and director Norman Campbell and the late James Mavor Moore, professor emeritus in the Faculty of Fine Arts.

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The wide range of materials from the Mariposa collection, including sound recordings, publicity materials and other memorabilia, offers astounding research potential for the study of folk music in North America during the second half of the 20th century

Library Advisory Council chair Isabel Bassett (MA ’73, Hon. LLD '01) said she was surprised to learn how many of today’s issues were discussed in the papers back then. “A lot of the things depicted in those political cartoons – garbage strikes, health care – are here in the present,” she said. “The more things change the more they stay the same.”

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From left, Library Advisory Council members Tom Hockin and Karen Lee

Reading an issue of York’s student newspaper Excalibur from 1966 released a flood of memories for former York political science Professor Tom Hockin. “I taught here in 1967 and everything came back to me,” he said. Original documents from the Mariposa Folk Festival were “eye-opening”, he said, noting that “to see that Joni Mitchell showed up for $100, plus transportation, really puts things into perspective.”

Despite the passage of time, the fascination with the '60s shows no signs of slowing down, said Michael Moir, University archivist & head of Archives & Special Collections.

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Former York professor and current Library Advisory Council member John Warkentin

“The '60s will always be a fascinating time because we experienced such an abrupt and severe generational conflict between the generation that came back from World War II and their children,” he said. “Such a clash of generations can produce new and interesting music like what we saw at the Mariposa Folk Festival or the kind of conflict that was seen during the arrest of David Depoe and other young people for staging sit-ins in Yorkville.”

Gifts-in-kind donated to the Clara Thomas Archives help fulfill the Innovate50 priority to advance pioneering programs and research, one of four University priorities supported by York to the Power of 50, York's 50th-anniversary fundraising campaign. The campaign is now past the $190-million mark and closing in on its $200-million goal.

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