Archives and Special Collections

Images from the Archives

Imprimé / Manuscrit

Recueil de Poèmes, Raymond Radiguet.

Illustrations de Jean Hugo. Annotations de Jean Cocteau.

[avant 1974]

25 pages

Collection de Manuscrits français 30-008. Série Cocteau, Jean. 

© Archives et Collections Spéciales, Bibliothèque Morisset, Université d'Ottawa.

Suggestion référence: Les Joues en feu, Recueil de poèmes de Raymond Radiguet, illustrations de Jean Hugo, annotations de Jean Cocteau. Archives et Collections Spéciales, Bibliothèque Morisset, Université d'Ottawa. Collection des Manuscrits Français 30-008, Série Cocteau, Jean. 

Lettre Raymond Queneau à Jacques Baron [1931-1941] (30-001-S1)

Manuscrit Mademoiselle Merquem, George Sand [1868] Manuscrit, 1ère partie, Collection des manuscrits français 30-008. Série Sand, George © Archives et Collections Spéciales, Bibliothèque Morisset, Université d'Ottawa. Référence sugérée: Sand, Georg

Literary Archives and Other Fonds

The Archives and Special Collections is also home to several literary archival fonds and collections as well as other fonds related to a variety of subjects. The fonds and collections are listed under identification numbers ranging from 30-001 to 30-026. 

The literary archives include archival fonds and collections which document the work of various writers in French and Canadian literature from the second half of the 19th century and the 20th century. The largest collection is the Manuscrits français collection (30-005). Acquired by the Département de français of the University of Ottawa a few years after its foundation in 1968,  the purchase of the collection of original documents was intended to encourage students to research French literature. It was subsequently transferred to the Archives and Special Collections in the 1970s in order to ensure its preservation and accessibility.

This collection includes handwritten works, many of which are unpublished, such as correspondence and drawings, which reflect various currents of French literature from the second half of the 19th century and early 20th century. This collection is divided into 75 series which correspond to individual writers and artists including Louis-Ferdinand Céline, Jean Cocteau, Robert Desnos, Gustave Flaubert, Jean Giono, Jeanne Mühlfeld, George Sand, and Emile Zola. While some series contain less than a dozen documents, others are much larger and provide a greater insight into the world of the author or the artist. For example, this is the case for the Jacques Baron series, the Francis Picabia series, and the Georges-Ribemont Dessaignes series.
 

Among the other archival fonds related to the field of literature, the Paul Bernard Robert fonds (30-022) offers extensive material on the work of the French woman of letters and journalist, Henriette Charasson (1884-1972). The Catherine Ahearn fonds (30-001), the first poet Laureate of the City of Ottawa in 1982, donated an important collection of documents related to the surrealist poet Jacques Baron to the Archives and Special Collections (Jacques Baron Séries); the Kathleen Moore-Pageot fonds (30-007), a Montreal poet and editor of the Athanor magazine from 1979 to 1982; and the Patricia Morley fonds (30-024) which contains documentation related to her writing of Leo Kennedy’s biography.

The Archives and Special Collections holds several archival fonds and collections on other varied subjects. 

Among the main fonds and collections are the Arthur Bray Collection (30-003) on Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs), which includes a collection of archival documents but also an important collection of publications, the Pepin-Robarts Collection (30-010) which includes copies of documents relating to the commission of the same name, the Margaret Mead fonds (30-016), a renowned American anthropologist, the Cécile Grenier fonds (30-023) for physical education education, the Ottawa Valley Health Libraries Association (OVHLA) fonds (30-008), the Association of Canadian Colleges and Universities Teachers of English (ACCUTE) fonds (30-017) and the Canadian Club of Ottawa fonds (30-025). 

The finding aids are either available below in PDF or via the AtoM database.  Some fonds do not have a finding aid. Please contact arcs@uottawa.ca for more details on access.

 

Other Fonds and Collections-Finding Aids