About This Collection
The Thomas Murray
collection includes not only stock from his bookstore, the Bleury Book Store in Montreal, but also a number of rare items he had accumulated as a private collector. As the collection came up for sale, the University Librarian, Neal Harlow, discussed the benefits of acquisition with Walter Koerner, a major benefactor of the Library and Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee of the Friends of the Library. In the spring of 1958, the collection was purchased for $60,000 (about $350,000 by contemporary standards).
The Friends of the Library understood that by purchasing such a collection, the library's resources would be advanced several stages. Dr. Samuel Rothstein, who was involved in the negotiations to purchase the collection, noted that "(t)his is the way to build up a distinguished collection....at one fell swoop (we) have something that...will bring the scholars to (us)."
The collection filled three hundred boxes, each measuring two cubic feet and weighing a total of ten tons. Processing of this enormous collection was not completed until after the formation of the Library's Special Collection Division in 1960.
Previous web exhibits have identified the following themes within the Thomas Murray Collection
- Milestones in Canadian Publishing. This includes books in the collection which are important landmarks as works published about or in Canada.
- Education. Approximately 2000 textbooks and other educational items from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
- Conflict. A small selection of books and periodicals relating to the War of 1812 and the Lower Canada Rebellion of 1837.
- Book plates. Many of these have been digitized by UBC Library
This page has been adapted from preserved web content prepared for UBC Library by Jeremy Heil in 2000.
Image source (left): "Neal Harlow with Canadiana book collection" (1958). From the UBC Archives Photograph Collection.
Image source (right): "Thomas Murray" (1948). From the UBC Historical Photograph Collection.
Archival Materials
- Thomas Murray fondsThe fonds consists of Murray's photograph album depicting logging operations, loggers, and maps pertaining to a lumber camp on the Bonaventure River near New Carlisle, Gaspe Peninsula, Quebec.
- UBC Archives. Library fonds, Acquisition Division sous-fonds (137-7).The fonds consists of records generated by the UBC Library and its branches and divisions, and includes correspondence (both internal and external), reports, minutes, budgets and other financial records, architectural plans and drawings, published materials, scrapbooks, and photographs. As fonds consists of institutional records, access requests must be reviewed by the University's FOIPOP Coordinator.
Collocating This Collection
Want to explore this collection but don't know where to start? We've created some links that can help you discover the material in this collection.
Indexes, Catalogues, and Bibliographies in Print
Amtmann, Bernard. The Thomas Murray Collection (Montreal: 1957).
This extensive catalogue of materials in the collection categorizes the books under the following headings. Where applicable, these headings are linked to the catalogue. For more reliable colocation of these titles as they belong to the Thomas Murray Collection, see the The Thomas Murray Collection inventory by Bernard Amtmann.
- Canadiana, Canadian Almanacs, Canadian Bibliography, Canadian Serials, Americana, Collections
- Books & Pamphlets relating to New France, Acadia, the Conquest of Canada, the Province of Quebec [1763-1791]
- Canadian Literature
- Books & Pamphlets relating to Western Canada, Hudson's Bay & the Pacific Northwest
- Early Canadian Imprints
- Books & Pamphlets relating to the War of 1812
Scrapbook for a golden anniversary : the University of British Columbia Library, 1915-1965. Victoria: Morriss Printing Co., [1965?].
Subject Headings
Canadian Literature--19th century
Canadian Literature--20th century
Canadian Literature--Publishing
Publishers and publishing--Canada
Publishers and publishing--Canada--History
Canadian literature--History and criticism
Book industries and trade--Canada--History
The Thomas Murray Collection in UBC Open Collections
- RBSC Book Plates CollectionThis collection includes over 500 book plates from Murray's collection, along with other bookplates featured in other works in UBC Library.
Related UBC Collections
- R. Mathison Printing CollectionThe R. Mathison Printing Collection contains materials, printed between 1886-1890, for businesses in Vancouver by R. Mathison Jr., The Job Printer. The style is visual; often with mixed fonts and fancy script. The collection is grouped into three main headings: R. Mathison promotional material, business stationary and related documents; Other materials printed by R. Mathison; and Business cards printed by R. Mathison.
- British Columbia History CollectionThis collection consists of the British Columbia Historical Federation’s flagship publication, British Columbia History, a quarterly magazine chronicling British Columbia’s unique story through the words and images of community writers, archivists, museum professionals, academic historians and more.
- BC Historical BooksBC Historical Books combines the traditional tools of bibliography with the new tools of the digital world to transform our understanding of, and insight into, the history and life of British Columbia. The goal of the BC Historical Books project is to build a single searchable database of the bibliography of British Columbia based on full-text searchable versions of the books contained therein. The result will allow scholars, students and the public unparalleled access to knowledge about our province. The collection can be searched by genre or explored via the timeline.
Related UBC Library Research Guides
- Canadian LiteratureThis guide will help you find Canadian literature or materials about Canadian literature in UBC Library. These books will be primarily focused on BC, but also includes early imprints of Canadian books, or books that are rare, irreplaceable, of aesthetic importance, or could be subject to loss or damage.
- Historical Textbook Collection
The early textbook collection spans the period from the eighteenth century to about 1930, and is probably the largest of its kind in Canada. The bulk of the collection is Canadian, written in English and French, but includes American and British texts, which were probably used in Canadian schools. Many of the books contain statements by the British Columbia and/or other provincial governments authorizing the textbooks for use in schools. There are also a number of textbooks classified elsewhere in the rare book collection.