The Character of Personal Archives: Reflections on the Value of Records of Individuals

Catherine Hobbs is Literary Manuscript Archivist at the National Library of Canada, where she acquires the fonds of Canadian poets, novelists, playwrights, and short-fiction writers, as well as other individuals and organizations involved in Canadian literature who work in English. She has been at the National Library since 1999. Prior to this she pursued both an M.A. in Literary Theory and Criticism (thesis on theories of parody and postmodern feminist theories) and a Masters of Library and Information Science, both at the University of Western Ontario. Catherine continues to be interested in creative ways in which theory can inform practice, both with respect to Canadian literature and Canadian archives. This year, her interest in the archives of individuals brought her to propose and to create, along with a number of her colleagues, the Special Interest Section on Personal Archives (SISPA) within the Association of Canadian Archivists (ACA). Her article is based on her presentation at the 2001 ACA conference on the panel "Evidence and Anecdote: A Panel on Personal Papers." Recently, she co-curated the exhibition Phyllis Webb: Elemental on the life and work of the poet Phyllis Webb, which was shown at the National Library in the early months of 2002.