Research Associate; Literary Archivist (English) and Senior Archivist, Library and Archives Canada
B.A. (McMaster), M.A., M.L.I.S. (Western)
Office: 6-51, 550 blvd de la Cité,
Gatineau, QC, K1A 0N4
Telephone : (613) 617-6745
E-mail: catherine.hobbs@bac-lac.gc.ca
Research Interests
I write about literary archives and personal archives, bringing together literary theory with the theory/practice of archives. I am interested in contexts of meaning for personal creative archives in the digital realm and how this follows from existing concepts about original order in paper archives. I have an interest in born-digital literary archives. I contemplate creative responses to archives. As a professional archivist, I am responsible for the archives of many writers and other figures/organizations within Canadian literature.
Current Research Projects
I am collaborating through the International Council on Archives on a project concerning the archives of dissident authors and artists.
Articles
“Archives as Traces of Life Process and Engagement: the Late Years of the Carol Shields Fonds” forthcoming in The Worlds of Carol Shields David Staines ed. Ottawa : University of Ottawa Press, 2014.
with Sarah J. Kastner “Literary Archives, Fictional Truths and Material(reali)ties: The Yvonne Vera Project.” Nomorepotlucks no. 25 – Archive jan-fev 2013http://nomorepotlucks.org/site/literary-archives-fictional-truths-and-ma...
“Personal Ethics: Being an Archivist of Writers.” in Basements and Attics, Closets and Cyberspace: Explorations in Canadian Women’s Archives Linda M. Morra and Jessica Schagerl eds. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press 2012.
“Reenvisioning the Personal: Reframing Traces of Individual Life” inCurrents of Archival ThinkingTerry Eastwood and Heather MacNeil, eds. Santa Barbara, Calif. : Libraries Unlimited, 2010, p. 213-241.
“Voice and Re-vision: The Carol Shields Archival Fonds” in Carol Shields and the Extra-Ordinary Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press 2007, p. 33-58.
“New Approaches to Canadian Literary Archives” Journal of Canadian Studies vol. 40 no. 2 (Spring 2006) p. 109-119.
“The Character of Personal Archives: Reflections on the Value of Records of Individuals” Archivaria 52 (Fall 2001) p. 126-135.