News Bulletin Is Published Every Thursday NEWS by the University of Guelph's Department of Information
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Relics of those busy days still remain. The The gold lettering is applied with another once elegant but now faded and sooty wall "new" piece of equipment — a heat press. paper is patched with a 1924 aerial photograph Lettering can be imprinted on book covers, NEWS of the CNE, a Guelph and District intercounty briefcases, folders and wallets. baseball poster from 1924, calendars from Until the arrival of the heat press about 20 1951 and 1963, and a Guelph business direc years ago, gold lettering was applied using a tory from the twenties. wooden mallet, a padded box and fragile BULLETIN gold leaf which almost disintegrates when Although much of this business has handled. In the old days book covers were filtered to printers with highly automated embellished with scrolls and intricate borders, equipment, the bindery still performs an but Mrs. Nunan doesn't bother with all those essential service in the university community. flourishes now. Generations of University of Guelph graduate A veritable gallery of ancient equipment is students have taken their theses to the bindery on display. Punches, perforators, a super for "official dress" in impressive black covers short cutting blade, staplers, the massive with gold lettering. Graduate theses are the UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH press and a huge solid cherry framework with major part of the bindery business today — cogged wheels and a conveyor belt top. This about 1000 volumes each year. Vol. 19 No. 16 April 17, 1975 aged beauty is an apparatus used to rule Nunan's bookbinding techniques have ledger sheets. By virtue of size alone it changed with the time, but are still "old dominates the shop, but has fallen into disuse fashioned" compared to today's automated because it requires two operators. In the last seven years it has become a convenient binderies. Bookbinding the Nunan way is a craft. Although the pages are no longer catchall for invoice slips, mail, account books stitched together, they are glued with a special and pending work. Grad students imported glue, aligned and pressed together Even the floor tells a story. The soft with a German bookbinding machine that at wood has long since been trodden away, 15 years old is the undisputed newcomer in leaving protruding knots. In spots the a shop full of centenarians. enter past floor has literally worn through. Near the ledger ruler two well worn indentations indi Mrs. Nunan makes a cover of heavy card cate that hours and days were devoted to board, covers it with a vinyl-like material pushing ledger sheets through the machine. at bookbindery called fabricoid, and glues the cover and pages together. Using the gluing method, Mrs. In 95 years in the business the Nunans have Nunan can complete about four theses in a had their share of absent-minded customers. At street level it is 1975, but up two flights couple of hours . not exactly assembly-line Their forgotten books are still in the shop — of stairs at Nunan's Book Bindery University of speed, but not bad for a craftsman. piling higher and deeper on shelves in the Guelph graduate students find it is still 1880. back. Dealers and collectors of nostalgia The book bindery, one of Guelph's oldest The day's work — a stack of volumes — is periodically drop in to brouse and weed out businesses, is located in an all-but-forgotten piled onto a massive century-old press and the "finds" among the neglected volumes. third floor loft above the Peacock restaurant the weight cranked down. Several hours of One recent investigation unearthed a 1906 on Wyndham Street. With its equipment, drying under pressure assures that loose ends, Globe and Mail. furnishings and decor circa 1850, the covers and folds are tucked in and secure. Continued on page 2. business seems suspended in another era. The relentless progression of time has bypassed the book bindery, where grad students take their theses. The original furnishings still remain. The equipment, all hand operated, is still as functional as it was in the mid 1800's. Even bottles of ink, lined up on the desk as if they had been used yesterday, date back to the 1920's. Presiding over this business is Mrs. Isabel Nunan, who has singlehandedly run the book bindery since her husband died seven years ago. The Nunan family bought the bindery in 1880 and moved it to the second floor and then to the present third floor location. Three generations of Nunans have operated the business. In the 1920's the book bindery was a bustling place. Eight employees climbed the 44 stairs every day. Women earned $1.50 a week stitching pages together and could stitch one book an hour. Business consisted of stapling and folding programs, perforating and binding chequebooks, binding newspapers and journals, punching forms, ruling ledger sheets and repairing old books. Murdo MacKinnon and Yvonne Saunders win Awards of Merit Murdo MacKinnon, dean of arts, and Yvonne World record holder Yvonne Saunders' Saunders, a former library assistant in the award is for bringing sports recognition to Cataloguing Department of the McLaughlin Guelph. She won a silver medal in the Pan Library, are included in the Chamber of American games in Colombia and a gold Commerce's Award of Merit list. medal in the Commonwealth Games in New The Award of Merit program, initiated Zealand. In 1974 she was voted Canada's this year, recognizes meritorious service and outstanding female track and field athlete. accomplishment for the advancement of In addition to holding the world 600 yard Guelph and the "betterment of its citizens." record, Miss Saunders holds the North Dean MacKinnon receives his award for American record for the 800 meters, plus six his outstanding work with the Guelph other Canadian indoor, open and outdoor Spring Festival which has brought musical records. acclaim to Guelph. He was president of the Miss Saunders left the university about Edward Johnson Music Foundation in 1968, six months ago to complete her high school the founding year of the festival. At that education in Toronto. She is still coached by time. Dean MacKinnon said, "It is the desire Guelphite Peter Manning who also wins an of the Edward Johnson Music Foundation award of merit. that the Guelph Spring Festival become an Other award winners and the categories annual event that will grow and help perpetu under which they were considered are: Ann ate the kind of opportunities that the Smith, conservation; Bruno Sanvido, citizen enthusiasm of centennial year afforded ship; Joseph Mezey, labour; Stanley Biggs, Canadian composers and artists." citizenship; James Wexler, citizenship; Dean MacKinnon is still president of the Elizabeth Raffan, citizenship. foundation and continues to be a guiding The awards will be presented at a public hand behind the annual festival which has recognition night at the Cutten Club on become a real town and gown project. He April 22 at 6 p.m. Robert Welch, Ontario's has been dean of the College of Arts since recently-appointed first minister of Culture its inception 10 years ago (then Wellington and Recreation, will be guest speaker. Any College of Arts and Science). He retires one interested in attending may purchase a from the position at the end of two terms of ticket at $5 from the Chamber of Commerce office on June 30, but will continue as a office, Canada Trust or at the Department of professor of English literature. Information on campus, Ext. 8708. Continued from page 1. Business records from the shop trace Guelph's history. They go back to the 1880's and mention dealings with many of the town's businesses. Wellington county directories tucked in niches and under tables have on occasion provided reference sources for school themes and essays. Repairing old volumes supplements the binder's major business of thesis binding. Mrs. Nunan admits that some old volumes take a disproportionate amount of time if the material between the covers strikes her fancy. She had just started repairing some children's books that sent several generations of children to sleep. A family Bible, redone with a new leather spine, and several volumes of OAC reviews dating from the twenties had just been repaired. Everything in the shop has the well-worn lustre of decades of use. Only the sleek, compact Coleman space heater mars the pre- 1900 decor. Mrs. Nunan still resents the heater's intrusion, but she chose its conven ience over the pot bellied stove which until seven years ago kept the cavernous room fairly comfortable. Guelph graduate students are among the Sandy Spencer's acrylic on canvas Wave No. 1 <1971—72) is one of twenty paintings in the privileged few who "discover" the timeless Made tn Canada exhibition to be shown during Guelph Spring Festival. Canadian art from private world of Nunan's. The experience can't help and public collections including the National Gallery of Canada make up the show which runs but cause some dissatisfaction with the from April 27—May 22 on the main floor of the McLaughlin Library. Curator of art Judith plastic, impersonal commercial world of the Nasby has chosen a well-rounded selection of paintings displaying the diversity and individualism 1970's. of Canada's contemporary painters. 2 Intercollegiate and intramural awards to campus athletes The University of Guelph Gryphons capped At the intramural night three major trophies trophy, Elgin Hall the co-ed intramural another successful season of intercollegiate went to OVC '77 — the OVC championship, championship. Arts the off-campus champion — athletics with their annual awards night at the participation trophy and the overall intra ship, Duaine McKinley the Year '45 individual the University Centre.