Mary Mellish Archibald
Memorial Library Collection
Memorial Library Collection
The Mary Mellish Archibald Memorial Library was started by Dr. Raymond Clare Archibald in 1905, to honour his mother Mary Mellish Archibald a former Preceptress at the Mount Allison Ladies College. Dr. Archibald was a graduate of Mount Allison and taught both violin and mathematics here before taking a faculty position at Brown University. The Collection currently contains materials relating to folk music, folklore, ballad literature, folk life, art song and college songs. The focus of the older material is largely English-language publications pertaining to these subjects in Canada, the British Isles and the United States. More recently, folklore and folk life resources from around the world have been added.
The Collection holds over 12,000 volumes, with extensive back runs of journal titles. The rare items of the Collection (approximately 2,000 titles) are stored in the Rare Book Room, the journals are shelved on the ground floor of the Library, and all other print materials are housed in the Mary Mellish Room which is an open-access collection on the third floor of the R.P. Bell Library. Rare items may be used within the library.
The Collection is supported by an endowment which Dr. Archibald began in 1905.