Our Services - Instruction and Outreach
Instructional Support
We encourage instructors to bring their classes to the Canaday Center. We can assist students with learning how to conduct primary source research through bibliographic classes and topic assistance through the introduction of our collections and corresponding subject areas.
Limited staffing prevents us from accommodating drop-in classes, so instructors interested in scheduling a class at the Canaday Center are advised to do so as far in advance as possible. We also encourage you to forward us a copy of your syllabus so that we can customize our lessons to fit your course objectives.
Classes meet at the Canaday Center, either in the Reading Room or the Weaver Seminar Room. Orientation sessions can also be conducted in the classroom where the class regularly meets.
Primary Source Literacy Orientation
Archivists provide an overview of primary sources and Canaday Center services. Guidance is given on how to find archival collections, how to navigate finding aids, and how to approach historical research.
“Show And Tell” Sessions
Archivists select materials relevant to the subject of a course to provide students with hands-on experience using primary sources.
Schedule An Instruction Session
Requests to schedule an instruction session can be made via phone (contact the University Archivist at 419.530.2170), email (sara.mouch@utoledo.edu) or via our class request form.
For a virtual option of orientation sessions only, a video has been prepared and is available to view. In addition, a separate video addressing finding aids - as discussed in the orientation - is also available.
Outreach Program
In addition to providing instructional support, the Canaday Center undertakes other activities to increase the availability of our collections to everyone.
Exhibitions
The Canaday Center regularly prepares an exhibition featuring selections of materials from our collections. Each exhibit represents a theme related to Toledo or a specific collecting area. For example, our 2015-2016 exhibit, Greater Toledo: The City in the World, revolved around both the influence of Toledo on the world and the influence of the world on Toledo through interpretations of documents and artifacts in the collections of cultural organizations, world-wide business leaders, soldiers, and ambassadors.
In addition to our main exhibition, patrons can find Canaday Center materials on display throughout Carlson Library during special events or observances. Examples of past exhibits include:
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- Interviews from the Veterans History Project that are preserved in the Canaday Center as well as a small number of medals and soldier correspondence was available for viewing on the second floor of Carlson Library in honor of Veterans Day, though November 30, 2023.
- A selection of books from Black women writers were on display on the first floor, opposite the Circulation Desk for Women’s History Month 2023.
- A student-curated exhibit, featuring documents from three student organizations – Black Student Union, Dancing Rock-ets, and Peer Career – could be seen on the South side of the fifth floor during the summer of 2023.
PDF copies of past exhibit catalogs are available on the University of Toledo Digital Repository. In some cases, past exhibits have had a virtual version created, which can be accessed from our Virtual Exhibitions page.
Exhibits are free and open to the general public for viewing in our main display area on the fifth floor. Exhibit announcements will be made through UT News, on Carlson Library’s website and social media, as well as the Canaday Center’s social media.
Social Media
Follow our Facebook and Instagram pages for exhibit and event announcements, collection and item highlights, and historical trivia.