Bliss Archive

OISE Library’s Overview of the Blissymbolics Communication Institute Canada collection

University of Toronto’s Discover Archives Blissymbolics Communication Institute Canada collection

OISE Library Archive of Digitized Blissymbolics Publications

Blissymbolics Archival Collection at OISE is ready for visitors!

It all began in 2019 with a generous donation from Peg and Rob Rooks for the preservation and digitization of publications and communication materials from over 50 years of Blissymbolics serving as an Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) system. There is now a collection housed in the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto (OISE) Library and access to an online digital collection in the Internet Archive. There have been six OISE staff and students working (part-time) on the collection over the past four years, and Rebecca Chan and Shirley McNaughton have worked throughout that time, sorting materials to send to OISE. The Toronto materials were expanded by materials from the Nordic countries, hand delivered by Margareta Jennische in November, 2019.

Thanks to all those who donated materials and to the OISE team who have made this archival collection possible:

Monique Flaccavento, Jenaya Webb, Bethany Lepp, Emma Thomas, Natalie Johnson-Tyghter, Andrew Sandock.

Here are the three key links for accessing the collection:

  1. The OISE Library’s introductory page for the Blissymbolics Communication Institute – Canada collection (provides an overview of the collection)
  2. The Blissymbolics Communication Institute – Canada collection in the University of Toronto’s Discover Archives (archival records and descriptions)
  3. The OISE Library collection of Blissymbolics on the Internet Archive (these are all the materials that have been digitized)

It’s been a long 4 years, but the collection is now complete!

Take a look in Internet Archive (#3) when you have a few minutes!