Dispatches from the library on Sandwich River...

Spring is here and it's time to freshen the library blog. You'll notice we've been tinkering and tweaking with the content and design of AST Library News--a change in html here, a swatch of bright colour there. We've even added a LibraryThing widget highlighting some of our newest reference books (more about that in our next post).

The blog title (AST Library News) is the same but the subtitle is now "dispatches from the library on Sandwich River." Why "Sandwich River"? As you may know the AST Library overlooks the Northwest Arm. Yet, before the Northwest Arm gained its current name in 1921, the Halifax inlet was mistakenly identified as a river by the city's founder Edward Cornwallis. Sandwich River (now the Northwest Arm) wrapped around one side of Sandwich Point (now Point Pleasant Park) and was described by Cornwallis's men as "about as wide as the Thames at London Bridge." Before Cornwallis began exploring the isthmus between the opening of the Northwest Arm and present day Bedford Basin, the Mi’kmaq had referred to the inlet as "Wagwoltichk," but that's a post for another day.

We hope you like the new look of the blog. There will be more changes to come and we hope you will offer us your input as well. We want to hear from you: students, alumni, friends, concerned onlookers, etc.
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If we've piqued your curiosity about the history behind the Northwest Arm, the following resources will be of interest:

1. Mackenzie, S., & Robson, S. (2002). Halifax street names: An illustrated guide. Halifax, N.S.: Formac Pub.
2. The world displayed or a curious collection of voyages and travels selected from the writers of all nations. 5, The third ed., corrected. (1769). [available on Google books]
3. Watts, H., & Raymond, M. (2003). Halifax's Northwest arm. Halifax: Formac Pub.