Toronto Reference Library Blog

Mitt Romney we just wanted to let you know we also have "binders full of women" at the Toronto Reference Library.  In our case, copies of our engravings collection, which focuses on 18th and 19th century etchings of actors/actresses, dancers, japanese kabuki prints and theatre buildings.   They are a visual bibliography/finding aid to the collection and useful for costume, staging and as portrait art. 

During the presidential debate last night Mitt Romney responded to a question around equal pay for women. He spoke of his experience searching for female candidates to fill senior government positions:  “I went to a number of women's groups and said 'Can you help us find folks?' and they brought us whole binders full of women”. 

According to the Huffington Post Canada the video and phrase have gone viral and there is already a facebook page with 300,000 likes.  The Toronto Star has also done a nice summary and has the youtube clip on their website.  It's become an internet meme rather like the Clint Eastwood talking to the empty chair at the RNC that was the focus of an earlier blog post.

We not only have our engraving binders full of women - we also have decade binders that are another visual bibliography and finding aid to our collections in the Arts Department/ 5th floor of the Toronto Reference Library. The decade binders bring together material on specific decades and arrange it thematically - by fashion, graphic design, furniture, collectibles, history and advertising.  They support our Picture Collection which has 70 cabinets, thousands of files and hundreds of thousands of pictures you can borrow.  They also complement the postcard collection and the Canadian Historical Picture Collection.