Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
Celu Amberstone fonds
General material designation
- Textual record
- Graphic material
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Title notes
- Source of title proper: Title based on the content of the fonds.
Level of description
Fonds
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Edition statement of responsibility
Class of material specific details area
Statement of scale (cartographic)
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Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
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1970 - 2021 (Creation)
- Creator
- Amberstone, Celu, 1947-
Physical description area
Physical description
3 boxes of textual records + 1 flash drive (341 files, 0.09 GB).
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Archival description area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Celu Amberstone is an indigenous Canadian writer of Cherokee and Celtic ancestry, born in 1947 in the United States. She is Metis. As one of the “measles babies” of the 1940s, she was born with congenital cataracts from complications of rubella and is legally blind. As a child she had access to books on tape and became a voracious reader. She also developed an interest in traditional Cherokee spiritual, medicinal, and cultural practices. Amberstone began to care for her family when she was 12 years old, after her mother contracted cancer.
Amberstone earned her B.A. in Cultural Anthropology and her M.A. in Health Education. However, because of her disability she initially struggled to find work, and worked for a time as a barmaid and go-go dancer. She moved to Canada after falling in love with a man from Manitoba, and to live among indigenous people who practiced their traditional way of life. She has been employed as health researcher and writer of educational materials for the Dene Nation in the Northwest Territories, a writer of cross-cultural awareness workshop material, a teacher and program coordinator of Native arts and crafts, a life skills coach and counsellor, and cook. She has avoided cities most of her life and has lived in “rain forests of the west coast, a tepee in the desert and a small village in Canada’s arctic.”1
After government cutbacks in the late 1980s, Amberstone turned to writing. Although without eyesight, her stories come to her in vivid dreams and visions. She was encouraged by her typing instructor to write, and used audio recordings of her dreams to learn typing skills, but it was not until her brother gave her a computer with text-to-speech technology that she was able to begin seriously. She writes primarily speculative fiction and is a member of SF Canada, through which she has co-edited and contributed to Communique, SF Canada’s newsletter.
Under her Cherokee name Gua Gua La, Amberstone published a two-volume novel, Renewal: Prophecy of Manu and Teoni’s Giveaway (Penticton, B.C. : Theytus Books, 1985-1986). She has published two books under the name Celu Amberston: Blessings of the Blood: A Book of Menstrual Lore and Rituals for Women (Victoria, B.C. : Beach Holme, 1991), and Deepening the Power: Community Ritual and Sacred Theatre (Victoria, B.C. : Beach Holme, 1995). Under Celu Amberstone, her short story “Refugees” was published in anthologies So Long Been Dreaming: Postcolonial Science Fiction & Fantasy (Vancouver : Arsenal Pulp Press, 2004), and Walking the Clouds: An Anthology of Indigenous Science Fiction (Tucson : University of Arizona Press, 2012). Her young adult novel The Dreamer’s Legacy was published in 2011 (Wiarton, Ont. : Kegedonce Press).
Amberstone currently resides in Victoria, B.C. near her children and grandchildren.
Custodial history
Scope and content
The fonds consists of documents relating to Celu Amberstone's writing career. Records consist of poetry, playscripts, children's prose, notes for readings, publishing contracts, review clippings, correspondence, and acceptance and rejection letters from publishers and editors. The fonds also includes a proof copy of The Dreamer's Legacy by Celu Amberstone, and House of Commons Special Committee on the Disabled and Handicapped publication, "Native Population: Follow-up Report" (1981), which features a profile of Amberstone/Barbara Smith. The fonds is also comprised of digital text files of Amberstone's writings and e-book versions of her publications.
Notes area
Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
Acquired from Celu Amberstone, 2020 and 2021. The digital files were received on one USB flash drive in 2021. Images of the drive were created to generate master preservation copies and to extract the content files.
Arrangement
Original order has been maintained in the first accession. In the second accession, original order has been maintained on a file level but rearranged according to genre on the subseries level. Digital files are organized in their original file structure.
Language of material
- English
Script of material
Location of originals
Availability of other formats
Restrictions on access
File 1.13 is restricted for the life of Celu Amberstone.
Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication
The digital files must be accessed using the workstation in the Special Collections reading room. Advance notice is required for use. Online access is not available.
Finding aids
Inventory available with file level control.
For a complete inventory of born-digital files, please see: https://uvic2.coppul.archivematica.org/uploads/r/university-of-victoria-archives/7/b/b/7bb8010a0cb7c396f533f51e1fd892021e508dd9f3ac0e18a71c7c81ca6b8ef7/sc622_2021-050_list-2.pdf.
Generated finding aid
Associated materials
The following bibliographic material has been catalogued in the University of Victoria Library:
- Nishnaubaeg Noungom = The first people today (Ann Arbor, Mich: Harry Macomber, 1975), including poem "Spring Again" by Celu Amberstone/Barb Smith;
- Communique: newsletter of SF Canada, nos. 33-36 (Hamilton, Ont.: SF Canada, 2002-2004), co-edited and with contributions by Celu Amberstone.
Accruals
General note
The following bibliographic material has been catalogued in University of Victoria Library:
- Nishnaubaeg Noungom = The first people today (Ann Arbor, Mich: Harry Macomber, 1975), including poem "Spring Again" by Celu Amberstone/Barb Smith;
- Communique: newsletter of SF Canada, no. 33-36 (Hamilton, Ont.: SF Canada, 2002-2004), co-edited and with contributions by Celu Amberstone.
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Status
Revised
Level of detail
Partial
Dates of creation, revision and deletion
Language of description
- English
Script of description
Sources
Digital content metadata
Filename
Amberstone_Celu_SC622_FindingAid.pdf
Latitude
Longitude
Media type
Text
Mime-type
application/pdf