Nova Scotia Historical

Newspaperswww.nsnewspapers.

ca

History of the Newspaper Project

• In the late 1980s, an Ad Hoc Committee for the Preservation of/Access to Nova Scotian Newspapers was formed

• Goal of establishing a province-wide collection, preservation, and access approach for newspapers (current and historical)

March 2009 Consultation

• 20 years later, a consultation was held at the Nova Scotia Archives

• Brought together libraries, archives, and historical societies

• Explored the current status of collecting, preserving, providing access to the province’s newspapers

Findings of Consultation

• Strong interest in collaborative digitization strategies

• Digitization facilities existed, but no funding available

• Newspapers lie outside of institutions’ mandates

Start of the Newspaper Project

• Libraries Nova Scotia (a consortium of academic, college, special, and public libraries) takes the lead

• Funding provided by Nova Scotia Community Access Program (CAP)

• Steering committee included: Libraries Nova Scotia, NS Provincial Library, Nova Scotia Archives & Records Management, Beaton Institute, CBU, Legislative Library and Western Counties Regional Library

Funding

• Received $24,000 grant from Nova Scotia Community Access Program

• Two “scanners” employed: one at the Nova Scotia Archives, and one at the Mi’kmaq College Institute, CBU

• Over the course of seven months, 19,000 pages of historic newspapers were scanned

Selection Process

• Early and unique newspapers• Representing different regions, both urban

and rural• Including different cultural groups (Gaelic,

Mi’kmaq, African Nova Scotian)• Preservation: Some papers had to be digitized

or their content would be lost• Originals (not microfilm)

Where did the newspapers come from?

• Nova Scotia Archives & Records Management• The Beaton Institute, Cape Breton University• Cape Breton Regional Library• Private donors

Digitization Process

• Scanning done from originals

• “Digital repair” and paper conservation for papers in poor condition

• Optical Character Recognition used for Cape Breton papers

Digitized Newspapers

• Nova Scotia Chronicle and Weekly Advertiser (Halifax, 1769-1770)

• The Port-Roseway Gazetteer and the Shelburne Advertiser, 1784-1785

• The Royal American Gazette (Shelburne), 1785

• The Nova-Scotia Packet and General Advertiser (Shelburne), 1786

• Pictou Bee (1835-1838)• The 4th Estate (Halifax, 1969-

1978)• The Tiny Tattler (Central Grove,

Digby County), 1934-1943

•Billa Na Queg (A New Day), 1964•Micmac News, (Membertou), 1965-1992•The Thermometer (Sydney), 1899-1900•The Nova Scotia Gleaner (Sydney), 1929 •The Cape Breton News (Sydney), 1850-1852•The Daily Advocate (Sydney), 1878 •The Cape Breton Advocate, (Sydney), 1899 •The Daily Times (Sydney), 1878 •The Sydney Booster (Sydney), 1935 •Glace Bay Enterprise (Glace Bay), 1896 •Semi-Weekly Express (Sydney), 1879

Communities

ShelburneHalifaxCentral GrovePictouSydneyMembertouGlace BayEskasoni

Websites

• Nova Scotia Archives hosting “mainland” Nova Scotia newspapers

• Memorial University hosting Cape Breton newspapers

• Newspapers searchable by date• Cape Breton newspapers full-text searchable• Images viewed in high resolution with ability

to zoom and pan

Nova Scotia Archives Website

Memorial University Website

Outcomes

• Enabled broad public access to several outstanding examples of Canadian newspapers

• Fostered a broad partnership of organizations with expertise, infrastructure and interest in historical newspapers

• With a small amount of funding, produced a considerable product in a very short time frame

Next steps

• Potential continuation of the project

• Only a fraction of historical Nova Scotian papers have been digitized

Thank-you!