Nova Scotia Historical Newspapers

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, ) The Port-Roseway Gazetteer and the Shelburne Advertiser, The Royal American Gazette (Shelburne), 1785 The Nova-Scotia Packet and General Advertiser (Shelburne), 1786 Pictou Bee ( ) The 4 th Estate (Halifax, ) The Tiny Tattler (Central Grove, Digby County), Billa Na Queg (A New Day), 1964 Micmac News, (Membertou), The Thermometer (Sydney), The Nova Scotia Gleaner (Sydney), 1929 The Cape Breton News (Sydney), 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 Shelburne Halifax Central Grove Pictou Sydney Membertou Glace Bay Eskasoni

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!