Nova Scotia Historical Newspapers

1. Nova Scotia Historical Newspapers www.nsnewspapers.ca

2. 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)

3. 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

4. Findings of Consultation • Strong interest in collaborative digitization strategies • Digitization facilities existed, but no funding available • Newspapers lie outside of institutions’ mandates

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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)

8. Where did the newspapers come from? • Nova Scotia Archives & Records Management • The Beaton Institute, Cape Breton University • Cape Breton Regional Library • Private donors

9. Digitization Process • Scanning done from originals • “Digital repair” and paper conservation for papers in poor condition • Optical Character Recognition used for Cape Breton papers

10. 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

11. Communities Shelburne Halifax Central Grove Pictou Sydney Membertou Glace Bay Eskasoni

12. 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

13. Nova Scotia Archives Website

14. Memorial University Website

15. 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

16. Next steps • Potential continuation of the project • Only a fraction of historical Nova Scotian papers have been digitized

17. Thank-you!