The Bruce County Museum & Cultural Centre has received an award for its newspaper digitization project.
The 2022-2023 Dorothy Duncan Public History Award was given by the Ontario Historical Society.
The award is specifically presented to an outstanding public history project delivered in Ontario.
Bruce County Warden Chris Peabody announced the recognition during this week’s council meeting.
“The overall goal was to provide accessibility to Bruce County historic newspapers by digitizing the newspapers and launching a website through which the papers are made available to the public.”
The planning for the initiative started in 2019 and the project completion was one of the Museum’s business plan projects in 2022.
In a video response, archivist Deb Sturdevant says “We are very pleased to have extended the opportunity to discover the rich history in our communities, province, and country by enabling online access to this newspaper content.”
She says that digitizing all of that local history allows anyone, from educators to students, genealogists, and local historians, to do their research without having to travel to the facility.
Peabody adds, “Thousands of people have viewed the site over the past year. Museum staff has heard about the success of researchers using this resource to discover more information about family members, including colourful details not previously known.”
Details that people have found out while doing their own family research include first-hand accounts of soldiers’ experiences overseas and on the homefront during World War I, female trailblazers, and information about 1900s athletes.
The funding for the program was from the federal Museum Assistance Program and the province’s Municipal Modernization Program.
Over 12,000 issues — and around 90,000 pages — of more than 31 Bruce County newspaper titles can now be viewed online at newspapers.brucemuseum.ca