Just in time to recognize the 80th anniversary of the start of the Second World War, the Provincial Archives of Saskatchewan is making digitized copies of the province’s community newspapers from 1939 to 1945 available online.
But don’t go looking for these newspapers today. Make a note in your calendar and wait a few days.
The first batch of WWII newspapers will be uploaded to the Archives’ website later this week and will be available to the public early next week to coincide with the official start of the war.
“Researchers interested in family history, military history and community engagement in the Second World War can now read online reports from Saskatchewan’s towns and cities,” said Ken Cheveldayoff, minister responsible for the Provincial Archives of Saskatchewan. “Insight into what was happening in Saskatchewan during this period is brought to life through these newspapers.”
This is just the beginning of the Archives’ latest digitization project, with the remainder of Saskatchewan’s community newspapers from this period becoming available by the end of 2020. When completed, the digital content will encompass approximately 560,000 pages of newsprint from nearly 160 community publications across the province.
The Government of Saskatchewan said on its Facebook page, “This is a large project that will take more than a year to complete, so make sure to check back every couple of months to see what’s been added.”
The Saskatchewan Historic Newspapers Online collection has been created in collaboration between the Provincial Archives of Saskatchewan and Sask History Online. The project when completed will see the digitization of newspapers from all across Saskatchewan from 1878 through to the mid 1960s.
