Local dignitaries, historians and politicians in the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry, south of Ottawa, Ontario, were on Zoom yesterday morning to launch the SD&G Online Archives, a repository of regional newspaper pages and Lost Villages archival photos.
More than 200,000 pages from 16 newspapers, as well as 2,000 photos from the Lost Villages Historical Society collection, are included in the SD&G Online Archives and are completely searchable.
Editions in this collection include:
• Glengarry News (post 1961)
• Chesterville Record
• Morrisburg Leader
• Winchester Press
• Iroquois Chieftain
• Dundas County Herald
• St. Lawrence Reporter
• Iroquois Post
• St. Lawrence News
• Mountain Herald
• Matilda Advocate
• Morrisburg Courier
• Dundas County Advisor
• Williamsburgh Times
• Morrisburgh Banner
Fast search engine
The basic search and advanced search features produce results quickly.
If you still have difficulty finding the keyword within an issue of the newspaper, use CRTL+F on a PC or Command+F on a Mac and enter the keyword in the pop-up box. The keyword will then be highlighted on the page.
In short order, I found many mentions of Dever and was able to easily select the newspapers and dates that were of interest.
Community initiative
The project, which took two years to complete, was inspired and led by MP Eric Duncan in a volunteer capacity.
Some of the material dates back to the 19th century, and includes pages from papers that are no longer part of the local news landscape.
The scanning process began in 2020, and concluded earlier this year. More material is constantly being added to the archive, so users are encouraged to check the site often for updates.
“It is very exciting to finally launch the online archives website after years of work,” said Mr. Duncan. “The support for the project from the various newspaper ownership teams, local historical archives and organizations, and from Counties Council was fantastic. This material is a gift to researchers, and the residents of SDG who now have an online gateway to their history.”
United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Warden Frank Prevost echoed Mr. Duncan’s sentiment.
“Counties Council believed in this project from the outset,” said Mr. Prevost. “It is said that newspaper reports can be considered the first rough draft of history. We are now preserving this history online for generations to come.”
Counties Council was pitched on the idea of the online archival project in 2019. Since that initial approval organizers and local historians have been busily cataloguing material and scanning newspaper pages and photos.
The United Counties of SD&G put $181,000 and staff time to help create and launch the project. The county is hosting the archive on its server in order to keep operating costs low.
The Lost Villages were ten Ontario communities that were were permanently submerged by the creation of the Saint Lawrence Seaway in 1958.
Discussions are taking place with municipal officials and news organizations in Cornwall to create a similar repository of information for the city.
