What's New
New Website Launched To Preserve Grenville History
By David Graham
The Grenville County Historical Society has launched a new website housing an archive of newspapers dating back to 1895. This archive is important because it preserves the documentary history of the county and also mitigates an urgent risk. The old newspapers are crumbling. If these assets were not digitized and made searchable, a window on our past would be closed.
GCHS directors identified this crucial need and set out a plan to digitize and store the searchable information online, to be seen forever with access to all. To pay for it, a grant of nearly $50 thousand dollars was obtained from the Government of Canada through Library and Archives Canada. (Documentary Heritage Communities Program)
A key part of winning the federal grant was coming up with a plan to future-proof the collection. The new website https://vitacollections.ca/grenville-county-newspapers/search is hosted by Our Digital World, a non-profit based in Toronto. “Our Digital World works with many communities on similar projects to ours”, says Project Manager and GCHS Vice President David Graham. “They are committed to updating their housing and search technology as time passes. And to safe guard the sustainability of our archive, we have deposited external hard drive copies with organizations such as the Ontario Historical Society, the Ontario Ancestors (Leeds and Grenville Branch) and the Prescott Public Library.”
The site is linked to the Ontario Community Newspaper portal https://news.ourontario.ca/ for wider-reaching search options available to the residents of Grenville. “We have reached out to indigenous and French Canadian communities within Grenville County to let them know this new service is available”, says GCHS President Jane Ramsay. “This new archive site really improves our service for researchers or interested community members. Instead of having to show up in person to look through papers at an archive that is open one day a week, you can now do a key word search on line from the comfort of your home or office.”
Roughly half of the GCHS collection of 75,000 newspapers has been digitized and housed. The next project for the Society is to preserve more Prescott Journals and other publications such as the Prescott County Telegraph, Prescott Messenger and Grenville County Advertiser. The goal, of course, is to ensure our county history is easily accessible to current and future generations.
Grenville County Historical Society's newest book - "Whisky and Beer - The Spirt of Prescott" authored by Fraser Laschinger.
This book is available now at the Prescott Museum & Visitor Centre - 202 King Street West... and at the GCHS HQ - 500 Railway Avenue, Prescott. (open Tuesdays)
$25
This book is available now at the Prescott Museum & Visitor Centre - 202 King Street West... and at the GCHS HQ - 500 Railway Avenue, Prescott. (open Tuesdays)
$25
Places of Interest
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Fort Wellington
Fort Wellington National Historic Site is a historic military fortification located on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River at Prescott, Ontario. Photo courtesy of Parks Canada. |
Battle of the Windmill Site
Battle of the Windmill National Historic site. (November, 1838) Located on Windmill Point Road, off County Road 2, three 3 kilometers east of Prescott. Photo courtesy of Parks Canada. |
Prescott Train Station
This National Historic Site was built in 1855 and was part of the Grand Trunk Railway. Current home of the Grenville County Historical Society (with archives) - located at 500 Railway Street in Prescott. |
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Maitland Windmill
Maitland Windmill was constructed 1826. Located three kilometers east of Brockville on County Road 2. |
Spencerville Mill and Museum
The Spencerville Mill and Museum is located at 11 Water Street, Spencerville. |
Blue Church and Graveyard
Blue Church and graveyard, originally built in 1809. Located three kilometers west of Prescott on the north Shore of the St. Lawrence River. |
