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NEW WEBSITE SCUGOG DIGITAL NEWSPAPER COLLECTION Just Click and Read! you need to do some rßearch to write a historical bmk or a schml essay. Maybe work for a law Office and need to do a title search. Backgrourxl informaticn on a municipal pl issue may interest Or you're curious to learn more about ancestors, or a local he;torical or event. How can you get inforn•nticn from days gme The new Digital Newspaper Collection website hunched in May Of 2021 featurß 73 years 0 digitized local neuspapers files dating back to 1857. J. Peter Hvidsten Scugog Digital Project 'Ihe Scugog Digital Propct was the brainchild of Iceal historian author and former owner of The Port Perry Star, Peter Hvidsten. A member Of the Scugog Heritage Peter is ak» a historical society director. Tis pmj«t is near and dear to my heart," Peter com- mented. He said he thought aEX)ut the idea for a k»ng time. Five years ago, his plan got off the ground, thanks to the support of the [ake Historical Society and generous denations from local or- ganizations and individuals. Our Digital World in Toronto, used to digitizx• the mi- crofilms of local newspavx•rs, "was an excellent company Preservation of History The Scugog Digital Propct has preserved history and provided the public with accr•ss to 73 years of Kral news- paper files. "Not surprising, digitizing newspapers dating from the years 1857 to preænted a challenge," said Peter. "Ccmsiderable funds wem required, and it quickly be- came apparent that the prrVst would have to back." In Ä)19, after the Lake *ugog Historical Society agmvd to spearhead the work got underway im- mediately. The pr0ect was downsized to incorv»rate the years 1857 to 1930, which are considered public domain. Permissicn is to copy newspapers after 1930. "Progress came to a screeching halt early in 2020 with the announcement of the COVID-19 pandemic." said Peter. After a delay that lasted more than a year, digitiz- ing over pages of local newspavx•rs was finally completed. . Plea*' turn to page 30 to deal with," Peter stated. It all started in when Peter, as the publisher of lhe Port Perry Star, undertcx»k a proW»ct to microfilm Port Perry's local newspapers. More than years of newspa- pers, dating from 1857 to 2000, were microfilmed producing 75,0 pages of files, on approximately 100 rolls of microfilm. Duplicate copies Of the microfilm were donated to the Shores Museum, Scugog Memorial Library and Uxbridge Public Library. "Ihirty-six years later, Peter ex- plained that the microfilm was dete- riorating with age. "Most of the organizaticms no longer have microfilm readers, mak- ing research near impossible," he pointed out. He has to fiddle with his own microfilm reader to make it work. Ies falling apart after years Of use. THE PORT PERRY STANDARD Ontario Observer FOCUS - JULY 2021 29