http://archive.org/details/toronto

Trent University Archives and Special Collections recently participated in the Internet Archive open access digitization initiative for public domain material. The Katchewanooka Herald (1855-1859), a handwritten newspaper published in Lakefield, Ontario by agricultural students of Samuel Strickland (a brother of authors Catharine Parr Traill and Susanna Moodie), is now available online in full facsimile format on the Internet Archive website: http://archive.org/details/katchewanookaher00agri. The extant issues of this satirical newspaper comprise 142 pages and include hand-drawn cartoons. A complete transcription is also available through the Trent University Archives website: http://www.trentu.ca/admin/library/archives/83-004.htm. While the Trent transcription has been accessible online for several years, the digitized facsimile copy on the Internet Archive website is a valuable enhancement, especially for researchers who are unable to visit the Trent University Archives in person.

As with many libraries associated with the Ontario Council of University Libraries (OCUL), Trent University Archives and Special Collections was invited during the past year to contribute items from our collection for inclusion in the Internet Archive’s open access project. Situated at the Robarts Library, University of Toronto, Internet Archive Canada has digitized seven items from our holdings to date, including a seventeenth-century, 117-page handwritten journal of the British Parliament. Of international interest, this manuscript is comprised of the proceedings of the British Parliament from February 1620 to December 1621 during the reign of James I: http://archive.org/details/journalofbritish00unse.

Posted on Thursday, January 17, 2013.