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Treasured Ontario Rural Histories to be Formatted for Online Access Posted 23 November 2009 By Fraser Dunford, Ontario Genealogical Society Provincial Office Joy Trimble, President of the Federated Women's Institutes of Ontario and Don Hinchley, President of the Ontario Genealogical Society, signed an agreement on Nov. 19, 2009 to digitize and place on line the rural histories known as the Tweedsmuir Histories. Since 1920 the Ontario Branches of the Women's Institute have been gathering local history and preserving it in book form. Because the WI is largely a rural organization, these are histories of small communities. There are about a thousand of them, comprising an estimated half million pages of local Ontario history. They are one-of-a-kind and only a few have been photocopied or digitized. Many are in delicate condition and so are at-risk documents. The project will take at least three years. As they are prepared, the digitized Histories will be placed in the OGS e-Library where anyone can borrow and read them. There will be a small borrowing fee; the money will go to the maintenance of the original Histories and to the operation of the lending system. The project will identify, conserve, preserve, and digitize all available Ontario Tweedsmuir Histories. Tweedsmuir Histories
The Tweedsmuirs are used by researchers. Laurentian University History Professor Dr. Linda Ambrose stated: "Tweedsmuir History Books are one of the most important resources we have for studying Ontario history at the local level." The Tweedsmuirs have won prizes: from the American Association for State and Local History in 1949, a certificate of merit to the Women's Institute from the Canadian Historical Association in 1962, the Scadding Award of Excellence to the WI Tweedsmuir Curators from the Ontario Historical Society in 2004.
The OGS operates a scanning project named "Keeping and Valuing Ontario's Heritage" which enables it, in partnership with Ontario's heritage organizations such as archives, museums and libraries, to digitize and place on the OGS website considerable quantities of material of genealogical value. The project has been underway for six months and is still in the data-gathering stage. The Tweedsmuir Histories will be a significant component of this project. The project has received core funding from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, the Cultural Strategic Investment Fund of the Ontario Ministry of Culture, and the Jackman Foundation. Additional funding is being sought for the conservation and preservation of the Tweedsmuir Histories and to fund the salaries of interns to help train future professionals in the conservation, preservation, and digitization of paper documents.
Ontario Genealogical Society 102 - 40 Orchard View Blvd Toronto, Ontario, M4R 1B9 Tel: 416-489-0734 Fax: 416-489-9803 Ontario Genealogical Society Canadian Genealogy & History Resources from Global Genealogy:
Shopping Cart & Order Desk Global Genealogy & History Shoppe 1-800-361-5168 ( 9-5 Monday to Friday )
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