We are pleased to unveil the six recipients of the Niagara Regional Accreditation Accelerator Program, made possible by Niagara Community Foundation (NCF).
COMMUNITY GRANT- Thorold Public Library
History buffs and ancestry aficionados will have a new way of connecting with the past thanks to an ambitious project to begin digitizing the Thorold Public Library’s newspaper and history archives.
A $12,800 Community Grant from Niagara Community Foundation is allowing the library to scan and upload complete newspaper pages from Thorold’s various community newspapers, starting in the 1800s.
Volunteers are helping with the scanning, but the grant allowed the library to hire a university student who will organize, describe, and index the content and upload it to the searchable local history portal on the library’s website. The original content is coming from microfilm copies of early newspapers, scrapbooks, and from former cemetery superintendent and local historian Fred Campbell, whose collection was donated to the library.
“Our goal is to make this accessible and not only to Thorold residents,” said Joanne DeQuadros, Thorold’s chief librarian, whose idea for the project started during the pandemic when in-person library visits were curtailed. But it’s not just locals who will benefit. Many people with Thorold roots come back to the city to learn about their ancestors and do genealogical research, she said, so she expects the project will boost tourism. Local heritage groups, the city historian, and local businesses celebrating milestones reach out to the library to learn about their roots.
Thorold is a fast-growing community, and taking this deep dive into the past is meant to help the city grow better in the future, DeQuadros said. “This is what libraries do: they provide information. To know where you are going, you have to know where you came from.”
