b'NEW WEBSITEPerhaps you need to do some research to write a historical book or a school essay. Maybe you work for a law of ce and need to do a title search. Background information on a municipal planning issue may interest you. Or youre curious to learn more about your ancestors, or a local historicalgure or event.How can you get information from days gone by?The new Scugog Digital Newspaper Collection website launched in May of 2021 features 73 years of digitized local newspapersles, dating back to 1857.Scugog Digital Project Preservation of HistoryThe Scugog Digital ProjectThe Scugog Digital Project has preserved history and wasthebrainchildoflocalprovided the public with access to 73 years of local news-historian/author and formerpaperles.owner ofThe Port Perry Star, Not surprising, digitizing newspapers dating from PeterHvidsten.Amemberthe years 1857 to 2000 presented a challenge, said Peter. oftheScugogHeritageConsiderable funds were required, and it quickly be-Committee,Peterisalsoacame apparent that the project would have to be scaled historical society director. back.ThisprojectisnearandIn2019,aftertheLakeScugogHistoricalSociety dear to my heart, Peter com- agreed to spearhead the project, work got underway im-mented. He said he thoughtmediately. The project was downsized to incorporate the about the idea for a long time.years 1857 to 1930, which are considered public domain. J. Peter Hvidsten Five years ago, his plan gotPermission is needed to copy newspapers after 1930.othe ground, thanks to the support of the Lake ScugogProgress came to a screeching halt early in 2020 with Historical Society and generous donations from local or- theannouncementoftheCOVID-19pandemic,said ganizations and individuals. Peter. After a delay that lasted more than a year, digitiz-Our Digital World in Toronto, used to digitize the mi- ing over 20,000 pages of local newspapers wasnally cro lms of local newspapers, was an excellent companycompleted. to deal with, Peter stated. Please turn to page 30It all started in 1985, when Peter, asthepublisherofThePortPerry Star, undertook a project to micro lm Port Perrys local newspapers.More than 140 years of newspa-pers, dating from 1857 to 2000, were micro lmed producing 75,000 pages ofles, on approximately 100 rolls of micro lm.Duplicate copies of the micro lm were donated to the Scugog Shores Museum, Scugog Memorial Library and Uxbridge Public Library.Thirty-sixyearslater,Peterex-plained that the micro lm was dete-riorating with age.Mostoftheorganizationsno longer have micro lm readers, mak-ingresearchnearimpossible,he pointed out.Hehasto withhisownddle micro lm reader to make it work. Its falling apart after years of use.FOCUS - JULY 202129'