08 October 2019

City of Ottawa Archives Update

A short report on the City of Ottawa Archives activities was given at Sunday's AGM of the Friends of the City of Ottawa Archives. It was presented by John Lund on behalf of City Archivist Paul Henry.
Highlights.
Archivists continue to work on the backlog including cataloguing at the file rather than the box level.
The last major photo digitization project was 3,000 images of Centretown and Lowertown in support of heritage studies.
City Hall saw continuing development of the Postcards from Ottawa exhibit, in its second year, and the Archives took over responsibility for the Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame. Work on other smaller exhibits continued.
Online access to the Ottawa Journal, available from newspapers.com through an agreement with the Archives, exceeds 1 million views per year and growing.
Archives staff remain ready to advise local organizations wishing to maintain their own archives.
The City Archives acquires about 5% of all City records.
The Archives has a staff of 16 including two vacant technician positions that are being filled.
Asked about funding for the coming year John indicated he expected the Archives funding to keep pace with that for the City at large.
Published family histories with a local component could find a place in the OGS Library housed at the Archives building. Only manuscripts would find a place in the Archives.
The Archives is interested in material that shows how individuals contributed to the City. In these days, when offspring may not have the interest or space to accept your documentary (not artifactual) heritage, the Archives may be a suitable repository.





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