Browse The Glengarry News

I'm a sceptic when it comes to claims such as that included in the latest OGS weekly eNewsletter that the Glengarry County Archives, in Alexandria, is the largest archives in Eastern Ontario. On what basis, floor-space, volume of the collection, visitors? The claim is taken from the archives website.

However, the claim achieved the objective in encouraging a virtual visit where I learned that browse images of The Glengarry News, a weekly, published from 1892 to 1956, and the short-lived Glengarrian from 1895 to 1898, are online. The images are from microfilm so the quality is poor. If you're hunting for news for a specific date, perhaps a family event, death of a local soldier or other locally newsworthy happening this is a resource you'll want to consult. With no OCRing there's no realistic expectation of successfully fishing for casual mention of a person who was, say, a long time resident.

I checked for reports on a major late December 1942 storm only to find that the paper was unable to publish full editions for three weeks owing to general lack of power. When they were able to report on the storm the copy was largely illegible. Photos in the January 24 edition of Bell repairmen at work, again poor microfilm copy, had a caption that the weight of ice was estimated as 24 ounces per foot of wire, and that it was the worst such storm in 40 years between Ottawa, Montreal and Brockville. That would put it in league with the 1998 ice storm in the hardest-hit areas with 100 mm of ice accretion.