Internet Archive Canada (IAC) and the Multicultural Historical Society of Ontario (MHSO) are pleased to announce a new partnership that will significantly enhance public access to a unique collection of historical newspapers documenting the experiences of immigrant, ethnic and racialized communities in Ontario and across Canada.
In this collaboration, digitized historical newspapers stewarded by the MHSO will be made freely available at https://archive.org/details/mhso where they can be accessed and used by the public. The newspapers were previously hosted, with other archival materials contributed by the Society, in Simon Fraser University Library’s Digital Collections. Migration to IAC ensures the long-term preservation and open accessibility of a significant, irreplaceable historical resource.
The IAC/MHSO partnership begins with the launch of four foundational titles:
- Canadian Jewish Review (1921-1966)
- The Canadian Jewish News (1960-1993)
- The New Canadian (1939-1985)
- L’Ami du Peuple (1942-1968)
These four newspapers present diverse voices and perspectives and reveal the oftentimes difficult histories of Jewish Canadian, Japanese Canadian, and Franco-Ontarian communities during the 20th century. They are essential primary sources for scholars, educators, community historians, and members of the public, offering insights into migration, community formation, cultural identity, civil and human rights activism, and pluralism in Canada.
Dr. Julia Rady, MHSO Chair/President, welcomes the partnership with IAC. “Ethnic and francophone newspapers were vital instruments for community members to engage with and express their views on contemporary events. These newspapers both reflected and shaped the experiences of the communities they served. The MHSO is delighted that, through our collaboration with IAC, there is now a single platform for people to discover and research these important resources, preserving their legacy for generations to come.”
Each newspaper has been digitized and processed using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software, supporting full-text search capabilities. This significantly enhances accessibility and research potential, especially for those undertaking work in local and family history, community-based heritage projects, and diaspora studies. Additional titles from the MHSO’s extensive newspaper collection will be added in the coming months.
This initiative is part of Internet Archive Canada’s broader commitment to support equitable access to heritage materials and to amplify voices that reflect the full spectrum of Canada’s multi-faceted past. It also continues the MHSO’s longstanding efforts, through its work to preserve records and share histories, to create a deeper understanding, across communities, of our various historical experiences and to enhance appreciation of the profound importance of diversity to Canada’s social and economic development.
For more information about this initiative, please contact: Internet Archive Canada at info@archive.org or the Multicultural History Society of Ontario at info@mhso.ca