By Emily Stonehouse
We always find a theme in our papers. One specific thread that seems to weave through our words, and when I tug at that thread, I generally find my topic for an editorial. The last piece of the puzzle each week.
And while there was council and conflict, disputes and differences, the theme for me this week was simple.
Our history.
It came to life on Oct. 7, in the form of a digital archiving system. A project that has been underway for two years found its way to light, and with it, came our opportunity to take a looking glass to the past.
With over 7000 issued filed, containing over 170,000 pages, absolutely anyone can search the archives for anything they may need. Historically, our archiving system was sub-par, with about a decade of documents digitized, with the rest stored in banana boxes for safekeeping. (Not sure how safe those would be in the case of a flood or a fire, but no system is perfect.)
And of course, the first thing everyone with access to this resource will do, is search their own names. There are the big names that are found in seconds. Mayors, real estate agents, writers. Hundreds of hits identified, and a blast from the past as they’re sorted.
But that’s not the story here.
It’s not about the ones with the hundreds of hits, while they have indeed made their mark on our communities.
It’s about the ones with five, six, seven, eight hits. I was with a friend the other day, and I showed him the resource. Anyone can access it. The first thing he did was look up his grandfather. He remembered cutting out the page that had his feature on it, he shared that with pride.
Then he said, “look up my name. There probably won’t be anything.”
There were eight hits. There was a photo of him playing in the school band. A quote from him in Grade 3 about what he was thankful for at Thanksgiving. A prize he had won at the local Legion. His graduation photo. He scrolled through each and every paper, memories flooding his face. He looked at the names that surrounded his own, the faces that framed him, the individual moments in time, captured for the community.
Newspapers have a way of weaving together all the threads of the community. And threads vary. Some are frayed, some are dyed, some are twisted and curled. Some have depths of colour, others are feathered with time.
But together, they weave and wind together to create a patchwork of personalities, a quilt of qualities, a canvas of community.
We are only as strong as our weakest knot.
To see your name included in this archive of community history, to know that in some part, either big or small, you contributed to the quilt, that’s validating. That makes you feel seen, feel heard, feel like you are a part of something much bigger than yourself.
Thank you to the team who brought this resource to life. It can be viewed at www.hhda.ca, and is currently live for anyone interested.
Our stories connect us; to our past, our present, our future. And in order to look forward with hope and promise, we must take the time to look back at the lives woven together to create our path.
