Thanks to continued funding from the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre and the generous loan of microfilms from the Sechelt Archives, the Sunshine Coast Museum and Archives in Gibsons is pleased to announce the addition of the entire run of the Peninsula Times newspaper to the on-line database of B.C. historical newspapers.
The Pen Times, as it was commonly referred to, was published in Sechelt from 1963 to 1980. For many years, the newspaper's masthead boasted "the largest circulation of any paper on the southern Sunshine Coast."
This addition of the Peninsula Times collection marks the completion of the second phase of the newspaper digitization project at the museum.
The project began in 2012 with the digitization and online launch of 37 years of the Coast News/Sunshine Coast News. By this spring, the final phase of the project will see the addition of the remaining issues of the Coast News (1978 to 1982, 1988, 1990 to 1995) to the publicly accessible database.
Published every week, as far back as 1945, the Coast News and the Peninsula Times provide a unique and insightful perspective on life here on the Sunshine Coast during the last half-century. From local politics, gossip, culture and the comings and goings of a community over time, the newspapers are an incredible source of information.
The Sunshine Coast Museum and Archives has housed these collections in its archives for years - large bound tomes that required gloved hands and careful attention when being handled. And they have been well used by many researchers who have consulted them for all kinds of reasons over the years.
With the support of the UBC Library Digital Initiatives team, the publications have been digitized and uploaded to the B.C. Historical Newspapers website. Each issue is searchable using keywords or dates, single pages can be downloaded in jpg format, and entire issues can be downloaded as PDF files. To access these newspapers, go to Collections on the museum website and look for Newspaper Archives (http://sunshinecoastmuseum.ca/collections), or go to the BC Historical Newspapers website (http://historicalnewspapers.library.ubc.ca).
