The Newmarket Historical Society is nearly halfway to its $32,000 fundraising goal to digitize the thousands of records that document the town’s rich history — and you are invited to help preserve the past by becoming a sponsor of the project.
The volunteer-run society earlier this year launched the archives digitization and preservation project that will see it hire a professional archivist who will transform a mountain of papers, historical documents, photographs and more into an online, searchable digitized database.
The treasure trove of Newmarket’s history is contained in the one-room archives at the Elman W. Campbell Museum on Main Street. It is currently closed to the public while the project is underway.
The society plans for a grand re-opening of the archives in mid-2020.
“It will make the experience so much easier and it encourages that continued passion and love of history and keeps Newmarket’s history alive,” society president Erin Cerenzia said.
“Even though we are a volunteer-run organization and the historical society is driven by volunteers, it’s critical for us to have a professional archivist because they will be dedicating their entire day, every day, to the project,” she said. “That technical and educational expertise is so important when you’re working with items of historic value and significance to make sure that they are treated, even handled in the proper way.”
So far, the society has raised just more than $15,000 to get the project off the ground. It is now offering sponsorship packages that range from $100 up to $5,000, and include benefits such as special signage within the new archives, VIP tickets to a re-opening event, and sponsor acknowledgement on marketing material.
Cerenzia said the society is working with Town of Newmarket staff who have expertise in applying for grants and funding opportunities. The town also donates the space for the archives at the museum.
“We’re very fortunate to have a town that supports and feels so deeply about the importance and significance of preserving its history,” Cerenzia said. “We are fortunate that we have amazing volunteers who have been volunteering in archives for many years, and new people who want to get involved.”
The new archivist will also be tapped to train the society’s team of volunteers so they have the knowledge they need to run the archives.
Here are some of the thousands of items to which Newmarket heritage lovers will soon have digital access:
- More than 2,500 images of Newmarket, ranging from tintype photographs, original photographs, postcards, drawings and posters
- Five official documents of the town from 1805 pertaining to land grants and indentures
- One of the most intact collections of a local newspaper, The Era, in the province of Ontario
- Early maps, books, family records and histories, business histories and town memorabilia
For more information about becoming a sponsor and about the archives digitization project, email Erin Cerenzia at [email protected], or call 905-806-1880.
You can visit the Newmarket Historical Society here.