Hi all,
I was wondering if anybody knew where I could access to some old newspapers based in Alberta. I’ve been working on expanding information about the Calgary music scene in MusicBrainz, and I’ve been getting to a point where finding information on some bands online has been a pain with some having next to no information online.
Thanks for any help in advance!
Have you tried libraries in the area?
Not in Alberta, but here in the States, libraries typically have newspaper archives that may be accessible online
I actually remember the Calgary Library having some solid resources listed when I was a regular patron there a few years back. I still have my card, so I’ll be sure to check. Thanks a million for the suggestion!
They have killer electronic resources too, so you might not even need to physically go.
It’s been a long time since I lived in a major centre, but I remember there being “reference desks” at main branches that could basically help you find anything. Sometimes materials or copies could be brought in, but it was often necessary to travel to where it was kept.
Alberta has its own provincial archives. Never been but it sounds like everything is available on microfilm at the physical location. You got newspapers from all sorts of towns big and small dating back about a century.
Website was a little janky on mobile but it’s probably more beneficial to go in person to find what you want anyways!
I actually used to live super close to it! I’ve used the microfilm on site years ago, but unfortunately I’ve moved to Calgary. :(
“unfortunately I’ve moved to Calgary.”
This made me giggle.
Your local nerd to the rescue (hopefully not too late)!
You are absolutely going to want a library card to save you a lot of searching time. Here are some of the online resources you can use once you have one:
I used to work for the Alberta Heritage Digitization Project, in the mid 2000’s. We were scanning all the newspapers on microfiche from the late 1800s to like 2000 i think. A quick search looks like Calgary public has access, if not we were based at the u of c. They probably have it hosted somewhere.
