Brandon Sun archives find sanctuary in Winnipeg – Winnipeg Free Press

More than a century worth Brandon Sunarchives found a new permanent home in Winnipeg.

When Sun It sold its old building at 501 Rosser Ave. last year and its new home at Town Center Mall ran out of room for archival copies of paper plates dating back to the late 1800s.

The Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum, with the help of representatives from the Brandon General Museum and Archives and various volunteers, moved the archives into a historic World War II hangar room as a temporary measure to save them. landfill.

During the last week of March, the Manitoba Legislative Library organized a moving party to retrieve the archives and bring them to Winnipeg, where they will be cataloged and stored.

“Part of our mandate at the Legislative Library is to preserve Manitoba's print history,” said Stuart Hay, head of library reference services.

“We have been newspaper collectors for a long time. I think we have over 800 different newspaper titles in our collection. But for some reason we have a big gap Brandon Sun (problems) and it's a mystery.”

Reception Sun archives fill the gap in library holdings. The library has a collection of microfilms SunAccording to Hay, researchers looking for good quality images from older editions often get better results by looking at copies of the original print.

Staff are currently sorting the volumes to prepare them for cataloguing.

“We like to wrap them in thick brown kraft paper,” Hay said. “Then they are put on shelves on shelves. As long as they're out of the light and don't experience big swings in temperature and humidity, they'll be fine for decades and decades.”

Some materials are in better shape than others. However, Hay said it's not just a matter of age. This depends on the quality of the paper they are printed on, as well as how they are processed.

If the archives are in good condition, the patrons of the library can deal with them directly. Items in poor condition will still be available, but museum staff will process them for patrons. Some are so delicate that they may not be allowed to be released at all.

In addition to Manitoba newspapers, the library contains publications from trade and university presses, local history, and other materials published in and about Manitoba.

The Free press There are digital archives accessible at archives.winnipegfreepress.com. The Archives of Manitoba and the University of Manitoba have physical archives.

Haye didn't know when Brandon's archives would officially go into the stack, but thought it would be sometime this year.

This was announced by Stephen Hayter, executive director of the Commonwealth Air Museum Sun The archives' stay in their hangars was largely uneventful, except for a few visits for research purposes.

Heritage Minister Glen Simard, NDP MLA for Brandon East, said Sun helped arrange funding for library archiving.

“We wanted to make sure that once we lost the ability to store them … they were disposed of responsibly,” Simar said.

Brandon Sun managing editor Matt Herzen said he is delighted the archives have found a permanent home.

“For over 142 years Brandon Sun has played an important role in telling the stories of Brandon, western Manitoba and the province as a whole, and as a company we are proud of that legacy,” he said.

– Brandon Sun