Acquisitions: Toronto Star Donates Complete Photo Archive (Over 1 Million Photos) to Toronto Public Library
From the Official Announcement:
Toronto Public Library and the Toronto Star are pleased to announce the gift of more than one million vintage photographs from the Toronto Star’s photo archive to the library’s Special Collections department.
The photo archive represents the complete photographic archive of the largest daily newspaper in Canada and includes unparalleled coverage of Toronto news, changing daily life, fashion and economic and social developments in the city between the years 1900 and 1999.
As of Monday, July 7, 2014, the majority of the photo archive will be freely available to students and researchers, as well as all members of the public, in the Marilyn & Charles Baillie Special Collections Centre on the 5th floor of the Toronto Reference Library.
Digitization of Photos?
A portion of the images will be available at a later date on the library’s digital archive.
From The Star:
Among the more famous images the Star is donating are a candid picture of former prime minister Pierre Trudeau sharing an umbrella with Queen Elizabeth, and first baseman Joe Carter leading celebrations after the Toronto Blue Jays won the 1992 World Series.
[Clip]Toronto’s outgoing chief librarian, Jane Pyper, said the library is thrilled about the donation.
“This photo archive is believed to be the only complete archive of Canadian news photographs spanning the entire 20th century,” Pyper said. “We are proud that we can now make this freely available at the library.”
See Also: The Marilyn & Charles Baillie Special Collections Centre Opened in February 2014
See Also: Toronto Public Library Board Considering a Toronto Music Library (June 23, 2014)
Filed under: Archives and Special Collections, Digital Preservation, Libraries, News, Public Libraries

About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.