The MHSO has amassed one of the most comprehensive collections of ethnic newspapers in Canada. Although it is composed primarily of 20th-century papers, it also includes a number of 19th-century publications. Hardcopy copies of over 610 newspapers have been assembled. They comprise the core of the collection. In 1988/89, the Society also began microfilming ethnic newspapers. To date, over 330 newspapers and periodicals from 51 ethnocultural communities have been microfilmed. They include the Chinese Shing Wah Yat Po, Hungarian Uj Szo, Italian Il Giornale di Toronto, Japanese Tairiku Jiho (Continental Times), and South Asian Canadian India Times. The MHSO ethnic newspapers collection is of great interest to individual readers, scholars, and libraries from around the world. For instance, an arrangement with a leading European publisher led to microfilms being deposited in the Leiden, Harvard, and Ohio State University libraries.
A number of the digitized newspapers are available through the Multicultural Canada and Connecting Canadians websites. The newspapers that have been digitized in the Society’s Strangers No More: Immigrant History and Multicultural Canada initiative will be accessible in the future through the Discovering Multicultural Canada archive.
Contact the MHSO by email at info@mhso.ca or by phone at (416) 979-2973 for information about accessing our collections.
