Scan-a-thon in Halifax helps make images from the past more accessible

People in Halifax were able to digitize their historical photographs on Sunday and share thempublicly as part of an initiative by the Halifax municipal archives.

The archives held a Scan-a-thon at the Halifax Central Library for members of the public to bring in treasured photographs, slides and negativesthat showed local history.

Municipal archivist Susan McClure said the archives are looking for any historical photos, including neighbourhoods, construction projectsand pictures connected to the railway.

McClure said Halifax is changing constantly and having a record of the past is important.

"It's not just about nostalgia," she said.

"It's for understandingwhat life was like for people ... and the background for why decisions were made and how things have changed."

McClure said the scanned images from Sunday will be availableon the archives'website and database, joining around 30,000 images already available.

She said people from all over the world use the archives to research genealogy or to gatherbackground for books that document important events in Halifax's history.

According to McClure, six people turned up for the scan-a-thon.

She said one man, Jeff Ward, came in with a collection ofmore images than could be scanned in one day. She said arrangements are being made for him to come back to have the entire collection scanned.

Ward, a retired planner,said he has been acquiring photographs attributed to certain photographers.

On Sunday, he was at the library with a collection of about 30 railway-related photographs taken by Walter G. MacLaughlan just prior to the Halifax Explosion in 1917.MacLaughlanwas a prominent photographerat the time.

He said the photographs appear to have been taken for Canadian National Railways and may have been in their files in Montreal or Moncton, N.B.,before ending up on eBay where he found them.

The photographs show people working on the railway cut and the related bridges while under construction and just after construction.

"A very significant part of Halifax's nature, its makeup, is the rail line and the bridges that go across them," Ward said.

McClure said Sunday's event was meant to generate publicity,but the archive will accept material for its collection at any time.

People who want to contribute can email or phone the archive and bring in their material to have it scanned and returned to them.

She said it isimportant that people include tags and descriptions on their images to help people identify them in the future.

"We know people have a lot of great material intheir homes thatneed to be preserved," she said.