Information (from 1945) wants to be free

July 30, 2004 5:20 AM

Pages of the PastThe Toronto Star has digitized each of its issues from 1892-2001. And they're searchable. And they're online. Unfortunately, access starts at about a buck an hour—but 1945 is free!
posted by DrJohnEvans (7 comments total)

The first page used to be free...guess they were just getting us hooked.
posted by The Card Cheat at 5:49 AM on July 30, 2004

I wanted to see if they reported FDR's death on the day that it happened. If they printed a special edition, it's not included with the tease. Anyway, I found this gem in the April 12 edition:


posted by Mayor Curley at 5:52 AM on July 30, 2004

(I'm kidding. I'm well aware of the noble sacrifices that Canada made. But the main headline is real.)
posted by Mayor Curley at 5:53 AM on July 30, 2004

And if you're a Canadian, check the local library. They could very well provide free access to anybody with a valid library card. My university has "Pages of the Past", and the local public library has the Globe & Mail's equivalent, "Canada's Heritage from 1844".
posted by djfiander at 5:59 AM on July 30, 2004

In the corner of the page, there's a link to Paper of Record, which appears to gather a whole bunch of digitized historical newspapers. This could be a great time vacuum, so I'm glad it's not free!
posted by jmcnally at 9:09 AM on July 30, 2004

i thought everything was free up there.
posted by tsarfan at 3:12 PM on July 30, 2004

The Paper of Record site, unfortunately, is a rotten example of a digitized newspaper source. One, they let you search only one newspaper at a time. Two, they let you search only five years at a time. That means a search which on Proquest Historical Newspapers, American Periodical Series, or NewspaperrArchive.com which would take under 30 seconds can take hours on Paper of Record.
posted by Mo Nickels at 8:00 PM on August 1, 2004