The Riverside branch of the Windsor Public Library has a new digital scanner to help preserve the area's history.
To help commemorate the centennial of the Town of Riverside the library has launched the Riverside Memories Project. The project aims to collect photos, documents, personal letters and family histories of the residents of Riverside.
"There's actually very little in our archives or anywhere else about the history of Riverside and that got us thinking about that perhaps we should take the lead and start to collect some of those original resources before they get lost," said Windsor Public Library CEO Kitty Pope.
Ward 6 Councillor Joanne Gignac used $15,000 of her ward funds to purchase the Image Access Bookeye® Scanner to assist with the project and give all residents of Windsor the opportunity to digitize their old family photos and mementos.
"We want to encourage people to come and get them digitally reproduced and to share those copies with us so that we can start documenting," said Gignac.
The scanner is designed to be user-friendly and delivers professional images in various formats. All scans can be saved directly onto a USB drive or emailed. If the resident agrees to donate the photos or documents to the library archives, the library will provide a USB.
"Of course this is a branch of the Windsor Public Library so anybody across the city who has a library card is welcome to come in and use it as well. It really is a community resource," said Pope.
The official celebration for the Township of Riverside centennial has been put off a year due to COVID-19.
