Carnegie Project - Indexing is Old News
The Carnegie building opened its doors to the public in 1903, as Vancouver’s first public library. In 1957, it became the City Museum and, after ten years of being empty, reopened as Carnegie Community Centre on January 20, 1980. Since reopening in 1980, Carnegie Community Centre has served as an important refuge for residents of the Downtown Eastside, acting as its ‘community living room’.
Carnegie Community Centre offers a safe, drug and alcohol free environment where patrons can access the following resources:
- Vancouver Public Library Reading Room
- Seniors Centre
- Weight Room
- Learning/Literacy Centre
- Kitchen – 3 Nutritional Meals a Day and Snacks
- Art Gallery
- Auditorium and Gym
- Dark Room and Pottery Room
Carnegie Community Centre is operated by over 400 volunteers who dedicate their time, knowledge and expertise to helping people living in ‘Canada’s poorest postal code’. Among these volunteers is an individual by the name of Paul Taylor who serves as Editor of the Carnegie Newsletter, a newsletter dedicated to providing information for individuals in the Downtown Eastside.
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CARNEGIE NEWSLETTER
The first edition of the Carnegie Newsletter was published on August 15, 1986. Prior to this, a much more limited version of the Newsletter had been in print since 1982. Since its first publication in August of 1986, the Carnegie Newsletter has become instrumental in taking the pulse of its readers and contributors. Filled with stories of friendship, community, and triumph, the Carnegie Newsletter is a voice of Downtown Eastside residents and a rich piece of Vancouver history. Its covers are adorned with the work of local artists and its pages are carefully contructed to address the most pressing issues of the day.
The History Group came upon the Carnegie Newsletter in 2005, out of an interest in lending its expertise to assisting in the community. Our team was more than a bit excited to be handed an archive of close to 500 Newsletters dating back to the first publication. After a thorough review, we set about designing a system of indexing that would adequately capture the level of detail that would be useful to all stakeholders.
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PARTNERSHIP WITH SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
In 2006, The History Group was approached by a member of the Community Health Online Digital Archive Research Resource (CHODARR) at Simon Fraser University to form a partnership that would see the Carnegie Newsletter Index included in a larger database of community sources. In 2007, after ironing out all of the technical and operational details, the Carnegie Community Centre Association, CHODARR, and The History Group Inc. signed a Collaborative Agreement for the cataloguing and indexing of the Carnegie Newsletter.
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PROJECT UPDATE
The History Group is in the final stages of indexing as the Simon Fraser University Library undertakes the scanning of each Newsletter. Once the Newsletters are scanned and the index is completed, the two will be linked together in a database that will be accessible to any and all interested parties. We are excited by the approaching launch and will update our site when we arrive at this milestone!
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