General News
29 May, 2023
Clunes Museum to digitise historic papers
Newspapers going back 164 years will be preserved at Clunes Museum thanks to a grant from Hepburn Shire Council. The museum, which is run entirely by volunteers, will receive $2500 to digitize microfilm records. Peter Spark is the museum’s...
Newspapers going back 164 years will be preserved at Clunes Museum thanks to a grant from Hepburn Shire Council.
The museum, which is run entirely by volunteers, will receive $2500 to digitize microfilm records.
Peter Spark is the museum’s secretary and said the grant was great news for the community so its history could be safeguarded.
The grant will go towards turning microfilm of newspapers from 1859 to 1931 into PDFs.
“Microfilm is a very old way of looking at old records,” Mr Spark explained.
“We’ve got a microfilm reader but it’s old technology and we’ve had to get it fixed and it still doesn't work very well. The research officer at the museum needs to be able to access these records fairly easily to help people when we get enquiries.”
Mr Spark said the museum gets two or three research requests each week.
“It’s increased a lot over the last couple of years, I presume because of COVID, and people have got more time to sit down and do their family histories, I suppose,” he said.
The records begin in 1859 with microfilm copies of the Creswick and Clunes Advertiser.
The museum also has copies of the Clunes Gazette which began in 1863.
The paper later became the Clunes Guardian and Gazette, which is also stored on microfilm.
Clunes’ newspaper closed in 1966.
“Probably in five years’ time this will be obsolete,” Mr Spark said of the museum’s microfilm reader.
“If we don’t do it now, we’re not going to have access to these records.”
Volunteer researcher Allison Thorpe said digitizing the microfilm records into PDFs would make them “easer to access and read”.
Ms Thorpe said the research work “just gets you in” because the old papers were so interesting to read.
“It’s so addictive working here. It’s a good addiction. I love it, it just keeps you on the ball.” Ms Thorpe said.
Hepburn Shire Council mayor, Cr Brian Hood, said the community grants program aligned with the council’s “objective to support the strength and resilience of the community”.
“This funding makes a big difference to community groups when it comes to purchasing much-needed equipment or delivering a project,” he said.
The Clunes Museum was one of 12 community groups to receive funding in this round of grants.
“There are so many local groups doing wonderful things for our community and council is proud to support them,” Cr Hood said.
The Clunes Museum is welcoming new volunteers. If you are interested, please phone 5321-6132.