The Leddy Library at the University of Windsor has received a donation of nearly 40 years of the local French-language newspaper Le Rempart, marking a significant step towards preserving and making accessible the cultural and historical records of Southwestern Ontario’s francophone community.
As far back as 2016, publisher and proprietor Denis Poirier began searching for a permanent home for the newspaper’s archive of back issues. He had already taken them home with him rather than see them end up in a dumpster, when Le Rempart had to move from the Place Concorde community centre to much smaller premises on Walker Road. Although this step preserved the newspapers, it was not a long-term solution to the question of access.
In 2024, the plight of Le Rempart’s back issues came to the attention of Leddy Library after an inquiry by Denise Leboeuf, a songwriter with roots in Essex County. While working on a project highlighting important moments in the history of the francophone community, she had found valuable online resources at the Leddy Library, including digitized copies of other francophone newspapers. She hoped to gain access to Le Rempart, a crucial source of insight into the local francophone community for the mid-to-late-20th century.
“Newspapers are enormously valuable as primary sources because they offer unique windows into the communities they serve,” says Leddy Library archivist Sarah Glassford. “No other single primary source offers such a wide range of insights into a community. The duration of Le Rempart’s
publication makes it especially valuable, as it tracks the unfolding history of the community it serves during decades of major social and cultural change.”
You can read more in an article at: https://tinyurl.com/5xwm56sv.