UBC faculty, staff and students can now access the digital archives of the Vancouver Sun newspaper from 1912 to 2010. This is the second notable addition in the last 12 months to UBC Library’s collection of current and historical British Columbian newspapers. In June 2021, the library acquired access to The Province newspaper digital archives (1894 to 2010), a valuable new source for scholarship and teaching.
“I consider the digital archives of the Vancouver Sun to be an exceptionally valuable addition to UBC Library,” says Dr. Christopher R. Friedrichs, Professor Emeritus of History at UBC. “The Sun and The Province digital archives will be endlessly useful for historians and students interested in a broad range of topics in the political, economic, social and cultural history of British Columbia and Canada in the twentieth century.”
Like The Province digital archives, the Vancouver Sun archives are fully searchable and library users will have access to not only the articles, but to the entire published page.
“It is worth noting that for much of the twentieth century newspapers were the principal medium through which British Columbians learned about what was happening in the province as well as Canada and the world, and how editors chose to play specific news stories can provide significant insights into the importance attributed to the various local, national and international events of the day,” says Dr. Friedrichs.
UBC Library’s acquisition of these digital archives has in turn contributed to a consortia effort through the British Columbia Electronic Library Network (BC ELN), which together with The BC Libraries Cooperative, negotiates to makes licensed eResource materials available to partner libraries within the network at discounted prices by leveraging the buying power of provincial post-secondary institutions like UBC.
Through this collaborative licensing effort, all British Columbia and Yukon residents have free online access to three Canadian historical newspaper archives: the Vancouver Sun (1912-2010), the Times-Colonist (1884-2010) and The Province (1894-2010). These papers are part of the ProQuest Historical Newspapers collection.
The Vancouver Sun digital archives are available remotely to all UBC Library users with a CWL through Index and Databases and the library catalogue.
Explore the Vancouver Sun archive.
This project is part of UBC Library’s strategic direction to create and deliver responsive collections.
Learn more about our Strategic Framework.
