We wanted to give a huge shoutout and thank you to the Government of Ontario for allowing us to work alongside them on the Crown Land Survey Digitization project. The latest transfer of records represents the completion of the ‘Township Envelope Series’ – a collection of 140,000 historic Crown land surveys, sketches, reports, and field notes from across Ontario with the oldest original documents dating to 1797! These documents are incredibly important to the history of Ontario and play a vital role in supporting the business and legal needs of the MNRF, our partner ministries, Ontario Land Surveyors and industry stakeholders.
Here is a special thank you statement from the NDMNRF (Ministry of Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry):
This work began well over a year ago and each of you has played a role in helping OSG get to this milestone. When we reached out, you generously contributed your skills and expertise in archival records handling, digitization best practices, records management, power automation, contract and financial administration, and to a myriad of technical supports. From developing specifications and standards, packing (and unpacking!) tens of thousands of fragile documents, navigating shipping logistics and the art of loading a skid, trouble-shooting large-file transfers, to offering up emergency hard-drives and an emergency shoulder to cry on (you know who you are ) – your contributions to this project, both large and small, are greatly valued and appreciated. This has been a big undertaking for our small team and we couldn’t have gotten this far without you.
A special thank you is also owed to the Recovery & Renewal Secretariat and the Paper Record Digitization Project team for their significant ongoing funding and support of this work.
Of course, we’re not at the finish line just yet but we are one step closer to our larger goal of building a complete and trusted digital Crown Survey Records collection. More good things to come…
We are so proud of our dedicated and hardworking team for working on this project and we wanted to take this time to celebrate this amazing milestone and share it with you all.