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What's New

A New Exhibition Celebrates the Ottawa Citizen's 160 Years

Ottawa, October 19, 2005 - A colourful new exhibition, entitled Scoop! A Salute to 160 Years of the Ottawa Citizen, officially opened today at Library and Archives Canada. The exhibition, presented by the Ottawa Citizen and Library and Archives Canada, features some of the newspaper's memorabilia, photographs and illustrations. It is enriched by items from the art, photography and manuscript collections of Library and Archives Canada, as well as by artifacts from the Canada Science and Technology Museum.

The documents and artifacts are arranged according to eight themes, such as "From Lumber Town to Metro," "Lifestyles," "Tragedies" and "Government and Politics." This eclectic mix of subject matter shows the visitor how the newspaper and Ottawa have evolved over the last 160 years.

In addition to an 1846 edition of the newspaper, first called The Packet, the exhibition displays a letter written to the editor of the Citizen by Louis Riel shortly before his execution, a tiny First World War diary kept by a Canadian soldier, and editorial cartoons on a range of political issues. For those interested in print history and typography, the exhibition includes various production tools and type from the Citizen's earlier days, such as a cabinet drawer containing brass type and a Ludlow typesetter that produced lines of type twice as fast as type set by hand.

"Canadian newspapers, including the Ottawa Citizen, consistently rank among the most consulted records of Library and Archives Canada holdings," said Ian E. Wilson, Librarian and Archivist of Canada. "Newspapers are a witness to history-they interpret national and international events and reflect local sentiment; they educate, entertain and inform all in one edition."

Scoop! A Salute to 160 Years of the Ottawa Citizen will run from October 20, 2005 to April 14, 2006, in Exhibition Room D, 395 Wellington Street, from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. daily. Admission is free.

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Information:
Pauline M. Portelance
Media Relations Officer
Library and Archives Canada
613-996-6128

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