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DIGITIZATION OF THE NOUVELLE-FRANCE HISTORICAL ARCHIVES
The result
of close cooperation between
the Direction des archives de
France and the National Archives
of Canada, initiated by the
Canadian Embassy in France,
the digitization of the historical
archives of Nouvelle-France
has enabled Canada and France
to become the first two countries
in the world to have a database
of their shared history entirely
available on line.
A veritable technological challenge,
specific tools (navigator, search
platforms) had to be developed
for the digitization project
to enable the general public
in both countries to discover
their common history, using
a new database containing some
600,000 documentary images and
about 1,000 cartographic records.
The undertaking, which is an
unprecedented archival feat,
aims to enter 1,000,000 documentary
images on line in the near future,
and 2,000,000 by 2005. It will
certainly be one of the most
extensive resources on Nouvelle-France
available to the international
scientific and genealogical
community.
On the occasion
of the launch of the portal
on http://www.archivescanadafrance.org
in early November 2003, Internet
users will be able to visit
the virtual exhibition entitled
[translation] Nouvelle-France:
New Horizons, History of a French
Land in North America. Focusing
on 12 topics that will illustrate
the life of the men who set
sail to settle in the New World,
the exhibition aims to revisit
the departure of French emigrants
to Nouvelle-France and life
in the colony from the 16th
to 18th century by examining
350 archival records, manuscripts,
printed documents, maps and
plans, portraits, prints and
medals selected for their visual
quality, representative nature,
emotional impact and eloquence.
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