Windsor Star printing plant workers plead to preserve century-old archives

The final day of local printing for the Windsor Star is just days away and with that, the loss of more than 75 jobs at the Starway plant as the newspaper printing operations move to Toronto.

“And after that the facility will cease to exist,” said Colin Brian, a long-time worker at the plant and president of Unifor local 517-G.

But Brian urges there are other considerations to take into account as the plant winds down operations.

The fourth generation printer was before Windsor city council Monday ensuring other interests stay top of mind: the Windsor Star’s vast archive collection.

“The history that's there belongs to the community,” he said. “That's our community's history and photos and stories.”

Brian recalls the archives were moved from the Star’s original Ferry Street location to the offices at Ouellette Avenue. When that office closed recently, the archives were moved yet again, this time to the printing plant.

With the looming closure of that facility after the last shift Friday, he wants to ensure the nearly century-old collection of documents, articles, photos and more is preserved by newspaper owner, Postmedia.

Colin Brian, a long-time workers at the Windsor Star’s production facility examines files from the Star’s vast archives on Wednesday, March 1, 2023. (Rich Garton/CTV News Windsor)

“I know they are in discussions, but they have not dedicated themselves and I think they're looking for a financial opportunity, in my opinion,” said Brian.

Postmedia won’t say what will ultimately happen to the archives, but the company’s communications vice president Phyllise Gelfand said in a statement: “we will not be destroying or disposing of the archives.”

It appears there are local suitors prepared to take on the task.

“We've expressed our interest to Postmedia in stewarding either part or all of that collection for the long term. So we're just waiting to have those discussions with them,” said Sarah Glassford, an archivist and historian with the University of Windsor’s Leddy Library.

“Newspapers are one of the most amazing legacies of past generations that we have,” she said. “It's there in print, people have put down their ideas and they've been photographed and it's captured in a way that's really easy to use.”

Glassford says the university has the facilities, acid-free folders, special boxes, climate controlled and secure spaces to store the material, not to mention a wealth of expertise to properly catalogue the historical documents to be used as a community resource.

“We would hope to provide all those levels of protection to this collection, as well as to organize it, as it has suffered a little bit in some of its moves,” she said.

On Monday, city council agreed to write a letter to Postmedia to advocate on behalf of workers and to encourage the company to secure the Star’s long archival history.

“The historical information. It is so vitally important for our community to have that,” said Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens.