SLIDESHOW: The Toronto Star gives a century’s worth of photos to Toronto Public Library

During a press event this morning, Toronto Public Library announced that the Toronto Star has donated its entire archive of one-million-plus print photographs for permanent storage and display at the Toronto Reference Library’s Marilyn and Charles Baillie Special Collections Centre. The massive collection spans the entire century before the paper’s adoption of digital images in 1999.

The Star photos will be available for browsing starting July 7, and are expected to begin appearing online at some point in the near future. Users will be able to hunt for pictures of celebrities and local landmarks, or even long-lost relatives, tiddlywinks competitions or sideshow freaks.

While we wait for the archives to open to the public, here’s a small sample of what they contain. Click through to learn a little more about what was in the papers when these shots were taken.

See all 10 photos »