UCDSB Students Digitize the Past to Keep Local History Alive

Athens – A collaboration between Athens District High School and Brockville Collegiate Institute is helping preserve local history by bringing it into the digital age.

History students from both schools have partnered on a project to research, archive, and digitize stories and artifacts connected to the region’s past. Using a mobile digitizing lab, students are transforming fragile documents, photographs, clothing, and oral histories into a searchable digital collection that will be shared with the community through a dedicated website.

For many students, the project has reshaped how they view history.

“I didn’t really like history, but this project made me start loving it,” said Grade 11 student Katherine Pattemore. “We’re going places you don’t usually go, learning our history, and creating a website so everyone can access it.”

Throughout the semester, students visited local sites such as the Athens Museum and Fort Wellington in Prescott, while others conducted independent research connected to family histories or the broader Leeds and Grenville region. They scanned war letters, newspaper articles, and documents dating from the late 1800s to modern day, preserving materials that might otherwise be lost.

“A lot of history and artifacts end up in landfills,” said Grade 12 student Ellis Mordaunt. “Our goal is to preserve them on our website, especially local history.”

Students are also using a 3D imaging app to photograph historical clothing and artifacts, including wedding dresses from the 1940s and 1960s, a 1950s poodle skirt, and other delicate handmade items.

“Some of these items are fragile and disintegrating,” Pattemore said. “By digitizing them, that history can be preserved.”

Beyond physical artifacts, students captured living history by interviewing community members, including elders, war veterans, former educators, and residents of local long-term care homes. Grade 12 student Lilly Taylor focused much of her research on her own family’s contributions to the region.

“Being able to preserve history in this area while learning more about my own family has been very special,” Taylor said. “My great, great, great grandfather fought at the Fenian Raids in Prescott, and because of that, he was asked to play the bugle on Parliament Hill on the very first Canada Day in 1867.”

All collected materials are being organized into a student-designed website that will allow community members to explore local history in an accessible, modern format.

“Not everyone can get to a museum,” Mordaunt added. “A website makes it easier for people—especially our generation—to access this history.”

Athens District High School history teacher Shannon Campbell says the project reflects an important shift in how history is taught.

“More and more artifacts and stories are being lost,” Campbell said. “This project helps students understand why history matters while building practical skills in technology and preservation.”