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2 -- PORT PERRY STAR ANNIVERSARY ISSUE -- Tuesday September 20, 1988 Researching the history of print by J. Peter Hvidsten . Publisher, Port Perry Star What you see before you started out as a small project, but turned into a monumentous task, taking well over a year of research, preparation and pro- duction. When the idea was first conceived last fall, to publish a 25th Anniver- sary issue, | anticipated a supplement of about twelve to sixteen pages. As you can see (and feel) the idea devel- oped into a full-scale newspaper, Dear Sir: many readers. It is my pleasure to extend warm congratulations to the staff and management of the Port Perry Star as you celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the paper's stewardship by the Hvidsten family. Throughout the 123 years of continuous publication, the Port Perry Star and its forerunner, the Port Perry Standard, have played an important role in fostering a sense of community pride and spirit, while exemplifying a tradition of responsible journal- ism through coverage of events which have affected the lives of To your staff, may I extend my gratitude for their journalistic dedication and diligence which has contributed to the success of this newspaper and provided a valuable service to the people of Port Perry and Scugog Township. On behalf of the Government and the people of Ontario, please accept my sincere best wishes as you mark this important milestone. I can think of no finer tribute ro the paper's achievements and contributions than to express the hope that it will contin- ue to serve its community with the same dedication and pride. September, 1988 David Peterson Premier of Ontario OTTAWA 1988 Dear Sir: On behalf of the Government of Canada, I am delighted to extend my warmest greeting and sincere best wishes to the publisher, staff and readers of the Port Perry Star as you commemorate 123 years of continuous publication and the 25th anniversary of your newspaper's acquisition by the Hvidsten family. Canadians may take great pride in the role that local newspapers play in the growth and development of communities throughout our nation. They provide authoritative insight into local issues from a regional perspective, report on news and newsmakers, and provide a wealth of information on community events and on daily living. I trust that this year will be produc- tive and rewarding and may I wish each of you success in meeting the challenges of the future. Yours truly, Brian Mulroney Prime Minister Canada To say | am pleased with the re- sults is an understatement. The many hours spent poring through aging old newspapers, researching microfilm copies dating back to 1857, scanning old files of negatives, processing pho- tographs and talking to relatives and friends of the former publishers, ap- pears to have paid off. [ am sure there will be some read- ers of this issue that will find that all of the information presented is not accurate or complete. Knowing this is quite possible, we can only apolgize now, "for what we did not know," and at the same time assure you that we did everything in our power to make sure the information was as accurate as possible. Trying to record the history of the newspapers has taken over two years, and at times has been very frustrat- ing. I imagine it would be comparable to a private investigator who keeps running into dead-ends at almost eve- ry turn. But while there were many frus- trations trying to compile the infor- . mation, there were also "highs", when information was found that had taken months of research and finally paid-off. One of these "highs" was finding the picture and information on Ed- ward J. Mundy, the first proprietor and Publisher of the Port Perry Stan- dard. Most of the historical information on the newspapers had been compiled for months, and I had all but given up ever finding anything about Edward Mundy, when a couple of clues lead me to Oshawa were he had published a newspaper after leaving Port Perry. The excitement of finding Mundy's picture was enough to make me let out a cry of joy, before realizing I was in the middle of the public library. Much of what you will read in this special issue was possible only because of the extreme kindness and help of many, many people. My "Thanks" to: Len Green, cura- tor of Scugog Shores Museum, who let me search through countless files of old newspapers and photographs; Mr. Allan McGillvary, curator of the Ux- bridge-Scott Museum, who gave me the "tip" which lead to finding Mundy's photograph; Dr. Matthew B. Dymond for his interesting article about Port Perry of the past; Brian Winter of the Whitby Historical So- ciety; Nora Hurd of the Oshawa Sy- denham Museum; Marg Jackson from the Robert McLaughlin Gallery; the people at the Ontario Archives in To- ronto; the Ontario Community News- paper Association, who microfilmed the entire volume of the Port Perry Star; members of the Sam Farmer family who supplied photographs and information; my wife, Nancy, for the hours she spent re-searching and typing the 25 year re-cap, and the staff at the Port Perry Star for putting up with me during the preparation of this issue. As you read through this issue you will notice that the copy has been set in various type-styles and sizes. This was done purposely to give you an idea of how the old newspapers looked. It was not uncommon to see various typestyles and sizes through- out a newspaper because the printers may not have had enough characters to finish their article in the same style. Also included within the first sec- tion of this issue you will find; copies of old newspaper mastheads, adver- tisements, Correspondence (known to- day as letters to the editor), articles run in the early issues, and a few his- torical stories. We hope you will en- joy them all. The second section of our 25th An- niversary Issue is devoted almost en- tirely to the stories that became the news over the past quarter century. It is quite probable many of you will find your name or picture printed in this section, and we hope that it will bring back some fond memories. Printing our history, so soon after it has happened (last 25 years) could also bring back some sad memories that we would all like to forget. But we felt, since this paper will become a "special historical issue" that will be looked at generations from now, it was important to include both the happy and sad news. Finally, compiling this issue be- came a "labour of love" for me over the past year, and as Nancy says, I became obsessed with assembling the history of the newspapers. With this in mind, I hope you will find the stories and reports contained within these pages interesting, enjoy- able and informative reading. About the front page of our 25th Anniversary Special issue The front page of this sepe- cial 25th Anniversary Issue is somewhat busy, but has been de- signed to give readers a feel for the styles used by newspaper publishers over a century ago. At the top of the page is a masthead which reads "Ontario Observer." This masthead repre- sents the first newpaper in the area, being published from Prince Albert in 1857. The first publisher of that newspaper was James Holden, and his photo is at the top right of the page. The first newspaper to be pub- lished in Port Perry was started in 1866, and the masthead in the center of the page entitled "The Port Perry Standard" represents that publication. Its first pub- lisher was Edward J. Mundy, and his photo appears in the top left hand side of the page. The Port Perry Standard eventually became known as the Port Perry Star, sometime in the early 1900's. Sam Farmer com- menced publication of the Star on October 2, 1907 and the masthead at the bottom of the page repre- sents that change in ownership and name. The photograph which ap- pears below the fold was taken in 1939 in front of the Port Perry Star with employees (from left) Geo. R. Davey, Bruce F. Beare, Irving Boyd. Publisher, Sam Farmer is at the far right. My thanks to Bruce Beare for the loan of the photo.