Newspapers, perhaps even more so local and regional newspapers, are like the rings that thicken the inside of the trunks of lasting trees. Each ring explains, reveals, illustrates to us the memory of what we were, detailed, written and visual, with its own voice and accent, and thus proves that we are not just the ephemeral nature of the present nor the chance of the future. We are perennial and not ephemeral. Thick and not paper-thin.
But it is this paper and the thousands who have written on it and even more who have been counted on it that Rede Cultura 2027 - through a unique partnership initiated following the Congress "The Future of Our City" and affirmed among the Municipality of Leiria; the General Directorate of Books, Archives and Libraries and the Signis Foundation – rescues for an eternal and accessible memory, digitizing and making available the entire collection of “A Voz de Domingo” and “O Mensageiro”, two historical periodicals in the Region of Leiria.
How many news can be found in the 80 years of “A Voz de Domingo”? How many people and ideas reached others in the 99 years of “O Mensageiro”?
This Digital Hemeroteca will safeguard what we were through the eyes and feather of the reporters and chroniclers of “O Mensageiro” and “A Voz de Domingo”, who live in every reading we dedicate to them here and here, respectively.
The result of this preservation work was presented to the public on June 8, 2021 at the Leiria District Archive.