J_G:

I would like to offer to help in the way of providing PDFs of a few Vancouver Sun articles (from 1987 onward, but I suspect you already have the ones I've found and that these aren't as valuable as articles from before the 1970s), as well as PDFs of articles from the Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail if you can't get access to one or both of these latter two.

I could also arrange to scan some relevant pages from the 1979 book Making Connections: The Behind The Scenes Story and then send you the PDF.

I have some ideas about how you could conduct your research to search for and save articles for free using resources of the Vancouver Public Library. You have already probably thought of or tried some of these:

1. I think you and other library users are limited in the selection of the VPL's Vancouver Sun digital offerings, which I think go back only to 1987. However, there appear to be microfilm reels, and these would go much farther back. I am certain there is a way for you to search for the articles contained in microfilm or microfiche, and I suspect that doing so is much easier than it was even 10 years ago. If you get an overwhelming number of results, then I see how paying the newspaper's archivist would be worth your while.

2. You can access the Globe and Mail: Historical Newspapers (ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Globe and Mail) through the VPL--articles go back to 1844. Ask one of the library staff at a branch or, better yet, at the Central Library about using that database (if you don't already use it) and others. A librarian is usually always willing to help an author with how to do research for a book. Ask staff about access to the Toronto Star: Historical Newspapers--articles go back to 1894--and if you aren't offered access, I would be glad to use that database, search articles, save them as PDFs, and then send the PDFs to you by e-mail.

3. Ask library staff about some of the resources listed here:

http://www.vpl.ca/electronic_databases/cat/C530

In particular, ask about Infomart. You may discover that a good number of articles you need will be located through Infomart, after which you can pay for them individually or through some type of payment for a block of articles. I do not recommend using Infomart's Infoaction service (http://www.vpl.ca/electronic_databases/cat/C530) to find articles for you--that will be more expensive than paying the Vancouver Sun's archivist.

Please don't hesitate to ask followup questions or to seek clarification.