TORONTO, Ont. — The Ontario Trucking Association (OTA) is digitizing its historical photo archive of more than 1,000 pictures depicting the evolution of trucking in Canada.

The OTA is storing the official Canadian Road Transport Archives in electronic format as part of its 80th anniversary celebrations, the organization has announced.

The photo collection ranges from when the first diesel truck was invented to today’s current models. It also features shots of the people who comprised the industry and memorable events and publicity campaigns.

“Among researchers and historians the OTA collection has been of considerable interest for many years,” said OTA president David Bradley. “The collection will now be even more accessible while at the same time be safeguarded against damage, loss and theft. The move to digitize the collection dovetails perfectly with OTA’s 80th anniversary.”

The collection was started in the 1950s and contains many rare images.

“The picture and images division of The Canadian Press is aware of the collection and plan to examine the collection in its entirety once it has been moved to electronic format,” says OTA communications manager Rebecka Torn. “At the present time we know we have a valuable collection which we want to preserve for the future.”

Once the collection is digitized, it will be available for viewing through the OTA Web site.