Founded by German Mennonites in the early 19th century, Berlin (now Kitchener) and Waterloo were thriving cities when Peter Moyer published the first edition of the Berlin Daily News on February 19, 1878. Now called the Waterloo Region Record, the newspaper’s commitment to top-notch reporting and community involvement is nowhere more evident than in “Flash from the Past,” a weekly column devoted to preserving the region’s past.

In 2006, Record librarian Chris Masterman began inviting readers to share memories sparked by photos she unearthed from the newspaper’s archive, a tradition carried on by columnist Jon Fear. Their responses tell the stories that history forgot—the treasured memories and careful details that make a community its own, forging a relationship between the Record and its readers that set a new standard for newsrooms across the country.

Marking the 140th anniversary of the Waterloo Region Record’s publication, Flash from the Past: 140 Photographs from the Waterloo Region Record showcases the column’s best. Lovingly curated by Fear and Masterman, this one-of-a-kind collection celebrates the history of the area and those dedicated to preserving it.