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Newspapers



The limited financial resources of repositories to store vintage newspapers
is often cited as an excuse to authorize their disposal, having been
"permanently stored" on microfilm.

Our historical society's photo reproduction department is about the only
program the society has that brings in six figure amounts of revenue for
services rendered every year.  One frequently requested item is high quality
newspaper reproductions for corporate clients.  Many businesses' biggest
asset is their history (Levi's, or the Pendleton Woolen Mills for example)
and many companies are spending five figure amounts trying to get it back, I
am sure there are many people on this list who encounter this.

It is common to enlarge old newspapers to mural size for decoration in their
offices, restaurants, etc., These can be billed for $50 to $200 each.  But
you must have the source material, and microfilms just don't cut it.  Your
storage of these could be paid for from the money you generate using it.
This would enhance your public image as well, because it places your
institution's holdings in very high visibility locations.

What if your local (present day) newspapers were to run a story: "The Outer
Baldonian's morgue was donated to the Historical Society.  After
microfilming, all of the newspapers were discarded.  (pick one:) The
microfilms are illegible, the microfilms were lost, the original newspapers
had a collector's value of thousands of $$$, they said they were going to
preserve them,  etc.

Two days ago, a major library was able to send me a 60 meg RGB tiff file on
CD of a 1902 newspaper article.  I could have had it in 24 hours by Fed X,
but USPS Priority was fine for my needs.  This would have been impossible
with microfilm, the fastest anyone can get that is by some glacial ILL deal,
and many institutions (like a place I won't name in Kansas) refuses to send
film. Even when they do, they are often scratched terribly, and then my only
recourse is to spend more than $50 ordering a new print of the film.

Also, it is likely that within the course of many of our lifetimes, scanners
and text recognition programs will become good enough so that newspapers
will need to be digitized by scanning.  The microfilms are, in so many
cases, just not good enough for this.  Access to the originals, be they in
whatever condition, is paramount.

It is not true that all old newspapers turn into 'corn flakes.'  Many
printed in the 1800s are on perfectly good paper and are still very safe and
easy to handle.

Newspaper microfilms are subject to deterioration, and without boring
everyone with the fine points,  most institutions do not store it at 40
degrees and 25% rh, so it is guaranteed not to last forever.  Some
microfilms are less permanent than the brittle newspapers they were supposed
to preserve.

It is rare to meet professional library microfilm curators who really care
about the specifics of original newspapers and microfilm,  for most of them
it is just a J-O-B cataloging and administrating.  I see little passion for
newspapers, printing and paper history, typography, engraving, etc. among
them.  Look at the history of art in your state, here in Oregon one of the
most highly regarded Afro-American artists of the 19th century was employed
for a while making engravings for papers; discarding them would be a tragic
loss, and do you think the person in charge of microfilms & newspapers even
has a clue about this?  Because of this, I recommend that institutions keep
newspapers until talented, resourceful, and imaginative workers step forward
to take care of them.
--
Thomas Robinson
441 NE Jarrett
Portland OR 97211-3126

visit my website at
www.HistoricPhotoArchive.com

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