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Newspapers



As someone is is currently examining 100 year old newspapers to try to write the history of an organization that has left no records of its own, I consider reports from weekly newspapers a primary source with just as much reliability (or lack thereof) as any other primary source.  A newspaper article that reports events that occur within the previous couple of days is just as reliable a primary source as is correspondence or any other documentation contemporaneous with the event or events described.  Newspapers, whether in original format, microfilm, or clippings are important sources of information for a wide variety of research topics, many of which have been mentioned by previous writers on this subject.

I hate to bring of the Nicholson Baker subject again, since it has been discussed at infinitum with a great deal more heat than light, but an interesting article appeared in the local newspaper yesterday that casts some light on the subject.  The article is titled, "Losing our printed heritage," and is written by Howard Kleinberg, a former editor of the Miami News.  He managed to rescue a number of years ago the first two years of Miami's first newspaper.  The newspaper had been microfilmed but "was in such bad condition (it was being eaten by its nitrate content) that it had to be jettisoned.  Gone were 90 years of a newspaper."  Two other copies of the microfilm still exist, but they will not stand the test of time.  The address of The Day (New London, CT) is: 

http://www.theday.com/region/perspective.asp?page=1.  

See the section Voices and Views and the title "Losing our printed heritage."  If the address somehow does not work, simply go to http://www.theday.com and scroll around.



Bruce P. Stark
Assistant State Archivist
Connecticut State Library
231 Capitol Avenue
Hartford, CT 06106
860-757-6512

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