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Winona State University’s newspaper project — an online searchable archive of Winona’s daily newspapers — this spring grew to include issues up through 1946. But users will have to wait at least another year for anything more recent.
The project was launched in September 2005 and included papers from 1855 through 1925.
The public can access the archive through the WSU library Web site and browse newspapers by year and date to look at pages, read articles or advertisements. Users can also search using keywords and names to find individual stories and pictures of interest.
The project provides “the WSU community with an important primary resource that has historical value,” said Joe Mount, WSU acquisitions librarian. “We do have national newspapers, so it made sense to add materials that would serve the WSU community and ideally the entire state.”
Since Feb. 19, the site had about 3,000 visits from 1,000 individuals, said Vernon Leighton, chairman of the WSU library department. Most visitors are from the area, but there has been at least one visitor from 44 states and 16 different countries.
Most visitors outside of the area have been accessing it through genealogical Web sites, Mount said.
“We assumed it would be quite popular but just really had no idea of the kind of volume we would be looking at,” he said. “The number of people outside of Minnesota has surprised us.”
So far, the archive has cost the library about $250,000, Leighton said.
Future additions will mainly depend on cost, Mount said. The library hopes to bring the archive up to the Vietnam War era.
“Pricing is the big question,” Mount said.
The Minnesota Historical Society held microfilm of the Winona newspapers up to 1946. Issues more recent than that are held by Heritage Microfilm in Iowa.
Jeff Brown, Heritage Microfilm upper Midwest account manager, said the library would not incur extra costs to digitize the film.
“It’s (Winona Daily News’) film; we are storing it for them,” he said.
Mount said the library will look at their budgets next year to determine if adding to the archive is a possibility.
“It’s a priority for us, but we have more than one priority,” he said.
The Archive
What: The Winona Newspaper Project is online at www.winona.edu/library (click on “newspapers”).
Cost: Free
No computer? You can view the archives using computers at Krueger Library at Winona State University, 176 W. Mark St., or at the Winona Public Library, 151 W. Fifth St.
Emily Kaiser can be reached at (507) 453-3541 or ekaiser@winonadailynews.com.
