A group of Oconto County historians is working to make thousands of pages of newspaper archives available to the public online.
Through the collaboration of the Oconto County Genealogical Society, The ResCarta Foundation, Oconto County Technology Services Department and the Oconto County Historical Society, a searchable online resource (wiocgs.org/digitizeoconto) has been developed featuring digital copies of historic newspapers of the county.
“It’s an elaborate project, and it sure is working well,” said Jake Jacobs, a Digitize Oconto County project co-chairman.
Individuals can search 12 different newspapers, including Oconto County’s first newspaper, the Oconto Pioneer, which made its debut in 1859. Preservation is critical because the pages of old newspapers become brittle and fall apart, Jacobs said.
“By digitizing, we’re going to solve that problem,” he said.
The digitizing process starts with the Wisconsin Historical Society in Madison, which scans the original newspapers and sends the digitized versions to Digitize Oconto County leaders, who load them into a database at approximately 100 papers at a time.
The first digitized files were available online earlier this year. Since then, about 570 newspapers have been loaded, with the earliest issue dated 1864.
“We load about a year’s worth of issues every night we can get to it,” said Jacobs, who is assisted by his wife, Connie, and Kitty Werner, co-chairman of the project.
The initial phase of the digitize Oconto County project includes newspapers from 1859 to 1925, and Jacobs said the old copies make for good reading.
“We get thrilled every time we get on (the website),” he said.
One surprise find was an article listing the wedding presents given to ancestors of Connie Jacobs and the names of the individuals giving the gifts.
The advertisements are another source of amusement, with items such as “Gents Wearing Apparel,” “Kerosine oil” and 20 pounds of sugar for $1.
Old newspapers also can be helpful for genealogy or historical research.
“Any type of research activities that would normally require newspapers, they’re here,” Jacobs said about the website.
Oconto Falls Library Director Joan Denis said the digital copies make newspapers available for everyone, not just people visiting the library.
“Libraries are playing a bigger role in preserving the community’s history, and digital collections are just as important as physical collections,” she said.
Because the library’s collection of newspapers from the 1920s and the 1930s are brittle and decaying quickly, they can be used only by the library staff to assist patrons with their searches.
“A lot of times they’re looking for obituaries or something that they remembered happening or heard happened,” Denis said.
To help preserve the newspapers, the Friends of the Oconto Falls Library contributed $2,800 to Digitize Oconto County. The state historical society charges approximately $3 for a weekly issue to digitize a newspaper, so Digitize Oconto County is collecting donations to offset these costs. Some donors present their gift in memory of a loved one, whose name is listed on the online search pages.
Individuals can read about donation options and print a donor form at wiocgs.org/digitizeoconto. The site also includes an explanation of the project and the newspapers available to digitize. It’s also the starting point for access to the newspaper archives.
