Every newspaper produced contains invaluable historical information. Unfortunately, due to the poor quality of the paper they are printed on, newspapers are not easy to preserve in their original form. In order to save the content, historical organizations need to capture images of past newspapers. This used to occur through microfilm technology; now it occurs through digitization.
The Morrison County Historical Society has been working with the Minnesota Digital Library to digitize a large collection of bound volumes of the Pierz Journal newspaper in its collections through a project called “Save the Pierz Journals.” This digitization is imperative because the newspapers have deteriorated to the point where the public no longer has access to them and only a few were microfilmed over the years.
Because of the size of the collection, the cost to digitize half of the Pierz Journals is $30,000. To date, the Morrison County Historical Society has raised $1,325 for the project. The Morrison County Genealogy Society has promised to donate another $300 toward the project if private donors will match the amount. Contributions can be made online at the Morrison County Historical Society’s website, http://morrisoncountyhistory.org/ via the GiveMN.org button or by mailing a check to MCHS at PO Box 239, Little Falls, MN 56345, with a note in the memo line that it is a matching donation.
Thus far the Minnesota Digital Library has digitized volumes between 1909 and 1913. These newspapers can be accessed at MDL’s Minnesota Reflections website: http://reflections.mndigital.org/cdm/.
For more information, contact the Morrison County Genealogy Society at 320-632-2375 or the Morrison County Historical Society at 320-632-4007.
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