I had another thought today about the Nevada Appeal’s website. I know this one is completely pie-in-the-sky, and it’s never going to get done, but it would be so cool if it ever did happen, and it would definitely take advantage of the fact that space on the internet is basically limitless.
I was reading Doc Searls, and he wrote a post a couple of days ago with advice for newspapers. And most of the advice is tips on how they can make it through the transition to online with a minimum amount of fuss. But when I hit #2 on the list, I had a brainstorm. #2 reads “Start featuring archived stuff on the paper’s website.” And this is something the Nevada Appeal already does a tremendous job with. They have an archive section where you can pull up and read just about every article published in the paper over the last few years. It’s a great tool, and I’ve used it many times.
But for some reason, when I was reading through Doc’s thoughts on providing access to archives, most of which has to do with making the newspaper more visible to Google, and therefore increasing readership and advertising revenue, I started to think of a different kind of archive that the Nevada Appeal has, specifically the microfilm archives that stretch back over the last 140+ years of the paper’s history. The paper started printing in May 1865, the year after statehood, as the Carson City Daily Appeal. And I’m pretty sure that archives exist for most of the paper’s history; they have been dipped into constantly for the “Past Pages” column that was produced by Bill Dolan for nearly 60 years, and is still kept going by his son Trent and daughter Sue. But where are those archives kept? I don’t know the answer; they’re probably somewhere in the dusty stacks of the city or state library, available only to the few who have the time and inclination to go fetch them.
But why do they have to be hidden? Why does history always have to be locked away? My thinking is that the whole of the Nevada Appeal’s archives, going all the way back to May 1865, should be available online. The old microfilms could be put up on the web as PDFs for everyone to read, and many of the more noteworthy stories from the past could be added to the paper’s current archive system. This would be a tremendous resource for the community, and would do nothing but drive traffic to the paper’s website. Which they could then use to raise their advertising rates, so everybody wins. And meanwhile the amount of armchair history that could be enabled by this move is immeasurable.
It’s a project that I’d love to be a part of, if my plate wasn’t already full with my job, family, new baby, and remodeling my house. I’m already trying to bootstrap a similar project that would make available online heaps of historic photos of the area, but I’m just stretched too thin to get anything finished anymore.
There was an effort in the late 90s by the state Library and Archives to put all the old issues online. I believe they had some grant money to do this, as it’s a very labor-intensive process. Another newspaper in our company, The Union in Grass Valley (like the Appeal, the oldest paper in its state), got a quote on converting its archives, and the bill ran well into six figures.
Unfortunately, the state effort didn’t last as the person in charge of it (forgive me for not remembering his name) died shortly thereafter. I never heard anything else about this project after that.
Kirk Caraway
Nevada Appeal
Scott,
I enjoy you blog/site and like you idea about sharing the rich history of Carson City. Next year 2008 will be Carson’s 150th birthday, our sesquicentennial. All things historical SHOULD be rolled out, we have the Nevada Day Parade themed to the 150th already and we are working with the CC Chamber to produce an article each month about our history with photos for the Chamber Newsletter. I have some basic ideas posted at http://www.EventsNevada.com and a link to document the date courtesy of Guy Rocha.
Feel free to join in…
Fred Nietz
AGEvents@sbcglobal.net
Thanks for the excerpt from the Curry book and also bringing up the subject of old archives. The Reno Gazette, Nevada State Journal and several other Reno papers are online from about 1860 and available through subscription. They are searchable and alot of fun to read. I found where my dad’s baseball team came over from Grass Valley and whumped the Reno team in 1938. He played right field. Cool.
There are also some great feature history articles contained in them by local and nationally known writers and it is a shame these pieces are hidden on a shelf somewhere.
I was wishing the Grass Valley Union was online as well as I was over there cruising the microfiche looking for family history stuff. You have to look at every page of every day if you only know the year of death, for instance.
Rick
washoevalley.org
You can certainly see your skills within the paintings you write. The sector hopes for more passionate writers like you who aren’t afraid to say how they believe. All the time follow your heart.
I would absolutely LOVE if the entire archive would be on-line. I frequently want to look up things from my high school years in the 80s and there is nothing on line one can find.. and I don’t live in Carson so I can’t go plow through microfilm.
Can I say that of a relief to locate somebody that in fact knows what theyre talking about over the internet. You undoubtedly know how to bring a challenge to light and produce it essential. The diet ought to look at this and understand why side inside the story. I cant believe youre not far more well-liked when you completely provide the gift.
It there any way to get a copy of the Nevada Appeal’s Apple Tree magazine dated August 7, 1977?