A question for the Newseum (newspaper museum) repository

With the many complaints that the Statesman garnered from not having featured the eighth anniversary of September 11 on its front page; it made me wonder: What did the majority of front pages of our nations newspapers feature on December 7, 1949? And how loud was the thunder of patriotic-fevered citizens, whining to their local editors, in cases where the travesty of Pearl Harbor was not featured in large bold letters, on their local front pages, some sixty-odd years ago?

When that sweet little innocent lamb, Mary-Anne from Gilligan’s Island was busted for wacky-weed over in Driggs, I wondered what pages the various papers would run this story on. I noticed that the Idaho Statesman ran it as a page-2 article, which seemed perfect. Although the story was one that most everybody was talking about that week, how much substance did it truly have to be considered a page-one story? Mary-Anne must have stimulated some interesting dialogues for editorial boards around the world that week. I wonder if the Newseum looked into this important topic of page placement for Gilligan’s Islanders, when this sweeping news broke out.

Meaningful fund raiser suggestion for the Newseum

One of the first fund raisers the Newseum ought to consider holding, upon opening at their innovative location, is for upgrading some antiquated fire-suppression systems, which scarcely protect the ancient archives in many community newspaper basements and cubbyholes.

Nowadays, there is a full array of cutting-edge systems, which when activated, do not damage books or data systems, while promptly extinguishing fires. However, in today’s world, many newspapers have restricted budgets, which prevents timely archiving. Although many community libraries scan and mirror current papers, many of the older unduplicated issues, still rest unprotected upon creaky shelves in moldy basements. Too many newspapers still hold their communities’ irreplaceable institution memories in tenuous storage areas like these.

These priceless historical memories deserve the best preservation and protection methods available. If the Newseum’s board of directors deems this suggestion feasible, perhaps they could form a subcommittee to determine criteria for qualified newspapers. Through meaningful fundraisers like this, each year another handful of newspapers could gain better protection in high hopes of avoiding fates such as that of the Ancient Alexandria, Egypt library, where our priceless records of antiquity, succumbed to an unfortunate fire.

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Sumptuous settings & meaningful fundraisers by Greenvanholzer 02/13/2008, 12:10 AM # One of the first fundraisers the new Newseum ought to consider holding, is for upgrading the antiquated fire-suppression systems, which scarcely protect the ancient archives in many community newspaper basements and cubbyholes. Nowadays, there is a full array of cutting-edge fire suppression systems, which do not damage books or data systems, while promptly extinguishing fires. However, in today’s world, most newspapers have restricted budgets, which prevents timely archiving. Although many community libraries scan and mirror current papers, many of the older unduplicated issues, still rest unprotected upon creaky shelves in moldy basements. Too many newspapers hold their communities’ irreplaceable institution memories in tenuous storage areas like these. These priceless memories deserve the best preservation methods available and highball glasses clinking in the sacred Newseum temple amongst the jing-a-ling-jewelry, may very well save many newspaper records from a fate, such as that of the Ancient Alexandria, Egypt library, where our priceless records of antiquity, succumbed to an unfortunate fire.