Tama County Historical Society & Genealogical Library
200 N. Broadway
Toledo, IA 52342
641-484-6767
Tama County Historical Society Launches Historic Newspapers Digitization Project
TOLEDO–The Tama County Historical Society has launched the next phase of its newspaper digitization project with the addition of the Traer Star-Clipper searchable online archives, covering historic Traer newspapers from 1874-1941.
The addition of the Star-Clipper archives comes one year after the historical society launched a digital archive for the Toledo Chronicle covering 1873-1925. Both newspaper archives are housed on the website tamacounty.advantage-preservation.com.
“Preserving our county history is at the core of our work,” said Elizabeth Reece, president of the Tama County Historical Society and Genealogical Library. “Digitizing the newspaper archives makes access to these tremendous historic records more accessible to not just Tama County residents, but anyone with Tama County roots or an interest in our region.”
Digitization was completed by Advantage Preservation in Cedar Rapids. The first phase was funded entirely by historical society member donations. The second phase, which includes the Traer newspapers, was done in partnership with the Traer Historical Museum and supported in part by grants from the Tama County Community Foundation and Traer Community Foundation, as well as private donations.
“The support for this project has been tremendous,” Reece said. “The Traer Historical Museum has been an incredible partner in this effort, and we look forward to exploring more partnerships in the future to continue this initiative.”
Phase three is currently underway, thanks to a memorial from the Burnell and Rachel (DuToit) Butler family. The Tama Citizen, Tama County Republican, Tama Herald (1894), Tama Free Press, Iowa Transcript (Toledo), LeGrand Reporter, Oxford Weekly Reporter (Montour), Toledo Times, and Tama County Democrat are currently being processed and will be available on the website later this year.
The historical society is now looking into gaining copyright permission to digitize issues published after 1941, as well as adding newspapers from other Tama County towns. Anyone interested in supporting the digitization effort can contact the Tama County Historical Society at 641-484-6767 or [email protected].
Published June 11, 2019
Thank you to the supporters who make this digitization effort possible
In memory of Robert (Bob) Benda
In memory of Donald Blake
Cynthia Gage
Peggy Homalor
Nancy Jensen
Norma Nash
Connie Pugh
Stephen Rebik
Beth Richards
Cathy VanEycke
Judy Butler
Orford Weekly Leader
Tama Co. Union
Tama Co. Republican
Tama Citizen
Garwin Sun
Garwin Gazette
Garwin Star
Garwin News
The Amateur Star
Le Grand Record
Le Grand Herald
Le Grand Reporter
The titles listed to the right have been digitized by Judy Butler in memory of Burnell and Rachel Butler.
In Memory of
Burnell and Rachel Butler