Highlights Archives
The News From Some Dangerous Places
Military newspapers being published and read today by American soldiers in far flung places ranging from Baghdad to Guantanamo Bay are being collected and preserved by the Wisconsin Historical Society, the only institution in the world that comprehensively collects military newspapers from all branches of the service. All thanks to $50,000 in federal funds secured with the help of Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin. The Society's repository is the only permanent record of the day-to-day experiences of American service men and women as expressed in the pages of the newspapers they read and write.
News that the funds are included in the fiscal year 2005 omnibus federal budget passed by Congress Nov. 20 came through Baldwin's office. The $50,000 federal appropriation will allow the Society to begin preserving the one-of-a-kind collection both on microfilm and in digital form. This will make the collection available to researchers at universities, libraries and historical organizations all over the world.
"Paper records are valuable sources for research, but they have several inherent disadvantages," said Peter Gottlieb, who administers the Society's library-archives division. "They take large amounts of space to store, and they can become fragile. Preserving these records digitally and on microfilm opens the doors to far broader and more efficient use of the military newspaper collection."
The Society holds the largest collection of military newspapers in the nation, spanning more than 150 years beginning with the U.S.-Mexican War in 1847 and continuing through the ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. These recently published newspapers would be the first to be preserved by the Historical Society under its preservation plan because of their relevance to current events, said Gottlieb.
The federal appropriation comes at a time when state agencies are grappling to come to grips with another state budget deficit, added Gottlieb. "This serves as an example of how the Society is doing everything it can to help itself in the midst of trying times," said Gottlieb, "leveraging money outside the state budget process to help us meet our mission."
These newspaper links will direct you off the Society's Web site.
:: Posted December 22, 2004
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