The history of older local newspapers and professional journals is seriously underrepresented in the digital world, largely because many of them were rightfully displaced by the digital world itself. Maintaining websites, online encyclopedia entries, or other summaries about old media may seem unnecessary to some.
Yet these media are an integral part of US history. Modern reporting standards and methods can’t be understood without knowledge of whole centuries of paper media. Hence, information about these media and their histories are highly relevant to the raging debates about US history and the role of media in US society.
Endlessly re-tweeting rightful indignation with the behavior of today’s media won’t advance the public debate; everybody just sticks to their favorite retweets. The Wenard Institute works hard to make more and more information available online in many areas, including the history of media. We help those who are looking for answers to dig deeper, look into the larger context, and explore subjects from a different frame of reference to enrich modern American discussion.
Small-town newspapers used to be key components of local communities. They are often the only surviving consistent accounts of these communities.
This is why we are working hard to preserve these histories. Here are some examples of the summaries that the Wenard Institute has created about past media that earlier had no online presence:
We welcome you to come along and help us out. Even a minor gift can help put one more historical media on the digital map. Donate
