{"id":6230,"date":"2020-03-06T09:51:52","date_gmt":"2020-03-06T14:51:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/?p=6230"},"modified":"2025-08-24T10:51:18","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T14:51:18","slug":"150-years-of-county-history-preserved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/2020\/03\/06\/150-years-of-county-history-preserved\/","title":{"rendered":"150 Years of County History Preserved"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s getting harder to move around the library\u2019s special collections room at the University of Maine at Presque Isle. It\u2019s for a good reason, though. The central hallway is filled with stacks up to five feet high of huge, hardcover books. \u00a0These books are bound newspapers, part of two recent donations to the UMPI library.<\/p>\n

Last spring, Roger Getz, director of library services at UMPI, heard that the Aroostook County Commissioner\u2019s Office was seeking a new home for some of its archives. The main attraction in these archives was an extensive collection of Aroostook County newspapers. The collection started in the 1860s and continued until the 1990s. There were also photographs and paintings.<\/p>\n

Getz felt that the UMPI library would be an ideal place for these archives. The library already had a lot of information on local history. He took a trip to the commissioner\u2019s office and made his pitch. It wasn\u2019t a hard sell.<\/p>\n

County Administrator Ryan Pelletier wasn\u2019t happy with the way the archives were being stored. They were hard to get to and use. Some of the items were beginning to deteriorate. \u201cRoger reached out to us with a great presentation,\u201d he said. \u201cPresque Isle is a good central location.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pelletier hopes the move will make the collection more accessible. \u201cIt\u2019s history that could have been lost,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople didn\u2019t even know it existed.\u201d He pointed out that many of the documents aren\u2019t anywhere else in Maine.<\/p>\n

Library staff members worked hard to organize the new resources. \u00a0They shifted the whole UMPI collection to make space. It seemed like the new arrivals would fit. But that was before the second donation came.<\/p>\n

Northeast Publishing was Aroostook County\u2019s main newspaper publisher. It was changing facilities and could no longer keep its collection of old papers. UMPI received this gift on short notice. \u201cWe were not anticipating the donation from Northeast Publishing,\u201d Getz said. Once again, space was a problem.<\/p>\n

The new materials are definitely not a problem, though. This collection of newspapers is much more current. It fills the time gap left by the other donation. \u201cWe now have a newspaper history of Aroostook from the mid-1860s to the present,\u201d Getz said.<\/p>\n

These resources are already proving useful. Faculty and community members have already used the papers for research. They have been used to fact-check claims of high school sports achievements. It will also be a great resource for UMPI students doing projects on local history. \u201cIt\u2019s extremely relevant to this direct area,\u201d Getz said. He pointed out that even advertising was recorded. This could be used in studies of County business history.<\/p>\n

At present, library staff members are working to create enough space to make the volumes readily accessible. It\u2019s not an easy task. The library has a small staff. They need to sort and move older news files. They need to shift more books and shelves. They need to install new shelves. They need to organize the new donations. They need to count and catalogue the new materials. And that\u2019s on top of keeping the library running. Getz said it could take more than a year to fully finish the process.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, the newspapers can be accessed. It will be exciting to see how people will use these resources. Hopefully this new level of opportunity will inspire new levels of creativity and research. Persons interested in using the papers should see Getz at the library.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Roger Getz shows off UMPI_s newest resource, archived newspapers.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s getting harder to move around the library\u2019s special collections room at the University of Maine at Presque Isle. It\u2019s for a good reason, though. The central hallway is filled with stacks up to five feet high of huge, hardcover books. \u00a0These books are bound newspapers, part of two recent donations to the UMPI library. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":214,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7381],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archives","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/214"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6230"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6230\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8369,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6230\/revisions\/8369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}