History Almost Lost To Landfill On Orders Of Publisher
ALTON - If you are witness to events that will result in the loss of historical documents, do you have any obligation to act to preserve them? When the Telegraph moved to a new location, historical materials dating back many decades was destined to be lost.
In the case of the Telegraph clip library, action was taken to preserve decades of accumulated historical documents and not let them be hauled away to a landfill. The Telegraph clip contains important stories that were published in the daily newspaper that were cataloged by subject and date of publication. Many times the original source material used to create the story was filed in the envelopes as well. This source material would now be almost impossible to find for many of the historical events that have been written about.
Vast amounts of other materials were targeted for destruction as well. Not everything was able to be saved. Multiple decades of the things that create the institutional memory of a daily newspaper (or any news organization for that matter) were systematically removed and hauled away and buried in a landfill. Much of it is gone. It can never be replaced and as the personal memories of those that wrote stories of past events fade, the collective memory of the institution suffers.
Portraits, plaques, awards and gifts. Gone. Many photographic negatives and digital image files, gone. Off to a dumpster. At the time this was taking place, several emails were sent to Hearst, the new owner of the Telegraph, describing what was being done and no response or acknowledgment was ever received.
Many of the microfilm records of the various predecessor newspapers that date back to the 1830's were not properly stored and now have the smell of vinegar. Vinegar syndrome occurs when the plastic film that contains the microfilm images starts to spontaneously decompose. The gas it emits smells strongly of acetic acid (vinegar). The reaction is self sustaining and will cause other rolls of similar material around it to degrade by the same process. While there are ways to slow the process down, it cannot be reversed or completely stopped. The only solution is to make additional copies or to digitize the film. A copy is always of lesser quality and electronic copies of microfilm are not always easily searchable. Another issue is that microfilm is a black and white medium and has no ability to preserve color. The clip files that were landfill bound contain not only the actual clip from the printed paper, but many times also contains background and source material that never made it into print but was vitally important in the creation of the story. Many historians and longtime news professionals recognize that the institutional library of a newspaper is an important historical source that needs to be maintained. The Telegraph publisher evidently did not share that view.
Besides the collective memory being tossed to the wind, the personal records of hundreds of employees and job seekers were not shredded or protected and were thrown in a dumpster with the other materials on order of Telegraph publisher Jim Shrader. Can anyone that ever filled out an application or worked at the Telegraph be certain that personal information was not compromised?
Many print media outlets have been in a death spiral as electronic media takes the place of the daily newspaper and monthly magazine. The Telegraph has now moved to a new location and shed itself of one of its most important historical assets. Can it reinvent itself to stay relevant? Can it report current stories without historical background information and images?
If you, or someone you know, would like to assist in preserving the Telegraph clip file materials, please contact us via the email below. It's an extremely important historical record that needs to be maintained.
