Library project requests help from Logan area community members
Utah State University’s Merrill-Cazier Library is seeking community help in tackling an overwhelming task – transcribing 10,000 digitized pages from historical Logan newspapers from 1879 to 1898. Cheryl Walters, head of the USU Digital Library, believes the project will appeal to anyone in the community who might enjoy learning about the happenings in 19th century Cache Valley.
An informational open house for interested volunteers is Thursday, June 21, at 10 a.m. in room 101 of the Merrill-Cazier Library (to the left, just inside the entrance). Those interested in participating in this volunteer opportunity but who are unable to attend the open house should call Walters at (435) 797-2623 or email, Cheryl.Walters@usu.edu or register through the newspapers Web page, http://digital.lib.usu.edu/lnews.php.
“In a little more than a year’s time, library staff volunteers have transcribed 102 of these 10,612 pages during spare moments between helping patrons and regular work tasks,” Walters said. “The library is now inviting local history buffs and others interested in Logan’s past to assist in this project.”
Reading Logan’s local newspaper from the 1880s and ’90s reveals the tastes, interests, events and habits of an earlier, less-regulated society and offers a more personal view of the time not always provided by history books, Walters said. Runaway wagons were a big hit in local news, while advertisements claimed Red Clover tea could cure cancer and a vegetable remedy obtained from an “East India missionary” offered a “speedy and permanent cure for Consumption, Bronchitis, Catarrh, Asthma … General Debility and all Nervous Complaints.”
Scanned and digitized as part of the Utah Digital Newspaper project, this record of life in Logan, Utah, from 1879-1898 is available worldwide via USU’s Merrill-Cazier Library Web site at http://digital.lib.usu.edu/lnews.php. While of great interest to historians, local history buffs, teachers, students, genealogists and other researchers, the use of this resource is hampered because scans of the old printed text are difficult to read and search, Walters said.
As a result, the Merrill-Cazier Library is looking for volunteers to read and transcribe the scanned articles using word processing applications such as Word or Word Perfect. The work can be done at home by anyone who has a computer with Internet access, Walters said. The effort will make all of the issues in the Logan Historical Newspaper Collection (1879-1898) completely searchable with easy to read transcriptions.
“Reading these old papers is interesting and rewarding,” Walters said. “You can learn – and laugh – a lot in the course of doing this work, but it takes patience and time. Because many people in Logan are interested in local history, we think our community can add a lot of value to this great resource. You don’t need to be a fast typist or a highly skilled computer person to lend us a hand.”