One of the most intimate relationships in my life has been with a 200-pound microfilm machine. Each rendezvous flashed sparks of passion. Dim light. Late nights. Clunking. Grinding. Fire and ice.
But let’s start from the beginning. Microfilm stores a high resolution photograph to archive periodicals like newspapers. Compared to saving fragile hard copies, microfilm saves space and is much more durable. For the latter half of the 20th century, loading strips of microfilm onto a large, clunky machine was how you did newspaper research. As you might expect, the process turned digital a few years ago. But hundreds of years of research remains trapped on those filmstrips, accessible only in a library or to the rare few who have tasted the forbidden fruit of a microfilm machine in the home.
I’ve been working on a book about late Hibbing mayor Victor Power since 2016. It’s mired in some challenging edits right now, the literary equivalent of a “weight loss transformation.” But for several years, I read hundreds of newspapers on microfilm. The newspaper records were, by far, the best source of information I could find about the world of Vic Power.
Some Minnesota microfilm records had been digitized by the time I started my research. This was helpful because I could access them from my computer and search them by keyword. But the Hibbing papers? None were digitized. That meant that I had to read page by page through reel after reel of microfilm, indexing what I found in notes and capturing images of useful articles.
That’s how a microfilm machine rescued from the trash ended up in my basement during the COVID-19 pandemic. A project that was skimming along the surface suddenly dove deeply into a much more vivid and vital past.
Now that my primary research is done, the Hibbing Historical Society announced this year that they’d be working with the Minnesota Historical Society to digitize the archives of Hibbing and Chisholm newspapers. Darn my luck.
On one hand, I shook my fist for the irony of it all. On the other, few others know how important and useful this project will be for future generations of researchers.
Here are four reasons:
- Newspapers are the single best source for understanding the people and events of the past. We overlook this nowadays with social media and search engines. Making newspaper archives available to the public connects people to their past.
- Accessibility is key. Not everyone has a microfilm machine, nor will everyone’s spouse let them keep one in the basement forever.
- Iron Range history is uniquely significant. We might be interested in our past to learn about relatives or the history of our favorite places. But American history — really, the whole human experience — is wrapped up in this one region. My research of Hibbing history didn’t just tell me about local politics and the mines, it told me about American industrialization, ethnography, immigration, culture, education, and science. Viewing the past on its own terms teaches us how far we’ve come and how much we can do today to improve our world.
- Finally, digitization dramatically improves the ease and efficiency of searching the archives. Digital newspaper archives can be searched by text references, meaning that you can look for keywords just like in a web search. The three years of intensive research I did on microfilm probably could have been condensed to a few months had this resource been available.
A project like this takes not hours, not days, but months of uninterrupted time. Time is money, and so one of the biggest barriers to getting this done is cost.
The Historical Society will take on this projects in chunks. The first phase, beginning with newspapers in 1894, will cost $70,000. Fortunately, grants and fundraising already brought in almost $61,000. They hope to secure the remaining funds by the end of October so that the project can proceed on schedule.
You may donate one of the following ways:
- Stop in during open hours at the Hibbing Historical Society Museum in the lower level of the Hibbing Memorial Building. Use the opportunity to feast your eyes on the large Vic Power picture in the displays.
- Send them a check with the word “Newspapers” in the memo line.
- Go to https://hibbinghistory.org/contributions/ and submit an online donation by selecting “Collections Preservation” from the dropdown menu.
Another good way to learn more about this project is to attend the Hibbing Historical Society Fall Luncheon on Saturday, Oct. 18. You must RSVP to attend. Details at https://hibbinghistory.org/.