Former Express administrator Bill Thomas stacks bound Marlborough Express archives at the Marlborough Museum.
The vast collection of Marlborough Express newspapers held by Marlborough Museum has been well-thumbed by curious researchers and members of the public and is a valuable asset to the region, says archives manager Megan Ross.
The collection, which includes more than 30,000 newspapers dating into the 1870s, has been well used over the years, she says.
"We get lots and lots of people coming through. Most of it is people researching their families or looking for events they were in, or looking through death records.
The Marlborough Express archives at Marlborough Museum.
"It's a really important resource and we're so lucky to have it. Because it covers a continuous time span, it's really useful. There are no gaps, so if someone wants to research a particular year, they can do that."
Megan says some people spent hours rifling through the "beautifully bound books of newspapers", often losing track of time.
"Anybody who walks through the door is just blown away by the sight of all the books. There just seems to not be enough hours in the day to read them all."
The museum had a strong collection of papers from 1921 to 2011, with a few random editions that dated back to the 1870s. Editions earlier than the 1920s can be found on the National Library of New Zealand's popular website Papers Past (http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/).
"I often prefer people to use an electronic version when it comes to the older papers from the 1800s," says Megan, "because once it rips, you lose it and you can't get it back to how it was.
"We don't have any of the first few editions, people probably didn't think to keep them at the time. Newspapers are often seen as transitory things. People read them on the day then throw them away or wrap them around their fish and chips."
Megan said she had sometimes found herself going through the older copies and marvelling at the difference in language and writing styles.
"It's quite funny, some of the letters tend to get quite bitchy. What we have now is Facebook. You make your bitchy comments about people on Facebook, and it's the same thing, they're letting people know their opinions."
The Marlborough Express archives are open to the public on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10am to 4pm.
See marlboroughmuseum.org.nz for further details.
- The Marlborough Express
Replies