The Sandy Post Archive Online for All: The Future of Our Town’s Past
By: Abby Haney
In many people’s lives, checking the news is a daily ritual. For citizens of Sandy, checking the news includes reading the Sandy Post, a publication that has been a part of the town's life since 1937. While most Sandy residents are familiar with the Sandy Post, access to old Sandy Post articles has been limited. Locally, The Sandy Historical Museum provides physical copies but now, they are available online, a significant advance for Sandy Post history.
The University of Oregon's libraries hold a service called Oregon Digital Newspaper Program, otherwise known as ODNP. ODNP works to digitize newspapers and make them available online for free on Historic Oregon Newspapers.
“The beauty of the website is you can search across 400 newspapers at the same time,” ODNP Program Manager Elizabeth Peterson said.
The University of Oregon libraries contain Sandy Post issues in their microfiche collection but they were missing issues from 1949 to 1953. The Sandy Historical Museum made up that gap from their print collection.
“It’s great that [The Sandy Historical Museum] had those issues because we have a gap where we didn’t have the microfiche but they had those volumes,” Peterson said
Using both University of Oregon libraries microfiche and The Sandy Historical Museum collections, publications of Sandy Post were able to be posted onto the website. Currently accessible on the website are articles from 1938 to 1982. However, before Sandy Post was another paper, Sandy News, and publications from 1915 to 1917 are available online. Peterson and her team plan on continuing to add more years to the online Sandy Post collection, all the way up to 2014.
ODNP funding was originally supported by federal grants but now, they work with organizations to share the cost of the digitization process. Friends of Sandy Library, a non-profit foundation that supports the library through donations and fundraising, is assisting in the funding for the digitization process. They decided to help after Mayor Kathleen Walker reached out to them.
“She wanted to digitalize the Sandy Post and asked if we would help. I said ‘We’ll help. You can use our thing and we’ll help,’” Friends of Sandy Library member John Frick, known as Jack, said.
For Friends of Sandy Library, the project has been going on for a year and a half. They have put lots of time, effort and money into the project.
“By doing this we get more enjoyment, a feeling of confidence and feeling of accomplishment. It serves us,” Jack said.
Friends of Sandy Library supported this project for the community benefits but even more so, it was for George Hoyt. Hoyt was an active member of the Friends of Sandy Library for 25 years but he also had a career in journalism, being an editor for the Washington Star. He passed away recently but Friends of Sandy Library wanted to honor him with this project, due to his connection in the journalism industry.
“When we started, we were just going to do the project but as the project morphed and going on, we’re doing this in memory of George,” Jack said. “We all have a personal commitment to George.”
The online archives show readers how the Sandy Post has changed along with the town. The 1938 editions don’t tell the same story as the 1982, showcasing how Sandy has grown to become the town we know it as today.
“Newspapers are the first draft of history. They capture so much of the town's economic, culture, social and political history,” Peterson said. “They also tell the local story of larger and international events.”
The Sandy Historical Museum has the Sandy Post archives available to the public, but the online archives are more accessible. Sandy Post archives online advances the history along with the world. Plus, it preserves them for future readers.
“[It’s] real important that it can be used at home,” Mayor Walker said. “Folks, even newcomers, get to see what Sandy was like.”
You can find the digital copies of Sandy Post articles at the University of Oregon Historical Oregon Newspapers Website (https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/), come into The Sandy Historical Museum to view them in person or visit the University of Oregon library where they have the microfiche articles for public viewing, any option is for free.
Abby Haney is the upcoming Editor-In-Chief at Sandy High School for the Pioneer Press and is a writer at large for The Sandy Historical Society.
