The morgue of old Salem Times-Commoner newspapers has now been moved to the Marion County Genealogical area of the Bryan Bennett Library where they will be open to the public.
The President of the Salem Historic Commission Myron Lloyd says he wanted to make sure the papers were not thrown away after the Salem Times Commoner closed its Salem office. The process began with Lloyd contacting the Editor of the Salem Times-Commoner Dennis Rosenberger who received permission from the owners to allow for the donation.
Lloyd felt the library was the best location to preserve the newspapers. The Times-Commoner dates back to 1851.
“The three oldest books will be under glass, and the reason is they are covered with a green mold, a yellow mold and a white mold, which is not healthy,” Lloyd said. “You won’t be able to handle those, but you can handle the others carefully. We have instruments for turning pages and that type of thing. We really appreciate the generosity of the owners of the Centralia Sentinel that agreed to pass them on to us.”
Lloyd says the newspapers are also on microfilm which will be available as well to allow for pictures to be taken of the past stories.
Lloyd is also thanking the library for allowing the newspapers to be made available there and to assist those wanting to look at them. He’s also thanking the Romine Presbyterian Church which bought the shelving to hold the newspaper and Leon Chapman for providing a truck to move the papers from the former Salem Times-Commoner building to the library.
The opening of the display was held Tuesday afternoon with the granddaughter of one of the former owners in attendance. Debbie Dieterich of Kansas City, MO shared childhood memories of visiting the newspaper’s office.
