One newspaper representing a true North Country community, and another showcasing the lives and trends of local college students have been added to nearly two million pages of regional history... and it’s all available free of charge to the public!

The Ogdensburg Journal with a run from 1857-1916, and the SUNY Potsdam student newspaper The Racquette with a run from 1927-2009, are the latest issues to be added to the Northern New York Historical Newspapers website . The Racquette was published as The Normal Racquette from 1927 to 1942.

These two newspapers join over 45 others with a total of more than 1,803,000 pages on the Northern New York Historical Newspapers site. There are over 17 newspapers from St. Lawrence County. The site is provided free of charge to the public by the Northern New York Library Network (NNYLN) in Potsdam. The images for the newly added papers are exceptionally clear, which will result in excellent indexing.

The Ogdensburg Journal is a daily newspaper which has coverage of all of St. Lawrence County, as well as Ogdensburg. Except for the six months of January-June 1903, the run is complete. The NNYLN has permission to add issues up to 1989, which it intends to do over the next few months.

"The historic newspapers project is an incredible resource," noted Wayne Miller, Executive Director of the Ogdensburg Public Library. "Addition of the ‘Journal’ fills in a big chunk of the history of Northern New York.

"While the ‘Ogdensburg Journal's’ efforts to document community life and view the way forward continue daily, the work of the NNYLN provides a wonderful rear view mirror of where we have been," Mr. Miller said. "Were it not for the long-standing partnership between the ‘Journal,’ the NNYLN, and the Ogdensburg Public Library in preserving 150 years of our history on microfilm, this project would not be possible."

SUNY Potsdam Librarian/College Archivist Jane M. Subramanian noted The Racquette, and earlier title The Normal Racquette, student newspaper has always been a significant resource for many different types of needs on campus.

"The editors and writers for ‘The Racquette’ frequently need to investigate earlier information from the student newspaper for current articles. There have been many research needs in the past that have made extensive use of a large number of issues of ‘The Racquette,’ including faculty performing research related to the college's history, students doing college history-related research projects for courses, academic departmental projects, alumni projects, and projects of outside researchers. Our College Advancement and Alumni Relations offices on campus frequently need to discover information for their projects as well," Mrs. Subramanian stated.

"In addition, alumni enjoy back issues of ‘The Racquette’ because they portray happenings and activities during their time of attendance at the college. In many cases, it has taken a great deal of time searching page by page and issue by issue to find the needed information, especially if the specific time period isn't known. The keyword search capability available (on the NNYHN website) with the newly digitized version, will be truly wonderful in providing easier and quicker access to needed information for everyone. The online version will allow those at distance the opportunity to search or browse around the student newspaper themselves, which has never been possible previously," the archivist said.