-Isms: Views on life in rural America

Michael Connelly wrote, “A newspaper is the center of a community, it’s one of the tent poles of the community, and that’s not going to be replaced by websites and blogs.”

The best-selling author and I are on the same Page.

A printed paper will be archived and preserved for future use. A website, well, that’s not always a permanent form of history. Neither is social media, which I have written about previously.

I’ve had multiple conversations lately, with friends and colleagues, about preserving community history, whether it is an actual artifact or a news clipping. Newspapers are the first layer of historical documentation, a foundation for each community to build on.

During these conversations, we’ve discussed an element that has changed in newspapers: the disappearance of social news - think birth announcements, engagement notices and wedding write-ups. I imagine the lack of items of this type printed in papers stems from the rise of social media, as well as costs to print.

Years ago, wedding announcements featured a detailed description of a bride’s dress and bouquet, included relationships between the honored couple and members of the wedding party and listed who cut the cake, filled coffee cups and waitressed tables.

And, at the majority of newspapers, those in-depth looks at a wedding ran for free. As a newspaper’s advertising pool began to shrink, social news vanished, for the most part, with only an occasional smattering of listings with bouncing babies born or couples headed to the altar.

It’s time to reverse the trend. Since we began publishing SAM nearly two years ago, we’ve primarily printed baby announcements and milestone anniversary greetings.

This week, an engagement notice is included and a few weeks ago, we ran a wedding announcement, complete with a two-column photo of the newlyweds.

“What’s the big deal,” you may be thinking.

It is a big deal. It’s a permanent record. You never know when the information will come in handy.

Case in point: late last week, I received an email asking for help to locate information about a couple who were married here nearly 100 years ago. Using archives at the Clearwater Public Library, which were donated years ago by Bobbie and the late Walt Patras, I found what I was searching for.

Without the physical copies, it is doubtful I would have been able to locate the requested information.

Community journalism relies on readers and the communities they serve to provide a link to the past, present and future. We, at SAM, are here to record an accurate history of all news encompassing the area and we thank you for letting us record your role in history.