Congressionally Funded Newspaper Digitization Completed

 by Carrie Marsh, Director, Clarke Historical Library 

Newspapers are among the most enduring records of Michigan’s history and serve as essential resources for uncovering stories that you won't find in other types of records. How were Michiganders impacted by the American Civil War, the Great Depression, or two world wars? How did Michigan towns adapt to economic changes over the past century? An important resource to help answer these questions and many more is our newspapers.

In 2022, the Clarke Historical Library received a Congressional earmark of $135,000 to digitize historical Michigan newspapers and make them openly accessible online. We were one of eleven historical or cultural organizations to receive this funding, which was administered by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC). Between January 2023 and March 2025, Clarke staff digitized portions of 17 historical newspapers, totaling more than 250,000 newspaper pages.

Front page of the Iron Ore,
September 21, 1895

Among the digitized titles was Iron Ore, founded by geologist and mining expert George Newett in Ishpeming. Iron Ore not only covered the mining activities and other news of the Ishpeming area but also reported on mines across the U.S. and around the world. The Clare County Cleaver has been reporting local news and events since 1881, making it the oldest ongoing business in the county. The earmark funds helped us fill in gaps in the Clare County Cleaver’s online coverage between 1976 and 2004. While Monroe Commercial, founded in 1840, is not Monroe’s first newspaper (that’s The Michigan Sentinel, founded in 1825), it was one of the longest-running newspapers under that title for the county. Now available online, thanks to the earmark funds, is the run of Monroe Commercial published between 1859 and 1885.

The 16 newspapers in this project are openly accessible in the Clarke’s online newspaper site, DigMichNews where everyone--community members, families, students, teachers, genealogists, and others--can research Michigan’s rich history documented in historical newspapers. We extend our deep gratitude to Senator Gary Peters and Senator Debbie Stabenow for championing the Clarke’s project and including it in the 2022 omnibus bill.

 A Complete List of the Newspapers Digitized with Congressional Funding
(including links to the digitized content, items with and asterisk will come online soon)

Title	Dates
Clare County Cleaver	1976-1980, 1990-1997, Dec 1998-2004
Menominee Herald Leader	1912-1936
Monroe Commercial	August 1859-November 1860, 1869 (November and December), 1862-1885
Monroe Democrat	March 1880-March 1914
Mount Clemens Monitor	1869 (January and February), 1880-1897, May 1898, 1899-1900, 1901 (January and December), August 1902, 1903-1936
Pontiac Press	1970-1972
Oakland Press	1970-1973
Gratiot County Journal; Gratiot County Herald	1884, 1889-1906
[Ishpeming] Iron Agitator, Iron Ore, Weekly Agitator	1882-1886, 1879-1881
Zeeland Expositor	1893-1896
Zeeland Record	1897-1912
Bessemer Herald*	1847-1945 (some gaps)
Elk Rapids Progress*	1872-1899 (some gaps)
[Orchard Lake] Niedziela (Sunday)*	1891-1894, 1989-1902