The history of Indianapolis lives in old newspaper archives. Can we get to it? – Poynter

The history of Indianapolis lives in old newspaper archives. Can we get to it?  Poynter

Where news consumers can go in the community to examine newspaper archives This column is part of the Indianapolis Public Editor project, a pilot program designed to test whether the presence of a public editor who analyzes local coverage can elevate audience trust in journalism and promote media literacy. Back in the day, when newspapers were flush with resources, they had internal libraries or archives of all of their stories, casually referred to as morgues. It was common practice for reporters to “check the morgue” before writing any story about the community. Reporters could learn the history of almost anything in Indianapolis by checking the morgue. There were clip files — a collection of physical articles — for historic buildings, every neighborhood in the city, people, issues and events.

The files were refreshed every morning when librarians would cut up dozens of copies of that day’s newspapers, then neatly fold the clippings and add them to the relevant files. Today, our records are digitized, which means anyone can access them from anywhere. And the economic tides have washed away newsroom resources, including staff librarians and the morgues they maintained. While some archivists and editors say it’s beneficial having more access to information at your fingertips, I asked them if something might have been lost to journalists and the community when