As we approach the final stages of "The Romeo Observer" Digitization Project, our intern Jen Derless came across a gem. It was an article from 1993 that discussed how a computerized index of the paper was going to be available at the Romeo District Library (RDL). It proved that this isn't the first time that RDL tried to make the newspapers accessible.
Here's the article in question.
On the front page of the August 4, 1993 issue, Assistant News Editor Michelle Tanguay announced that a computerized index of Romeo Observer articles would soon be available at RDL and other libraries in Macomb County.
Library director at the time Marina Kruse mentioned that the index was created "as a service to the patrons."
Kruse added that the index would "not only be helpful to adults seeking information on the area but also to young people who study the Romeo area in class."
Beth Martin - Adult Services Librarian at the time - spearheaded the project. The index included feature articles and news articles pertaining to the Romeo area and Macomb County. According to this story, it would take Martin an hour and a half to index each issue of the newspaper, and by typing in a subject, "a patron will get a completely listing of stories that appeared on that topic since the beginning of 1993" under a number of headings.
When a patron finds a specific article, they would be able to get the synopsis, the date in which the story appeared, the section, the page, the column, and the author.
This brings us to some drawbacks about the index. The first is that it only covered stories from 1993 onwards, so if patrons wanted to find articles from any year prior, their research would harder to accomplish.
The second is that wedding and birth announcements were not included in the index. However, obituaries were present, so anybody working on genealogy in 1993 would have had some luck.
Even though the 1993 index is no longer available now, they are some things that have carried over to our project. Like the 1993 index, the digital copies have only been available under certain circumstances. The former was intended to be on staff computers in the beginning and then later, the public access catalog. In our case, the digitized copies are kept in-house, meaning that they can only be accessed through the computers located in the Romeo Community Archives.
Fortunately, that won't be for much longer. We are in the process of uploading each issue to the Local History Digital Collection, which is run by the Suburban Library Cooperative. In other words, patrons from all libraries in that cooperative will be able to search all newspapers found in The Romeo Observer collection.
Additionally, we too only have an obituary index, but it's separate from the newspapers themselves, which are searchable PDFS. One can type in a word or phrase in an issue, and it will take your directly to where it shows up. One can still use the obituary index at the Romeo Community Archives. However, it only covers 1866-1915 and 1935-2015. Once it's fully complete, it will be available on the Romeo Community Archives website. Finally, we also don't have birth and wedding announcement indexes, but they will be considered if there's a demand for them.
Moreover, if there patrons who prefer card indexes, we have those too through the Richard Daugherty Research Index Card Collection. It's comprised of thousands of index cards used to research The Romeo Observer. These cards cover 1866 to the early 1920s, and they are organized by names and subjects.
It was good to know that RDL has been making The Romeo Observer accessible for a long time now.
Before we go, we have some exciting news! The Romeo Community Archives have finished digitizing and making searchable The Romeo Observer newspapers from the 1980s. You can read about how people reacted to major events like the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster and Berlin Wall coming down as well as local ones like the Grand Trunk Railroad derailment and the founding of the Henry M. Malburg Funeral Home. You can see Peach Festivals and Peach Queens from that decade as well.
As of now, we have computerized all decades except the 1990s and the 2000s. Those updates will be announced accordingly.
If you want to see digital newspaper copies, you can call (586) 690-4890 or email rca@romeodistrictlibrary to schedule an appointment.
Images and sources courtesy of the Romeo Community Archives; Melvin E. and Joan D. Bleich Collection, The Romeo Observer, August 4, 1993, p.1-A