The "LNP Living: Paper Trail - Part I" Story

Front page of the Living Section of LNP

It was an ordinary day.  Sunday, September 15, 2019 and there on the front page of the "Living" section of the Lancaster LNP newspaper was the bold headline "PAPER TRAIL" under the smaller title of "HISTORY."  The accompanying artwork shows a person's hands holding a personal computer showing a copy of The Lancaster Examiner from June 17, 1796.  Wow, would I love to read that paper.  Well, it seems that I now can read it!  The Lancaster newspapers have digitized every newspaper they have ever printed since June 17, 1796.  And, it is available to anyone who cares to read it.  If you have a print or digital subscription you can access the files for no charge.  Lancaster Newspapers has one more file to digitize and you will be able to go back one more year to 1795.  Everything, including the advertisements, death and birth notices, sports, advertisements, headline news, etc. can be seen on any one of the papers they print.  There are 19 newspapers that can be accessed by computer through the new website.  Papers such as: The Age and Lancaster and Chester County Weekly Gazette (1842), The Daily Evening Express (1856-1876), Daily Lancaster Examiner (1830-1834), The Inquirer (1870-1921), Intelligencer Journal (1864-2008), La Cos Hispana (1994-2008), Lancaster County Real Estate Weekly (1994-2008), Lancaster Democrat (1845-1846), The Lancaster Examiner (1834-1918), Lancaster Examiner and The Semi-Weekly New Era (1920), Lancaster Intelligencer (1847-1920), The Lancaster Morning Journal (1909-1915),

Front page of the September 9, 1944 evening newspaper.

Lancaster New Era (1920-2009), Lancaster Reporter (1827-1828), LNP Always Lancaster (2104-2019), The News-Journal (1890-1927), The Saturday Express (1850-1856), The Semi-Weekly New Era (1877-1919) and Sunday News (1923-2008) are all online at present with access to each paper.  So, what did I decide to do first with my new found access to a lifetime of newspapers?  I pulled up the day I was born to see if I really was born in Lancaster.  

There was my birth announcement under WOODS.
My mother and father are both deceased as is St Joseph's Hospital

Yep, there it was in black and white on page 3; Boys births, Girls births and Twin births.  Wow, this is really neat.  Read both the morning Intel- ligencer Journal and the evening Lancaster New Era newspapers.  During my lifetime I was able to chose either the morning paper, which was allegedly a Democratic newspaper or the Lancaster New Era which was the Republican newspaper.  Both had separate staffs, photographers, reporters, etc. but both used the same printing press that was housed for most of my life at the Lancaster Newspaper office at 8 W. King Street in Downtown Lancaster.  

My birth announcement was also in the morning Intelligencer Journal.

I happened to know pressmen on both papers and from time to time would visit with them so I could see the presses run.  Being that I taught Graphic Arts in high school, I was in heaven with everything from watching the presses run to the smell of the ink.  And now I can search every single newspaper that was ever printed in Lancaster County.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  PS - The following photographs are from the 1944 Lancaster Intelligencer Journal or the Lancaster New Era.

Every day saw stories of those serving in the armed forces of our country.
Click on any image to enlarge it.  You may be able to read it.

Story about the recent epidemic of polio.

How local schools decided to handle the proble.

I was born during WWII so many stories were geared toward the war.
This story talks about hunters only being able to get one box of shells,
since most ammunition when to the armed forces.  Had to be a good shot!

Tobacco was a big crop for Lancaster County farmers.

Advertisements geared toward the war effort.

Another ad for the war effort.

An advertisement for Armstrong Cork Company which was founded in Lancaster, PA

An editorial cartoon.

Another war cartoon.

Yes, Blondie was around in 1944.

This is the daily schedule for WGAL Radio station.  Televisions
were still too costly for most homes to have one.

This is an advertisement for Rudy Vallee on WGAL radio.

Movie advertisement from 1944.

This is an advertisement for the York County Fair.
This year's  York County Fair just ended this past week.
That's 75 years later than this advertisement.

I can remember seeing highlighted cards for different baseball
players many years later. 

Drawing of Ed McKeever who had just been named coach at Notre Dame College.

If you're a baseball fan, these are the teams that existed in 1944.