The Evanston Public Library is looking for copies of a long-defunct Black newspaper as it works to archive the city’s history.
The library has been digitizing local newspapers so residents can search online.
The Evanston Newspaper Memory Project has scanned issues from a dozen periodicals, dating back to the Evanston Index that began publishing in 1872.
Librarian Jeff Garrett tells WBBM during the project they noticed they are missing 10 of 212 issues of the North Shore Examiner, a newspaper that covered the Black community 1968-1986.
He says it’s part of an effort to improve on what he calls “civil amnesia” or historically inadequate news coverage of the Black community.
Scanning brittle and yellowing newspapers can preserve and destroy them at the same time, Garrett explains.
The collection will be available for searching to Evanston library cardholders.
Anyone who has copies of the Examiner should reach out to the library’s marketing manager.