(August 25, 2015)

Over 100 years of Centenary student newspapers accessible online

The Conglomerate student newspaper, published January 24, 1923.

SHREVEPORT, LA — The Centenary College of Louisiana Archives and Special Collections has completed the final phase of a three-year project to digitize its collection of the college's student newspapers. This includes issues of the The Conglomerate (1922-2014), the Maroon and White (1902-1921), and the French-language student newspaper Le Tintamarre (1996-2013). Researchers can now access these online, page through each volume, download a complete PDF, or search the full text version.

The project's final phase was funded by a grant from the Noel Foundation, Inc. This covered digitization costs for volumes published between 1902-1958 and 1991-2015. Previous phases were funded by grants awarded by the Centenary Muses and Centenary's Women's Endowment Quorum.

The newspapers provide valuable information about Centenary and Shreveport from the unique perspective of college students. Subjects include college athletics, the Louisiana State Fair, the Great Depression, local training of soldiers during World War II, civil rights, Hurricane Katrina, and Centenary's celebration of 100 years in Shreveport. Advertisements in the paper document a wide range of local businesses such as motion picture theaters, clothing stores, restaurants, and venues for music performances. Editorials written by student newspaper staff include those by Algie Brown '34 (Louisiana State Representative), John William Corrington '56 (author and attorney), and Paul Greenberg '58 (Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist).

Le Tintamarre, Centenary's French language news paper written by students. Published in Fall of 2013.

Scanning the original newspapers consisted of two methods. Volumes published after 1958 were scanned by Digital Conversion Solutions, a vendor partnered with the LYRASIS library network. Due to the large number of fragile and rare issues published before 1958, Centenary archives staff scanned these older newspapers at a nearby institution. This occurred by renting use of a large-format scanner at the LSU-Shreveport Archives and Special Collections. Several student workers assisted with this project over the years: Hope Vollm '13, Kayla Ruth '15, and Jacob Robison.

The Archives is missing some issues of the student newspaper published before 1959. If you can help us fill these gaps, please get in touch, and we'll check our list of missing issues.

For more information about this project, contact Centenary Archivist Chris Brown at 318-869-5462 or email. To view the newspapers online, visit our digital collections webpage.