The AskRon Newspaper Database
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Note: A listing of newspaper issues acquired January 1, 2007, and later is available from the library catalog. AskRon: A database of microfilmed newspapers was made possible with a grant from the F. R. Bigelow Foundation of St. Paul. AskRon is named to honor two men who have been instrumental in creating this outstanding collection of microfilmed Minnesota newspapers and in making it available to the public. Ronald M. Hubbs (1908-1996) Ronald Hubbs' vision in the 1950s provided support to establish the Society's microfilm program. That program, with help from a variety of sources encouraged by Mr. Hubbs, has filmed many millions of pages of Minnesota newspapers thereby preserving them. The F.R. Bigelow Foundation has honored Mr. Hubbs by contributing funds in his name for the Ronald M. Hubbs Microfilm Room in the Research Center of the Minnesota History Center. This room provides general public access to the rich collection of newspapers on microfilm six days a week on a self-service basis. The collection contains virtually every newspaper published in the state and territory since 1849. Ronald Walrath Ronald Walrath began his employment at the Society in 1969 as curator of the newspaper collection, later serving as director of the Society's microfilm laboratory and head of the newspaper microfilming project. Ron also worked in the Hubbs Microfilm Room, providing welcome assistance to genealogists and other newspaper researchers, before retiring from the Society in June of 1999. Ron was one of the first (maybe even the first) Society staff members to use a personal computer. His original Heath Kit build-it-yourself model, now an artifact, created the Society's first database of information about the newspapers and microfilm holdings. |
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