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Show I Community's Archives j .-f "Can you tell me the date the Baptist Bap-tist church burned I mean, of course, the famous fire that all the old Inhabitants Inhab-itants talk about?" The librarian looked up from her work. "No, I can't tell you the exact ex-act date, but I think I can find it for you quickly, for we have the files of the local paper since It was started. My impression Is that the fire the big fire, as they call it was about 1873, and it won't be a very long Job to look it up." She went to the stacks in the rear of the library, pulled out a dusty bound volume marked "Herald, 1873," and spread it open on the table. "Ah, here it is," she said, after a minute spent In turning over the yellow leaves. The person who had Inquired for the' cla, a member of the woman's club of the town, sat down and read ' the nrtiele. "This gives me exactly the information I wanted," she said. "I thought it would," said the librarian. libra-rian. "I fear most people do not appreciate ap-preciate how valuable Is the local newspaper from the viewpoint of local lo-cal history. In fact, It seems to me that It Is about our only source. Only when an event gets Into print Is Jt officially recorded and filed for reference. refer-ence. Flimsy as It is, the printed word of today is the counterpart of the ancient stone inscriptions that give us our records of a long-ago yesterday. I consider the bound volumes of our local papers perhaps the most valuable valu-able possession of this library." There's at least one librarian who Is giving "Subscribe for Your Home Town Paper Week," which will be observed ob-served November 7-12, the most hearty backing she can give. |