Latest news with #CaliforniaDigitalNewspaperCollection
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
From WWII to Diablo Canyon junk reef: Readers add SLO County history insight
Local readers have recently emailed to help answer questions posed by Photos From the Vault over the last few weeks. The responses show a fascinating way to see the historical stepping stones to where we all stand today. Also in this column is an update on a threatened historical gem, the California Digital Newspaper Collection. Thanks to our readers, here are their insights: In response to a recent Vault, Gary McMaster, chairman and curator of the Camp Roberts Historical Museum, took the time to look through training books from the World War II era. The camp was one of the largest military training facilities in the United States. It was reactivated during the Korean War as well. McMaster found images of 'Little Berlin' and a simulated Japanese village used to train combat troops during the war. During World War II, the United States had to fight on two fronts, both Europe and the Pacific. In the latter phases of the war in the Pacific Theater, invasion of the home islands of Japan was being planned for and the bloody island-hopping battles toward Japan gave military planners pause. Urban combat is recognized as being especially difficult. Specialized training is required to minimize losses and effectively achieve objectives. The museum is a fascinating visit, open Thursdays and Saturdays excluding some national holidays. Admission is free and group tours are available via reservation. In answer to the question about the proposal to create an artificial reef near Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant, a Tribune reader wrote in with a link to a nautical chart. Nautical Charts Online shows a rectangular obstruction southeast of the plant at 9 fathoms or about 54 feet below ocean level. So it appears that some time after 1984, the proposal became a reality just outside the security zone and in the neighborhood of other existing natural obstructions. Lastly, a troubling update to the budget shortfall for the California Digital Newspaper Collection. Regular readers of this column know that the CDNC is the gold standard for researching names and events throughout California from 1846 to more recent times. As much as 25% of the site's content is only available on the CDNC. If you haven't already, I challenge you to take a moment to search the name of a grandparent or a California event from history that has always made you curious. To a history fan like me it is better than a theme park or a movie. It documents the real time experiences of history at the time it was being made. At times it is a revelation to see how some things have changed but that often human motivations connect us through time. It is a fascinating and free encyclopedia of California events and personalities. As Director Brian Geiger said in a recent email, 'unfortunately, the news is worse than I expected.' The deleted funding line for the budget was for this year, not next, and now the organization has a scant three months to collect donations to save public access to the archive. Otherwise as Geiger writes, 'We will almost certainly have to cease operations.' They have a donation page with the goal of raising $300,000 by June 30.
Yahoo
19-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Vital California newspaper archive is in danger of going offline. How you can help
History, when well researched and written is not just a desiccated collection of musty dates and facts. It is the living context of how we got here. Almost every week an email or phone call arrives offering critical and constructive responses to a previous Photos From the Vault column. Frequently it is a request to help find information. And judging from the thoughtful and kind conversations I have in the community, readers find the stories entertaining, edifying and important. One of the bedrock sources I consult is the California Digital Newspaper Collection. It is an indexed digital archive of newspapers across the state from the earliest United States days of California to about 1925. If the time scope of research is more recent, then a subscription to is another alternative. CNDC is a free encyclopedia of California history. Every year the archive grows through grants and partnerships. And today that vital resource is endangered. Brian Geiger, director of the Center for Bibliographical Studies and Research at University of California Riverside writes that this year there is no funding in the budget from the State Legislature. This will force CDNC to go offline. The line item is a microscopic $439,000 within a budget of $320 billion. (Only 0.00013% if I used the percentage calculator correctly.) No one else does this specialized work — and without state support, no one will. It is the largest archive of its kind in the United States with 40 million pages of digitized papers from throughout California. The site has also had to fend off bot-driven cyber attacks that crash it. The large volume of information might be valuable to someone who is building an AI machine learning model. Defending the site takes extra effort. Geiger asks that if you value this vital resource, please take the time to contact State Senator John Laird and let him know that CDNC is essential and needs to be funded. Senator Laird is our local representative. If you are involved in research or a historical society now is the time to make your voice heard. Now on to some history. With all the bicycle lane construction in San Luis Obispo, I decided to take a survey of the early newspapers to see how far back coverage went and what types of stories were published. Story categories included comic yarns, bicycle race results, sales and cyclists as a hazard. Conflict between cyclists and street traffic goes back to horse and buggy days. There was a comic story in on the front page of the newspaper's second edition. Unlike today when breaking news is reserved for the front page, in 1869, The San Luis Obispo Tribune assembled the hand-set front page type well in advance of the weekly print date. It was almost always a reprint from another source with a long shelf life, sometimes credited, sometimes not. Breaking and local news ran on page two and three. The story titled 'On A Bicycle' is in the style of a Mark Twain comic and it spilled over a full column. It follows a novice rider to an inevitable crash. The Aug. 16, 1869, story concludes with the humiliated and bruised rider and writer reexamining his life choices. 'I ran over in my own mind the list of my enemies, being at last fully determined to send my compliments to the gentleman who cut up my last book, and with my compliments, the gift of the bicycle,' the cyclist wrote. 'Humbly and sincerely I trust he will not break his neck.' By April 4, 1903, the Morning Tribune was putting local news on the front page and it ran a story advising cyclists to stay in the street. Marshal Johnson Will Soon Give Notice and Devotees of Wheeling Must Look Out. It is up to all of us now to break the pernicious habit of riding bicycles on the sidewalk. The edict has gone forth, the result of a general awakening of the public convenience, and Marshal Johnson will soon publish notices to all bicyclists to keep off the walks, after which, look out. Johnson says he will not be any respector of persons or of walks. The sidewalk habit is getting altogether too strong among wheelmen and needs checking. Better begin learning taking the middle of the road before it is too late.
