Clarion Weekly Newspaper Turns Back Time

Ron Wilshire

Ron Wilshire

Published June 2, 2015 4:45 am
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CLARION, Pa. (EYT) — There’s a new/old newspaper in town.

The new Clarion Weekly Report published by the Clarion Free Library focuses on World War I with news from Clarion in 1915 and reports from the world’s battlefields.

The one-page broadsheet is a partnership between the Clarion Free Library, Clarion University faculty and students, and the Clarion Historical Society.

“We decided to do it primarily in order to link to the observation of the Centennial of World War One and the United States involvement,” said Dan Parker, library executive director. “Even though we didn’t send troops over until later in the war, we thought we would start at the beginning because Clarion came together as a community and really got into the war effort early on.”

World War I began July 28, 1914, and lasted until Nov. 11, 1918.  The United States officially joined the Allies and the war in 1917.

“The Report shows what was going on during the Great War and what was going on in Clarion,” said Parker.  “It’s a nice juxtaposition of what was considered newsworthy for both of those events.”

Information for the weekly comes directly from newspapers published at the time, the Clarion Democrat and Clarion Republican, predecessors of the current Clarion News.  National and local news were often included in both newspapers.

“We have the Clarion Democrat and the Clarion Republican on microfilm and pull stories, or snippets of stories, for our publication,” said Parker.

Some of local news snippets from the May 24 issue included:

• Roy McFarland, one of Clarion’s most popular mail carriers was taken suddenly ill last Thursday…and on Friday was taken to Kane Hospital where an operation was performed…

• The annual entertainment of the Model School and Kindergarten of the Normal (School) was held last Saturday evening at the Normal Chapel.

• Sixty new books in the Free Library ready for circulation.

• A valuable horse belonging to the Clarion Furniture Co. dropped dead…from heart disease.

International news in the same issue included articles such as:

• Squadrons lose every man, Russian paper praises heroism of Hungarian Calvary is desperate skirmish.

• German commerce minister warns people to save their grain.

• A Belgian woman was receiving an award for bravery under fire while servicing with a Red Cross ambulance.

In addition to material from the Clarion newspapers, plenty of historical facts are also presented in the Weekly Report.

Copies of each edition are available at the library on Main Street, the Clarion American Legion on Mail Street, and the Clarion VFW on Liberty Street.  Copies are also available on the Clarion Free Library Facebook page  and at the Clarion County Historical Society website.

“You never know where we might find people that are interested in this history,” said Parker.  “Interestingly enough on our Facebook page, we had somebody say ‘I’m so glad I read this this. The story was about my great grandparents.'”

Parker said he believes this is the first collaboration for this type of publication.  The library’s book club started out as collaboration with a faculty fellow grant through Clarion University to form the Travel Book Club and a Military Experience Book Club was also developed.

Another connection between the publication and the library allows the growth of the book collection.

“We are also using it to highlight our World War One bookshelf,” said Parker.  “One of our library supporters is donating books every month on various themes of the First World War. We’re hoping to catch people’s interest with the broadsheet and remind them that this was an important event in our nation’s history, as well as our local history. Now they can take books off the shelf and get more information on the war. It’s more than just tanks and trenches. There are books on art during the war, there are books on women’s involvement in the war, and it’s a really comprehensive collection. We plan to continue building it as long as the donor is willing to keep contributing.”

Scheduled for weekly production throughout the Centennial of World War One, the Clarion University History Club will prepare the newspaper.  During the summer months and school vacation, Clarion University faculty members write and prepare the material.

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