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Donath
restoring newly found 19th century
Lincoln newspaper collection
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 [September
25, 2019]
The Logan County Genealogical and
Historical Society (LCGHS) invited Bill
Donath to be their speaker for the
September meeting on Monday. His topic
was the continuing restoration and
cataloging of the Shew Collection of the
19th century Lincoln Herald newspapers.
When MKS Jewelers closed, a large stash
of The Lincoln Heralds were found in a
closed room on the second floor. Donath
was notified and he gratefully accepted
the donation of almost seven-hundred
Herald editions, a weekly newspaper in
Lincoln in the 19th century.
 The
original condition of the Shew
Collection of The Lincoln Herald when it
first came to LCGHS. Bill Donath is
transforming this jumble into a well
cataloged and usable research tool.
The papers were in poor condition, some
in flat condition, some rolled up in
“logs” that would have to be unrolled
and returned to a flat condition.
Bill Donath’s presentation on Monday
evening was to bring the LCGHS
membership up to date on where he was in
the restoration process. The flat papers
and posters had to be cleaned,
sanitized, and preserved before being
digitized. “We have to digitize these
papers to make them easier to use in
research projects. There is so much
history here,” said Donath.
The rolls of newspaper and posters have
to be unrolled, humidified to make them
capable of being flattened out, and then
preserved. This is a time consuming
process. Bill has cleaned 200 pages so
far out of the thousands that are
included in the 700 papers. The everyday
news of Lincoln and Logan County is
included in every edition, a treasure
trove of history. Something as mundane
as a wedding announcement can relate the
complete family of the wedding couple,
which can provide a rich source for
genealogy research.
The collection also includes political
and advertising posters, the printing of
which was a source of income for the
owner of the Herald, again a wonderful
window into 19th century Lincoln.
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Donath is working hard on the long term
project of preserving, cataloging, and
digitizing this amazing resource. “I
have had some help with this project,
both members lending me a hand in the
preserving process and financial
contributions to help defray the cost of
the project,” he said.
Some of the tools of the trade for the
preservationist include protective
gloves, simple pink erasures, breathing
protection, and a gentle vacuum.
Before cleaning on the left and after a
partial cleaning on the right, the paper
went from not being legible to easy to
read. This is the February 12, 1880
edition of The Lincoln Herald. “Happy
Birthday, Mr. Lincoln,” said Bill
Donath.
Donath welcomes anyone willing to help
to stop by the LCGHS to speak to him. “A
high quality digital camera would be
very helpful,” he remarked.
Donath has been a member of LCGHS for 15
years. In that time he has been able to
indulge his fascination with history in
many ways. He has served as an officer
and board member of LCGHS. He has
written several books about how Logan
County was affected by some of the most
momentous events in American history
such as the Civil War, World War I, and
the Spanish flu epidemic. He has added
preserving and cataloging the Shew
Collection of The Lincoln Herald to this
eclectic mix of projects.
Donath has also preserved his own
family’s history for a photo wall in his
home. “This is just what I love to do,”
he said.
The Logan County Genealogical and
Historical Society has its monthly
meeting on the third Monday of every
month at 6:30 p.m. They always have an
interesting speaker and the public is
invited to attend. The October speaker
will discuss the Lincoln Chautauqua.
[Curtis Fox]
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