On June 15, 2020, the Champaign County Historical Archives of The Urbana Free Library became the new home for the News-Gazette’s archival holdings. Over 1,000 square feet of materials were transferred to the Library in a semi-truck packed to capacity. The collection is currently housed on the lower level of the Lincoln Square Mall, across the street from the Library.

Dozens of newspaper clipping boxes stacked on top of file cabinets.     Close-up of newspaper clipping pulled part way out of its envelope.

The bulk of this collection includes name and subject clippings cutout and maintained by the News-Gazette staff from 1945 forward. These clippings are an excellent resource for anyone interested in local historical events, topics, or people.

This past summer, the Archives welcomed a team of volunteers who have been helping staff make this portion of the collection accessible to the public. We currently have two ways the community can access the collection.

Close-up of clippings envelopes side-by-side in box Subject Clippings Index
Volunteers are documenting the subject headings and years labeled on the envelopes pictured here. This information gets entered into an index, available to view on our website.

One of our volunteers, Ashley, says, “We are making great progress with the subject clippings index for the News-Gazette archival collection. We are almost at the 100th box!”

Champaign County Digital Newspapers Collection
As the community requests access to the subject clippings, Archives staff are scanning the individual clippings in each envelope. Volunteers then upload the files and add metadata. These scans can then be accessed online through our Digital Newspapers Collection.

Both of these resources are growing, so check back often!

If you are interested in using this collection, staff can search the files by name or subject and pull those files for viewing at the Champaign County Historical Archives. Please allow 48 hours for retrieval.  If you cannot make it to the Library, please see our How to Order Copies page for details. 

- Sherrie Bowser
  Archives Librarian