Stockton Digital Newspaper Collections

---

Explore 100 Years of Stockton's History made easy because Stockton's Newspapers are now online!

Featuring

The Stockton Herald ~ 1888-1919

The Stockton Maple Leaf ~ 1893

The Stockton News ~ 1889 - 1919 

The Stockton Herald-News ~ 1920-1988

 Who 

My name is Pete. I grew up in Stockton along with my 4 sisters Linda, Claire, Kathy & Jane. We all attended Holy Cross and graduated from SHS. Our parents (Charlie & Ruth Becker) owned and published the Stockton Herald-News from 1958-1967. Our family first came to Stockton from Manhattan, KS in 1951 when Dad took a job as Linotype operator for the then owners Charles & Marie Sughroe. We moved to Woodstock IL in 1954 when he accepted a similar position there. We moved back to Stockton in 1958 when Dad bought the paper upon the death of Mr. Sughroe. He sold the paper in  1967 and eventually went on to work for many years at the Freeport Journal Standard. Mom continued part time in the newspaper business, reporting for the Herald-News as well as the Freeport & Rockford papers. My sister Linda also worked at the "shop" as a Linotype operator, among other tasks. The whole family helped out when the paper was too many pages for the automatic folder to handle or was broken down, Dad would bring the pages home and we would all sit around the dinner table and complete the job. Vital to the operation for both Sughroes and Dad was newspaper woman extraordinaire Mabel Ross. She was able (and did) anything that needed to be done to keep the press rolling.  She also contributed with local news stories and local happenings.  I understand that she did some work in radio as well. 

What & When

 I'm aware five newspapers published in Stockton from 1888 until  1988. They include: The  Stockton Herald  1888-1919, originally published by J.N. Klock. The  Stockton News 1898-1919, originally published by Scotchbrook & Williams. The  Stockton Maple Leaf 1893, originally published by W.E. Warne. The Scoop  1933-, originally  published by Maxine Lynch (she later married Ralph Hansom) The Stockton Herald-News  1920-1988, originally published by John Sughroe. The Herald-News was created when John Sughroe (Charles' father) and owner of the Herald, purchased the News. The Herald-News ownership was passed to Charles in the 1920s 

Why

I'm a bit of a family history buff. In my years of research I have found information about my ancestors in the "paper ' to be invaluable -usually at inconvenience and cost. From browsing microfilms  in my father's hometown of Logan, KS to shelling out SS to find information trapped behind a paywall. The microfilm archives of the Stockton newspapers were only available at some Jo Daviess County libraries or the State Library in Springfield.   In the case of the Stockton library, there are also binders of papers & loose papers stored in other ways. I was pretty sure that most people didn't know what was available and would have great difficulty finding items useful to them. 

How

I started exploring ways to make the information available to more people, as well as myself. I talked with the people at the U of I Digital Newspapers Collection who told me it was rare that a private individual would submit a large project for publication on their website and they couldn't guarantee they could use what I scanned. It was almost always done by companies that specialized in these types of endeavors. Not deterred, I contacted the entity that owned the copyright to the papers. They signed of on the project immediately.  I then visited the Stockton library, where I was able to see the microfilms. Library Director Claire Smunt was instrumental in getting the board's approval to loan the films to me to scan, as well as ordering a copy of a missing film from the state library in  Springfield.

I decided to rent a scanner that I thought could do the job. The sales rep told me it was an automated process. Just load the individual film reels and press the button. Not even close!  It was a very manual process.  I didn't mind. I scanned almost 4000 issues jn the next couple months -one page at a time. Once submitted, the publishing process took over a year.  Everything from 1888-1970 is now available. 1971-1988 are coming soon.