Through a partnership with the Southwest Collection at Texas Tech University, the Midland Historical Society is making its collection of Midland newspapers available for public access in a digital format. Since the originals are too fragile to for repeated handling, this will now allow anyone who is interested to browse them and read and research at their leisure.*
The Southwest Collection is a major regional historical repository and library, a center for research about the history of the American Southwest. Included in its holdings are original manuscript material, such as letters, diaries, and business records; more than 50,000 books on the American West and Southwest; over 350,000 photographs; 4,500 oral history tapes;; more than 1,500 newspaper and periodical titles; 8,000 reels of microfilm; and 1,300 reels of motion picture film and video tape. Its collections on ranching, the oil and gas industry, water usage, land colonization, black soldiers in the West, railroads, and agriculture have been lauded as among the best in the nation.
To Access the Midland newspapers:
Searching:
  • Use "Search within the collection" to search for an item by name. Use advanced filters to allow more specific searches. To view an item, click on the newspaper name. Click on the newspaper image or "view/download" link. The issue will download as a PDF (Portable Document Format). You will need a PDF reader to view it. These are free online and many new computers come equipped with PDF capability.
  • You can also browse by year. Type in the year. If no search items are returned, the issues are not yet scanned into the collection or the issue is not in the museum collection.
So What is Available?*
When completed, the digital collection from the Midland County Historical Museum will include:
1886--1922     Scattered issues
1923--1947      Fairly complete series
1948--1997      Scattered issues
*Texas Tech is still in the process of scanning and uploading all the museum's holdings. Once they have completed that process, the physical copies will return to the Midland County Historical Museum Archives.