Scratching Beneath the Surface Using Newspapers to Understand the Past

Early Minnesota Territory newspapers differ greatly from newspapers that we read today. Visiting the pages on this Website containing the digitized versions of The Winona Argus and The Winona Weekly Republican make this statement obvious.

Most historians agree that the early newspapers focus on boosterism, rumor mongering, advertising, and political grandstanding or editorializing. Your teachers and your dictionary can help you familiarize yourself with the meaning of these terms.
In order to address the following discussion questions and ideas, first spend some time scanning the actual newspapers as they are appear in their digitized versions. Then read, carefully, the excerpts taken from The Winona Weekly Republican in the file or page titled Newsbits.

1. In what ways do newspapers published in Winona today differ from those of Territorial times? How are they the same?

2. The article entitled, "A School at Last," contains examples of both news reporting and editorializing. Can you distinguish one from the other? What specific event in our national history is the writer referring to when he speaks of "hard times?" For a clue to this answer, pay attention to the date of publication.

3. How does the article about the new steam saw mill incorporate news reporting and boosterism? Find an example of editorializing in this article. Why might the author of this article given such high praise to the completion of this project? Discuss with your class some of the many ways in which this kind of an article is valuable to a historian trying to learn about the early days of Winona Territory.

4. This saw mill played a role of extreme importance in the early history of Winona. Locate the site of this saw mill on a current city map. Visit the site with some classmates or family members and see if you can find any vestiges of Laird, Norton & Company that might still remain. Report your findings to the rest of your class. Congratulations, you are now becoming a real historian.

5. Read the article entitled, "Death by Drowning." Tragedies like this are not uncommon today. But, scratch beneath the surface. What information is contained in this article that tells us how childhood in Territorial times differed greatly from today? How might you find out if young Mr. Goodingís body was ever recovered?

6. The remaining short pieces are often referred to as "blurbs." Discuss these with your class and see if you can agree on what is news, boosterism, and rumor.

7. The death announcement suggests that the bereaved parents of the infant were both, "absent at the East," when the child died. Where might this have been? How do you know?

Scratching Beneath the Surface