The Lake Ronkonkoma Historical Society is the only entity that has a complete set of Ronkonkoma Review newspapers archived after digitizing 30 years of issues from October 1959 through October 1987.
Physical copies of the newspapers were originally placed in boxes and kept in the museum’s attic, but they are now all available on the New York State Historic Newspaper Project website. The collection includes 1,446 issues and approximately 26,000 pages.
“This has been a multi-year project that preserves history and brings life to stories that may not have seen the light of day without the digital archive,” said Evelyn Volgraff, President of the Lake Ronkonkoma Historical Society. “This collaborative effort will benefit generations of area residents who can now read stories going back 60-plus years.”
Volunteer Lesia Macko oversaw the project management, including finding the best price for quality image digitization and researching and obtaining grants.
The project, which took three years to complete, became a reality thanks to several grants from local organizations, including the Long Island Library Resource Council, William G. Pomeroy Foundation, Ronkonkoma Rotary Club, and several members..
“Binding the papers never happened, but it was obvious that preserving the newspapers was one of the “dreams” of the founding members,” said Joyce D. Sorrese, Curator of the Lake Ronkonkoma Historical Society Museum. “It became one of our dreams, too. The issues are fully searchable, and the quality of the images is wonderful!”
All newspapers in the archive can be viewed at nyshistoricnewspapers.org.