A couple weeks back I happened upon the "morgue" for a newspaper that Glacier Media used to publish, here at our new office where we work alongside other Glacier properties , , , and . Since we were a couple months back I've learned more about the newspaper industry than I thought I ever would - one thing I've learned is that a "morgue" is a bound "archive" of newspaper editions - and I've also learned a lot more about our city and how it looked in 1986, thanks to a morgue.
The literally dusty volume in my hands right now is for a weekly called the EastEnder, which was a paper that was published from 1983 until 1989. It was a sister paper to the Westender back when the cultural distance between being from East Van and Kitsilano was similar to today's Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»to Fraser Valley divide.
There's no digital archive of this paper available, so in an initial attempt to drum up interest in digitizing it I've started a thread on Twitter. I take a few moments of every day to shoot an image of a story or an ad and share it.
The ads and stories are weird. Some are entirely not PC (the word "hookers" is often used to describe prostitutes), others are a window into brands and advertising practices of the day, the excitement around Expo 86, and the community as a whole. It's an interesting overview of the East side of our city in 1986, and below are a few of the standouts I've stumbled upon so far.
Back when the was 3 months old
— Bob Kronbauer (@BobKronbauer)
Nudies holding a protest sign promoting board voting
— Bob Kronbauer (@BobKronbauer)
"Lots of mirrors" and a limo lunch key to the marketing of Rigney's restaurant
— Bob Kronbauer (@BobKronbauer)
The anticipation!
— Bob Kronbauer (@BobKronbauer)
Back when was diversifying their offerings
— Bob Kronbauer (@BobKronbauer)
What year did they stop using the word "hooker" on the front page of the newspaper? Also, alderman Gordo running for mayor!
— Bob Kronbauer (@BobKronbauer)
OMG remember this guy who taught us all to buckle our seatbelts
— Bob Kronbauer (@BobKronbauer)
John Casablanca's in the 1980's
— Bob Kronbauer (@BobKronbauer)
If there is a God somebody will bring back Carlos 'n Bud's
— Bob Kronbauer (@BobKronbauer)
GARFIELD DAYS AT
— Bob Kronbauer (@BobKronbauer)
To celebrate the city's 100th the newspapers... held a cake making contest
— Bob Kronbauer (@BobKronbauer)
Mail this in to win tix to see the take on the North Stars at the Pacific Coliseum
— Bob Kronbauer (@BobKronbauer)
These people won free vs North Stars tickets AND got their names in the paper
— Bob Kronbauer (@BobKronbauer)
"Are computers affecting the way women work?"
— Bob Kronbauer (@BobKronbauer)
Before
— Bob Kronbauer (@BobKronbauer)
is a direct link to the Twitter thread. I'll be attempting to add to it every day, and we just might do something more with this archive in the future.