Knowledge Base

Rochester Public Library Unveils Digitized Newspaper Archive to Search the Past 

July 1, 2025 – ROCHESTER, Minn. - Searching Rochester’s Post Bulletin newspaper archives just became faster, easier, and more accessible, thanks to a new partnership between Rochester Public Library and Newspapers.com. 

Earlier this year, the library loaned most of their microfilm collection to the digital archive service for scanning and preservation. The digitization is now complete, and the entire archive is searchable by name, date, publication, and keyword through Newspapers.com. 

The new resource is available for free inside the library, using public computers or a personal device connected to library Wi-Fi. Users can view, save, or print articles as PDF or image files. 

"This has been a goal for years – we're so excited to be able to search newspaper articles using only keywords, a name, or date range," said Sara Patalita, Head of Information Services at the library. 

In the past, it was nearly impossible to find the newspaper coverage users needed without a specific date. Trying to locate an obituary or a front-page photo would often mean a researcher would need to scroll through multiple reels of microfilm perusing each page to try to find their needle in a haystack. 

"This is a real game changer! Now we can search over a million pages of our historical newspapers in just a few seconds," said Brian Lind, a librarian in Information Services. 

The digital archive includes over a century of local news coverage and offers an all-access pass to Rochester’s people, places, and pivotal moments. Newspapers in this collection include The Post Bulletin, Agweek, and AgriNews and date back to 1858 and up to three months prior to the current date. 

The Post Bulletin has a small collection of front-page news stories from the last 150 years which are on display at the public library through the end of July. These headlines include the 1883 Cyclone which changed Rochester forever and led to the creation of the Mayo Clinic, the 1939 deaths of the Doctors Mayo, 1950 Nobel Prize winners, the 1956 creation of the IBM plant, and the flood of July 1978. 

The library invites visitors to search the archive onsite and discover information from the day they were born, conduct family history research, learn about notable happenings at a particular address or regarding a specific organization or group. 

For more information, visit www.rplmn.org or contact the library at (507) 328-2300.