New Era

The New Era (Chester, Conn.) 1874-1882, began as monthly a monthly and quickly became a weekly newspaper serving the Lower Connecticut River Valley communities of Haddam, Chester, Saybrook (Deep River and Winthrop), Essex (Centerbrook and Ivoryton) Old Saybrook, Lyme (Hamburg), and Old Lyme. 1874-1882 and succeeded by The New Era (Deep River, Conn.) 1938-1977. It was issued on microfilm from the Connecticut State Library as part of the Connecticut Newspapers Project. In exchange for loaning the library its original copies of the New Era from 1874 to 1936, the State Library helped the society pay for placing nearly the entire 103-year run of the New Era on 70 reels of microfilm. There are some gaps in the microfilm collection that was completed in 1997, including the entire year 1914. The collection was made available for viewing at the Deep River Public Library where it remained until returning to the Deep River Historical Society in 2017. In the intervening 20 years technology shifted again. During the Covid pandemic, Robert Webb of Charter Oak Scanning offered to scan the rolls in exchange for the existing equipment. The New Era is being offered again as separate individual issues, either online or as downloadable PDF files. This will put our history back in our hands, available to genealogists, local historians, and high school scholars. It was hoped that OCR scanning of the text might be available to enhance the experience, but to date that goal is elusive due to funds. If the Lower Connecticut River Valley community of K-to-Grey scholars and historians wish to contribute it will likely be because WE ALL WORKED TOGETHER. If you have an interest in contributing, contact the Deep River Historical Society at 860-526-1449 or info@deepriverhistoricalsociety.org