Editor’s note: The Daily’s editorial department acknowledges that this article is premised on a conflict of interest. This article is a special feature for Daily Week that does not represent the Daily’s standard journalistic practices.
The date is Feb. 25, 2025 and you are reading the Daily Week edition of The Tufts Daily. But, have you ever wondered, ‘what were students reading on this day decades ago?’
On Feb. 25, 1986, the Daily reported that the trustees had increased Tufts’ undergraduate tuition by 6.8% to a total of $15,960 — if only they knew! A year later, the front page of the Feb. 25 edition in 1987 reported on a march against prejudice and violence at Tufts and beyond.
Since 1980, the Daily has been reporting on world events, student life, campus news and student opinions, adding to the extensive record of student voices. Those interested in finding out what students were reading, writing and thinking decades ago are in luck because of the work done by Tufts Archival Research Center.
Every day, the TARC database Newspapers @ Tufts showcases various publications with their “Today in history” feature. The database is extensive, with 8,000+ issues, including almost every issue from every major publication since Tufts’ founding in 1852. Newspapers @ Tufts is a vital resource that tracks student opinions throughout the years while aiding students in both their research and their general curiosities.
TARC is located in the basement of Tisch Library. It houses records from all of Tufts’ campuses and the surrounding areas. TARC also holds manuscript collections related to a variety of other subject areas, such as environmental activism and broadcast journalism. For example, the Edward R. Murrow Papers, a collection of personal materials, work files and other records from the prominent CBS News broadcaster, can be found at TARC. In January 2022, TARC launched Newspapers @ Tufts, which digitized their newspaper archive, making them more accessible to students, faculty and researchers.
“It’s part of our overall goal and mission. We’re not here just to collect archives and publications, we are here to make them available to everyone.” Dan Santamaria, the director of TARC, said about Newspapers @ Tufts. “We did some analysis, and looking at what were the most used and most frequently requested items, [the newspapers] always rose to the top.”
Alexandra Bush, TARC’s public services and instruction archivist, gave an additional reason as to why digitizing news publications is vital.
“[Newspapers] are super fragile,” Bush said. “It’s much better for the physical documents to have these digitized versions, so a lot of people can access them without hurting the originals.”
Sari Mauro, an archivist at TARC, managed the large logistical undertaking of digitizing 8,000 issues. Most of the newspaper issues were sent to a vendor in North Carolina during the pandemic, where they were scanned using equipment made specifically for digitizing newspapers. They then used a software called Veridian which helped make Newspapers @ Tufts easy to use. This software made it so that, instead of flipping through pages and pages of old newspapers for a specific topic, it is now very easy to find out about specific topics using date, title and keyword search features that bring up the exact page and highlights where the key words appear on the page.
Newspapers @ Tufts is more than just the Daily, as it also includes most issues of The Tufts Weekly, which was founded in 1895 and focused on campus news, sports and events. Mauro and Bush have just finished digitizing the earliest versions of the Weekly — which were in poor condition — and they will be available on Newspapers @ Tufts soon.
The Tufts Weekly then became The Tufts Observer in 1969, becoming less focused on campus life and more focused on accountability and journalism. The archive also includes The Tufts Observer’s issues up until it was converted into a magazine in 2001. Additionally, there is a smaller number of issues from Today Tufts and The Tufts Summer News, also known as The Tufts Hilltopper. Most issues that are featured in Newspapers @ Tufts are also available in hard copy in the TARC Reading Room.
For students and other researchers, the newspapers can often be one of the most accessible primary sources. Senior Kathleen Landis, a history major, used TARC’s Newspapers @ Tufts in her sophomore year research paper on Tufts students’ reactions to the existence of birth control after World War II. Using the digitized search features, she was easily able to find student opinions, which was invaluable in her research.
“If we didn’t have the newspaper archive, most of the archives would [consist] of administrative documents, transcripts and other files.” Landis said. “I think what the newspapers add is not only this history of student life at Tufts but also a history of student opinion, a history of student activism and student involvement in every part of life at Tufts.”
The newspaper archive reveals more than just a history of Tufts. One can find connections to every major war and global event since Tufts’ founding. In their Jan. 19, 1920 issue, The Tufts Weekly reported that Tufts undergraduates had voted against the formation of the League of Nations. On April 25, 1972, The Observer reported on student-led Vietnam War protests. On Sept. 12, 2001, the Daily reported on how students coped with the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
With Newspapers @ Tufts, the historical research opportunities are endless. Bush regularly sees classes visit TARC to learn how they can use it for their various research projects. For example, Professor Virginia Drachman teaches “Tufts in American History” where many students make use of TARC documents. Additionally, the newspaper archive leads researchers to sources beyond those available in TARC.
“Whenever we receive a reference question or a research question about anything relating to something that happened in Tufts’ past, the newspapers are one of the first places that we go to find information about it … because it’s just such a great jumping-off point,” Bush said.
You don’t have to be a history major to use Newspapers @ Tufts and TARC as a resource. From past newspapers to old yearbooks, TARC is full of things to explore. Students go to TARC if they are curious about what students were dressing like in the 1970s, Jumbo’s tail, old Alpha Tau Omega photos, information about alumni and much more.
“Sometimes people just want to see the ads,” Santamaria said. “The ads are really amusing from the earlier decades; it’s a lot of cigarette ads.”
When flipping through the pages of old newspapers, you’ll find a plethora of ads for pizza stores, much like Pizza Days. Or a full-page “Happy Birthday” message with a quirky photo of an old student.
Bush’s personal favorite issue is an April Fool’s paper from the 1950s.
“Basically, the entire issue was about a fake Tufts-Harvard merger. Like, ‘Oh, the new mascot is going to be John Harvard riding Jumbo,’” Bush said.
Despite the odd and fun finds, at the end of the day the newspaper archive is an invaluable resource to preserve the records of the most important part of Tufts: the students. Whether it be for a research paper or a fun browse, Newspapers @ Tufts shows us a world of the past, revealing the differences and the similarities between then and now, on both a local and global scale.
“If you’re interested in any part of Tufts, you’re able to look into that history, as defined by the students, since the beginning,” Landis said.
