The Lantern Digital Archives features every issue of the Ohio State University student newspaper published from January 1881 to October 2013. This encompasses the run of the publication from its very first issue up to the year that an online edition began to be published.
Current issues of the newspaper are available at http://www.thelantern.com
You may notice that The Lantern Digital Archives has a new look. We have put together a guide to help you make the most of the features offered in this interface.
Student culture is one of the most difficult to preserve because the documentation, where it exists at all, is so fleeting. A notable exception is the student newspaper. Its descriptions of events and customs, including disagreements and conflicts with institutional authorities, are a tremendous source of information about student culture. Written by students for students, the newspaper represents an extensive record of the student point of view, both of campus life and of national and international events. The regular change in staffing, due to graduation and course requirements, enables a continual refreshing of viewpoint and a rich diversity of opinion in the student press.
The Ohio State University´s student newspaper, The Lantern, has appeared continuously since 1881. During its first year, two literary societies provided its content, which emphasized advice and social commentary more than news. Only for three months, in the fall of 1892, did its title change briefly, when it appeared under the title Wahoo, then a popular cheer for the University. In 1914 The Lantern became a daily newspaper, and since then students in OSU´s Journalism program have had primary responsibility for writing and publication.
As a record of student culture at a major Midwestern public university with a lengthy history of broadly-based admissions, the newspaper has extraordinary value for social history. War, peace, politics, religion, race and gender issues, censorship, art, entertainment, and much more appeared in the newspaper´s stories and illustrations. In addition, the student newspaper offers documentation of journalists at the beginning of their careers; OSU´s graduates have made their mark in the national press, including The New York Times and The Washington Post. We are pleased to present this archive to researchers both inside and outside of the University.
Raimund Goerler, PhD
University Archivist and Assistant Director for Archives and Special Collections, 1978-2010
The Ohio State University Libraries
Funding for digitization and online presentation of The Lantern was provided by the Ohio State University´s Administration. The project was coordinated within the University Libraries´ Preservation & Reformatting Department in cooperation with the Lantern Business Office. The digital images were scanned from original paper copies where available; all other images were scanned from microfilm. Paper copies were provided by the Lantern Business Office, and microfilm copies by the University Archives. Digital imaging of the paper copies was done by Brechin Imaging, in partnership with Digital Divide Data. Digital imaging of the microfilm was done by OCLC Preservation Services Center. The searchable online archive was engineered by Olive Software, Inc.
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The online archive of the Ohio State University’s student newspaper, The Lantern, is available for research and educational purposes only. Copyright and other restrictions may apply. Users are responsible for obtaining the necessary permissions to reprint, reproduce or make other uses of this material.