The American Antiquarian Society, located in Worcester, Mass., needs Boonville's help to locate newspapers from the area dating before 1876.
The society, whose mission is to document early American history, society and culture through what it has printed. Towards that end we collect almost everything printed in America 1876 and earlier — includes books, pamphlets, almanacs, newspapers, periodicals, broadsides, prints, maps, sheet music and ephemera.
And according to the collection's curator, Vincent Golden, they have less than fifty issues from Boonville in their collection.
"Over 90 pcent of our holdings are St. Louis," said Golden, "and we don't have good representation of the rest of the state."
Golden is opening up the search to the public, since newspapers can often end up in the unlikeliest of hands. He recants a memory where he was given a two-year run of a Hannibal, Mo. paper found in Washington state.
He often makes trips himself around the country to pick up documents for the American Antiquarian Society, the third oldest historical society in the country, founded in 1812.
"If it's a small amount, you can ship them out here," he said. "If it's several volumes, I can pick it up."
The American Antiquarian Society can be reached at (508) 755-5221 or at vgolden@mwa.org.
