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Community History Archives

Community History Archive Partner

Coffey County Library

Burlington, Kansas

Explore this community history collection to discover the people, places, organizations, and events of Burlington.

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15Titles

Explore publications and collections from the past.

1864 to 2008Dates represented

See individual titles for available dates.

510,390Archive pages

Historical pages reported for this collection.

Explore local history

Discover the people, places, and stories of Burlington, Kansas.

Explore the past of Burlington, Kansas through newspapers in the Coffey County Library's digital archive. Its fifteen titles include material from 1864 to 2008.

You can open the archive using the link below.
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  • Selected titles

    In the collection shared by Coffey County Library, you will find “Allegre Rexall Capsule” and “The Waverly Gazette”.

  • Free and open access

    No subscription or payment required.

  • A closer look

    A familiar name or event takes on another dimension in the newspaper coverage of its time, alongside the stories that mattered to the readers of that issue.

Reporting from the time can reveal how people described the events, work and concerns of their day, placing a local story within the history unfolding around it. Whether you are tracing a family connection, exploring a local event or sharing history with a class, there is more to discover than names and dates alone. Explore the archive online for free, without a subscription.

Explore the collection

Titles in this collection

Browse fifteen titles and 510,390 digitized pages, with material from 1864 to 2008. This collection is shared through Coffey County Library's partnership with Advantage Archives. Some years or items may be missing between the dates shown.

If you are tracing a family connection or exploring local history, the titles below offer a place to begin and a thread to follow.

Allegre Rexall Capsule

1,842 pages from 1981 to 1990

Coffey County Today

57,678 pages from 1983 to 1998

Gridley Star

620 pages from 1905 to 1907

Halls Summit News

482 pages from 1921 to 1922

Hampden Expositor

8 pages in 1864

Lebo Courier

980 pages from 1889 to 1891

Lebo Enterprise

67,198 pages from 1891 to 1986

Lebo Leader

5,142 pages from 1931 to 1943

Lebo Light

1,964 pages from 1884 to 1889

Lebo Star

6,824 pages from 1908 to 1923

The Coffey County Republican

7,218 pages from 1998 to 1999

The Daily Republican

258,984 pages from 1922 to 1983

The Gridley Gleam

30,680 pages from 1982 to 2008

The Gridley Light

36,562 pages from 1922 to 1975

The Waverly Gazette

34,208 pages from 1922 to 1976

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About the Library

About Coffey County Library

Coffey County Library serves the residents of Coffey County, Kansas, providing access to a wealth of resources and fostering a culture of lifelong learning. With multiple branches across the county, the library is dedicated to promoting discovery and collaboration by offering valuable resources, superior service, and inspiring environments for all community members. Whether you're looking for the latest bestseller, historical records, or community programs, Coffey County Library is a hub of knowledge and learning.

Coffey County Library photo 1

Library History

The History Of Coffey County Library

Coffey County Library has long been an essential part of the community, committed to providing educational and recreational resources for residents. The library system has grown and evolved over the years, expanding its services to meet the changing needs of its patrons. The introduction of digital archives has allowed the library to preserve and make accessible a vast collection of historical newspapers, enhancing the library’s role as a resource for both present and future generations.

About the Community

About Coffey County, Kansas

Located in the heart of Kansas, Coffey County is a region rich in history and agricultural tradition. Known for its scenic landscapes and close-knit communities, Coffey County has been a center of commerce and culture since its establishment. The local library plays a key role in preserving the stories and events that have shaped the county over the years, offering residents and visitors alike a chance to connect with the past.

Local History

Did You Know?

Did you know that Coffey County Library offers free Wi-Fi access and public computers at all of its branches? It’s just one of the many ways the library promotes accessibility and lifelong learning for everyone in the community.

More ways to explore and share local history

Research Guidance

Look for the story behind a result

A family name, a familiar street or a story passed down through generations can lead to a closer look at the history of Burlington. The digital archive shared by the Coffey County Library offers a place to begin. When using historical newspapers, try alternate spellings and nearby dates, then read the surrounding page to place a local story in its time. Compare later reporting or another available title to explore different perspectives rather than treating one account as the whole story. Search a person, place, or event with a second term, then compare the date and context of each result. A repeated name needs more evidence before it identifies the same person or connects two parts of a story.

After recording the issue and page, search a second term tied to the result and compare the surrounding dates and accounts. Keep matching names provisional until the place and context fit. This can turn one result into a better question without turning a repeated name into a confirmed story.

Capture the title, date, and page or item location for a detail you may want to revisit. Label your interpretation as your reading, not the source's own words. Keep enough context with the note that another reader can retrace it.

Review collection titles

Community Partnership

Keeping local history a community resource

This community archive is made possible by the collaboration of the Coffey County Library, its community, and Advantage Archives. Together, these partnerships preserve local sources and give people a way to explore, learn from, and share the history around them.

Advantage Archives covers ongoing archive hosting, storage, development, and maintenance. The institution and its community do not pay a subscription, seat license, annual support contract, or other recurring archive-service charge. Local history remains a community resource, not a subscription to maintain.

Would you like to see more of your community's history preserved and accessible? Start a conversation with your library, newspaper publisher, historical or genealogical society, museum, or school about the materials they would like to share and a possible partnership with Advantage Archives.

Learn about partnerships
Read All About It

Stories, research tips, and archive news

Read All About It connects archive research with the people and institutions preserving local history. Explore partner and community stories, project updates, research ideas, and perspectives on digitization, education, and working with primary sources. Use the articles as a starting point for your next question or a new way to share a discovery.

Newest published articles

March 18, 2025

It’s Your Community’s History, So Why Rent Something You Own?

We believe that history belongs to the communities where it was made - not locked behind paywalls or inaccessible due to budget restrictions. Subscription-based services and large content aggregators are generally more concerned with "content" and less concerned with the history that content contains. Their models typically involve a reoccurring charge for a plan that renews annually or licensing agreements with the library based on population served or circulation numbers. You are essentially Renting Access To YOUR History.
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