10Titles
Explore publications and collections from the past.
Community History Archive Partner
Marinette County Public Library
Marinette, Wisconsin
Explore this community history collection to discover the people, places, organizations, and events of Marinette.
1871 to 1914Dates represented
See individual titles for available dates.
126,080Archive pages
Historical pages reported for this collection.
Explore local history
Discover the people, places, and stories of Marinette, Wisconsin.
Get to know Marinette, Wisconsin in earlier years through the newspapers shared in the Marinette County Public Library's digital archive. Its ten titles include material from 1871 to 1914.
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Selected titles
In the collection shared by Marinette County Public Library, you will find “Daily Eagle” and “The Searchlight”.
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Free and open access
No subscription or payment required.
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A closer look
Newspaper pages connect individual accounts with a wider story, preserving how events were reported and presented to the readers of the day.
Historical newspapers can connect a family name with the events and everyday concerns of an earlier time, offering more than a date or a name on its own. Bring a family connection, a question about a familiar place or an interest in local history, and see where the sources lead. Explore the archive online for free, without a subscription.
Explore the collection
Titles in this collection
Browse ten titles and 126,080 digitized pages, with material from 1871 to 1914. A partnership between Marinette County Public Library and Advantage Archives makes this collection available. 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.
Daily Eagle
36,234 pages from 1888 to 1903
Daily Eagle Star
49,860 pages from 1903 to 1913
Marinette And Peshtigo Eagle
8,018 pages from 1871 to 1885
Marinette Eagle Star
3,578 pages from 1913 to 1914
The Eagle
4,310 pages from 1885 to 1900
The Independent
8 pages in 1886
The Searchlight
3,554 pages from 1909 to 1913
The Semi-Weekly Eagle
1,568 pages from 1886 to 1888
The Weekly Eagle
9,502 pages from 1888 to 1903
The Weekly Eagle Star
9,448 pages from 1903 to 1909
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Local History
About the Marinette County Public Library’s Local History & Digital Archives
The Marinette County Consolidated Public Library Service , headquartered at 1700 Hall Avenue in Marinette, Wisconsin, offers free and open access to extensive local history and genealogical collections—including digitized yearbooks, plat maps, newspapers, cemetery and obituary indexes, and community archival records. In collaboration with statewide and regional partners, the library supports historic preservation, research, and community engagement by making primary-source documents discoverable and accessible.
Local History
Local History & Archival Collections
- Marinette County Yearbooks & Plat Books — Plat books from 1905, 1912, and 1920, along with high-school yearbooks (circa 1919–1924), digitized for preservation and accessible online.
- Local Newspapers & Obituary / Funeral Note Indexes — Historic newspapers (e.g., early Marinette / regional press) and obituary indexes for genealogical research.
- Maps, Atlases & Land Records — Historical maps and county atlases that provide insight into land ownership, settlement patterns, and property development over time in Marinette County.
These collections allow community members, researchers, and genealogists to explore Marinette County’s past—its people, places, and events—through primary source documents, archival records, and cultural assets, all accessible either online or via library resources.
About the Library
About the Marinette County Consolidated Public Library Service
The main library branch, often referred to as the Stephenson Public Library, is located at 1700 Hall Ave, Marinette, WI 54143, and serves as the hub for the county library system that includes branches throughout Marinette County. It holds roughly 77,645 volumes and circulates approximately 347,483 items annually — serving a population of about 41,718 residents. The library offers typical public services, including lending books and media, public computer access, Wi-Fi, genealogy and local history support, and a digital catalog.
Library History
The Library’s History & Its Role in Preservation
Recognizing the importance of preserving local heritage, the Marinette County Library System has collaborated with the University of Wisconsin–Madison Libraries (UWDC) to digitize fragile or heavily used materials — particularly plat books, yearbooks, and county-wide local history documents — ensuring long-term access for researchers and the community. The library’s Local History & Genealogy Department also supports obituary lookups, reference assistance, and access to regional vital-records resources.
About the Community
About Marinette County, Wisconsin
Marinette County, Wisconsin lies in northeastern Wisconsin, bordered in part by Lake Michigan and characterized by its mix of forest, waterways, small towns, and rural communities. As of the 2020 census, the county’s population was about 41,872. The county includes the city of Marinette, which serves as the county seat and central hub for economic, educational, and cultural life. The historical collections held by the library preserve stories and records of logging, settlement, commerce, and everyday life that shaped the region.
Local History
Did You Know?
- The Marinette County Local History digital collection includes plat books and high-school yearbooks — resources frequently used and now preserved via digitization to ensure public access for generations.
- The library offers genealogy help sessions and maintains obituary and funeral-note indexes going back to early 20th century — helping researchers trace family histories, births, deaths, and migrations across Marinette and neighboring counties.
- The library is part of a larger countywide consolidated library system that supports multiple branches, enabling residents throughout Marinette County — not just the city of Marinette — to access resources, request inter-branch loans, and utilize digital history collections.
To explore plat books, yearbooks, newspapers, maps, and genealogical resources, visit: Marinette County Digital History Archives
More ways to explore and share local history
Research Guidance
Look for the story behind a result
Start with something you would like to understand about the past of Marinette. It might be a person, a neighborhood or an event remembered in your family. Use the digital archive shared by the Marinette County Public Library to follow that question into the historical record. 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.
Community Partnership
Keeping local history a community resource
This community archive is made possible by the collaboration of the Marinette County Public 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
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.
May 7, 2025
Why Microfilm is still important in 2023
Preserving documents on microfilm has been a popular method of storage for many years, and it still holds many benefits today. Here…
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May 7, 2025
Don’t Search For An Obituary By Only Searching For An “Obituary”
In the quest to trace our roots and understand our heritage, obituaries often serve as a crucial starting point. Obituaries are undoubtedly…
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April 9, 2025
Unveiling the Hidden Mysteries: Exploring Cold Cases and Unconventional Clues
Even the most esteemed police forces in the county encounter perplexing cold case files. These unsolved mysteries often leave investigators and genealogists…
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April 1, 2025
This Week in History: March 31st through April 6th
Discover History in The Community History Archives. This week in history, there is absolutely nothing to talk about… April Fools! April…
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March 24, 2025
This Week in History: March 24th through March 30th
Discover History in The Community History Archives. It has officially been a year since I started writing This Week in History,…
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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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