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Community History Archives

Community History Archive Partner

New Holstein Public Library

New Holstein, Wisconsin

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

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2Titles

Explore publications and collections from the past.

1908 to 1930Dates represented

See individual titles for available dates.

17,610Archive pages

Historical pages reported for this collection.

Explore local history

Discover the people, places, and stories of New Holstein, Wisconsin.

Get to know New Holstein, Wisconsin in earlier years through the newspapers shared in the New Holstein Public Library's digital archive. The archive includes Calumet County Reporter and New Holstein Reporter, with material from 1908 to 1930.

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

    The collection from New Holstein Public Library includes “Calumet County Reporter” and “New Holstein Reporter”.

  • Free and open access

    No subscription or payment required.

  • 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

Explore Calumet County Reporter and New Holstein Reporter through 17,610 digitized pages, with material from 1908 to 1930. A partnership between New Holstein Public Library and Advantage Archives makes this collection available. Some years or items may be missing between the dates shown.

Explore the titles below for a closer look at the places, people and everyday life of earlier generations.

Calumet County Reporter

10,138 pages from 1908 to 1921

New Holstein Reporter

7,472 pages from 1921 to 1930

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About the Archive

About The New Holstein Public Library’s History Archives

The New Holstein Public Library provides free and open access to local history through its Community History Archive, allowing residents, researchers, genealogists, and students to explore primary sources documenting the people, places, and events that have shaped New Holstein and Calumet County, Wisconsin. Through a partnership with Advantage Archives , the library offers a searchable digital archive that provides practical online access to historical newspapers at no cost. The archive includes digitized newspapers spanning the early twentieth century through the modern era, preserving firsthand accounts and a snapshot of time that reflects "history as it happened." These collections support genealogy, educational research, and community engagement while improving accessibility to the area's collective history. The library also maintains one of the region's strongest local genealogy collections, including historical newspapers on microfilm, local history books, and obituary indexes.

New Holstein Public Library photo 1

About the Library

About The New Holstein Public Library

The New Holstein Public Library, located at 2115 Washington Street in New Holstein, Wisconsin, serves as an educational resource and community gathering place for residents throughout the area. As a member of the Manitowoc-Calumet Library System, the library provides books, digital collections, public computers, research databases, educational programming, and services for all ages. The library also offers extensive genealogy resources, including family history books, Calumet County history materials, yearbooks, cemetery records, plat books, census records, and historical newspaper collections that make local history more accessible to researchers and the public.

Library History

The History Of The New Holstein Public Library

The New Holstein Public Library opened on May 22, 1929, following a collaborative effort by the New Holstein Association of Commerce, the Civic Society, and the Tuesday Club. The original library occupied a room in the Milhaupt Building with a collection of 609 books, many donated by local residents. After moving to larger quarters in 1931, the library suffered a devastating fire in 1948 that destroyed most of its 2,800-volume collection. Community support and assistance from the Arps Foundation led to the construction of a new library building in 1955. Continued growth prompted construction of the present library at 2115 Washington Street, which opened in 1975 and continues to serve the community today.

About the Community

About New Holstein, Wisconsin

New Holstein is a city in Calumet County in east-central Wisconsin. Founded in 1848 by immigrants from Holstein, Germany, the community developed as an agricultural center while maintaining strong German cultural traditions. Dairy farming, cheese production, and local manufacturing became important components of the area's economy, helping establish New Holstein as a thriving rural community. Today, the city continues to celebrate its heritage through local organizations, community events, and institutions dedicated to preserving its history while supporting future generations.

Local History

Did You Know?

Did you know that the New Holstein Public Library nearly lost its entire collection in a 1948 fire? Although approximately 2,400 books were destroyed, community members rallied behind the library, donating books, raising funds, and supporting the construction of a new library building. That remarkable community effort helped ensure that public library service continued and ultimately led to the modern library that serves New Holstein today.

More ways to explore and share local history

Research Guidance

Trace a name across nearby issues

Start with something you would like to understand about the past of New Holstein. It might be a person, a neighborhood or an event remembered in your family. Use the digital archive shared by the New Holstein 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.

If a name does not appear, try an alternate spelling or a related term, then read around any match. Note the issue date and page so a result stays connected to its context. Use those details to follow a story without treating one search result as a complete answer.

Build a trail through the past that someone else can follow: record the title, date, page or item reference, and a link when available. Keep historical quotations distinct from your own interpretation. If accounts disagree, note what each source supports before deciding how the details fit together in a family or community story.

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Community Partnership

Keeping local history a community resource

This community archive is made possible by the collaboration of the New Holstein 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
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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