5Titles
Explore publications and collections from the past.
Community History Archive Partner
Pend Oreille County Library District
Newport, Washington
Explore this community history collection to discover the people, places, organizations, and events of Newport.
1897 to 2021Dates represented
See individual titles for available dates.
49,442Archive pages
Historical pages reported for this collection.
Explore local history
Discover the people, places, and stories of Newport, Washington.
Discover another side of Newport, Washington through newspapers preserved in the Pend Oreille County Library District's digital archive. Its five titles include material from 1897 to 2021.
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Selected titles
Examples from Pend Oreille County Library District’s collection include “Metaline Falls Community Collection” and “The Newport Pilot”.
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Free and open access
No subscription or payment required.
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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.
The reporting of earlier years offers a way to explore how events were understood as they happened and how local experiences became part of the historical record. A family story, a classroom project or curiosity about a familiar place can lead to a closer look at the community and the lives of earlier generations. Explore the archive online for free, without a subscription.
Explore the collection
Titles in this collection
Browse five titles and 49,442 digitized pages, with material from 1897 to 2021. Through a partnership with Advantage Archives, Pend Oreille County Library District shares these sources from the past. Some years or items may be missing between the dates shown.
Start with a detail you already know, then browse the titles below for another perspective on the people and places connected with this collection.
Metaline Falls Community Collection
851 pages in 2021
Newport Miner
15,349 pages from 1954 to 1980
The Cheney Free Press
42 pages in 1970
The Newport Miner
33,044 pages from 1900 to 1993
The Newport Pilot
156 pages from 1897 to 1898
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Local History
Local History Resources
The Metaline Falls Community Collection (2021)
The archive chronicles more than a century of life in Pend Oreille County, documenting logging, mining, railroads, schools, local government, businesses, recreation, and community events. The Newport Miner, one of northeastern Washington's longest-running newspapers, provides an invaluable record of the county's development following its establishment in 1911, while the Metaline Falls Community Collection preserves contemporary community history. Together, these materials create a valuable collection of primary source documents that serve as the "first rough draft of history."
About the Library
About The Pend Oreille County Library District
Headquartered at 109 South Union Avenue in Newport, Washington, the Pend Oreille County Library District serves communities throughout the county with branch libraries in Newport, Cusick, Ione, and Metaline Falls. The district provides books, digital resources, research databases, public computers, educational programming, and outreach services designed to encourage lifelong learning and community engagement. The Newport Branch maintains a local history collection, while the district's mission is to connect communities with opportunities that enrich lives through education, recreation, and access to information.
Library History
The History Of The Pend Oreille County Library District
The Pend Oreille County Library District was established to provide coordinated public library services throughout one of Washington's most rural counties. As the communities of Newport, Metaline Falls, Ione, and Cusick developed through the timber, mining, and railroad industries, the library district expanded to ensure residents had access to educational resources and public information. Over the years, the district has embraced digital technologies while continuing its commitment to preserving local history through community partnerships and digitization initiatives. Today, the district continues to make the county's documentary heritage more accessible through its Community History Archive and local history collections.
About the Community
About Pend Oreille County, Washington
Pend Oreille County was created in 1911 from the northern portion of Stevens County and is located in the northeastern corner of Washington along the Idaho and Canadian borders. Named after the Pend Oreille River, the county developed through mining, timber harvesting, agriculture, and railroad transportation. Newport, the county seat, became the region's principal commercial center after the arrival of the Great Northern Railway in the 1890s. Today, Pend Oreille County is known for its forests, mountains, rivers, and outdoor recreation, while preserving its rich heritage through libraries, museums, and historical organizations.
Local History
Did You Know?
Did you know that the Newport Miner played an important role in the creation of Pend Oreille County? During the early 1900s, editor Fred L. Wolf used the newspaper to advocate for separating the area from Stevens County, and the publication extensively documented the successful effort that led to the establishment of Pend Oreille County in 1911. Today, those historic editions remain preserved as searchable digital primary sources through the Community History Archive.
More ways to explore and share local history
Research Guidance
Check a text match against the page
The history of Newport includes individual lives as well as events remembered by the wider community. In the digital archive shared by the Pend Oreille County Library District, begin with a name, place or date connected with the story you want to explore. 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 search result looks incomplete or misspelled, inspect the scanned page when available. Record the issue date and page, then distinguish the printed wording from search text before following the story to another mention.
If a text match looks incomplete, compare it with the scanned newspaper page when available. Check whether wording or names differ, then record the page's printed wording with the issue date and page. Keep the search result distinct from what the page itself shows.
As you connect materials, note where each detail came from and what it can support. Record the title, date, and page or item reference where available. Keep names and relationships tentative until the evidence is strong enough to connect them, and mark which words come from the record and which are your interpretation.
Community Partnership
Keeping local history a community resource
This community archive is made possible by the collaboration of the Pend Oreille County Library District, 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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