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Community History Archives

Community History Archive Partner

Pittsburg Public Library

Pittsburg, Kansas

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

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2Titles

Explore publications and collections from the past.

1886 to 1915Dates represented

See individual titles for available dates.

100,694Archive pages

Historical pages reported for this collection.

Explore local history

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

Get to know Pittsburg, Kansas in earlier years through the newspapers shared in the Pittsburg Public Library's digital archive. The archive includes The Daily Headlight and The Pittsburg Daily Headlight, with material from 1886 to 1915.

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

    Examples from Pittsburg Public Library’s collection include “The Daily Headlight” and “The Pittsburg Daily Headlight”.

  • 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 The Daily Headlight and The Pittsburg Daily Headlight through 100,694 digitized pages, with material from 1886 to 1915. A partnership between Pittsburg Public Library and Advantage Archives makes this collection available. 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.

The Daily Headlight

5,056 pages from 1886 to 1889

The Pittsburg Daily Headlight

95,638 pages from 1891 to 1915

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About the Archive

About The Pittsburg Public Library’s History Archives

The Pittsburg 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 shaped Pittsburg and Crawford County, Kansas. Through a partnership with Advantage Archives , the library offers a searchable digital archive that delivers practical online access to historical newspapers and community records at no cost. The archive preserves thousands of digitized newspaper pages spanning the late nineteenth century through the modern era, providing firsthand accounts and a snapshot of time that reflects “history as it happened” in southeastern Kansas. These materials support genealogy, educational research, and community engagement while ensuring long-term accessibility to important local historical content.

Pittsburg Public Library photo 1

About the Library

About The Pittsburg Public Library

The Pittsburg Public Library, located at 308 North Walnut Street in Pittsburg, Kansas, serves as a central educational resource and community hub for residents of Crawford County and the surrounding region. The library provides access to books, digital resources, research databases, public computers, and educational programming that support literacy, lifelong learning, and community engagement. In addition to traditional library services, the library maintains local history and genealogy resources that help preserve and share the collective history of southeastern Kansas. Through ongoing preservation initiatives and digital access projects, the library continues expanding accessibility to historical and educational resources for both local users and online researchers.

Library History

The History Of The Pittsburg Public Library

The Pittsburg Public Library traces its origins to the late nineteenth century when local citizens organized efforts to establish a permanent public library for the rapidly growing mining community. In 1901, philanthropist Andrew Carnegie approved funding for a library building, and the Carnegie Library opened in 1907, becoming one of the most significant civic institutions in Pittsburg. As the city expanded, library services grew alongside the community, eventually leading to the construction of a larger facility to accommodate increasing collections and public demand. Throughout its history, the library has remained committed to public access to information, education, and preservation of local historical resources.

About the Community

About Pittsburg, Kansas

Pittsburg is located in Crawford County in southeastern Kansas and was founded in 1876 during the region’s coal mining boom. The city quickly became one of the most important coal-producing centers in the Midwest, attracting immigrants from Italy, Croatia, Slovenia, Germany, and many other countries who came to work in the mines. Pittsburg developed a diverse cultural identity shaped by these immigrant communities and later became known for education through the establishment and growth of Pittsburg State University. Today, the city continues to celebrate its industrial heritage while serving as a regional center for education, commerce, and culture.

Local History

Did You Know?

Did you know that Pittsburg is home to one of Kansas’ most famous regional foods, the fried chicken and spaghetti dinner? The tradition originated among the city’s Italian immigrant communities and remains a popular local custom that reflects the cultural influences brought to southeastern Kansas during the coal mining era.

More ways to explore and share local history

Research Guidance

Check a text match against the page

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

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Community Partnership

Keeping local history a community resource

This community archive is made possible by the collaboration of the Pittsburg 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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