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Community History Archive Partner

Plainville Memorial Library

Plainville, Kansas

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

12Titles

Explore publications and collections from the past.

1884 to 2025Dates represented

See individual titles for available dates.

177,984Archive pages

Historical pages reported for this collection.

Explore local history

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

Discover another side of Plainville, Kansas through newspapers preserved in the Plainville Memorial Library's digital archive. Its twelve titles include material from 1884 to 2025.

  • Selected titles

    The titles shared by Plainville Memorial Library include “Plainville” and “Times”.

  • Free and open access

    No subscription or payment required.

  • A closer look

    An earlier generation comes into view through the stories its newspapers chose to report, placing familiar names and events within the concerns of their time.

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 twelve titles and 177,984 digitized pages, with material from 1884 to 2025. Through a partnership with Advantage Archives, Plainville Memorial Library shares these sources from the past. Some years or items may be missing between the dates shown.

Every search for the past starts with a question. Explore the titles below, follow the sources that speak to it, and see what new detail appears.

Plainville

2,228 pages in 2013

Plainville Echo

1,122 pages from 1884 to 1886

Plainville Gazette

8,034 pages from 1898 to 1908

Plainville Times

154,816 pages from 1904 to 2025

Plainville Times

64 pages in 2021

Rooks County Record

24 pages in 1949

The Plainville Echo

8 pages in 1884

The Plainville Gazette

4,366 pages from 1907 to 1913

The Plainville Press

558 pages in 1885

The Plainville South Side Gazette

376 pages in 1920

The Plainville Times

6,372 pages from 1886 to 1894

Times

16 pages in 1886

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About the Library

About Plainville Memorial Library

The Plainville Memorial Library has been serving the community since 1902, providing essential library services and resources to patrons of all ages. With a commitment to preserving the history of Plainville, the library offers both physical and digital collections, ensuring that the rich heritage of the area is accessible to all.

Library History

The History Of Plainville Memorial Library

Since its establishment in 1902, the Plainville Memorial Library has been a vital institution in the community, adapting to meet the changing needs of its patrons. The library's digital archive of historical newspapers is just one example of how it continues to provide valuable resources for those seeking to explore Plainville's past.

Local History

Did You Know?

Did you know that the Plainville Memorial Library's digital archive includes newspapers from as early as 1884? These archives provide a fascinating look into the history of the local community over the past century.

More ways to explore and share local history

Research Guidance

Keep publication context with a finding

The history of Plainville includes individual lives as well as events remembered by the wider community. In the digital archive shared by the Plainville Memorial Library, 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. Note the newspaper title, issue date, and page for a useful report. Compare another account where available, and keep differences in timing or perspective visible rather than blending them into a single version.

Save the newspaper title, issue date, and page, then compare another dated account where available. Keep differences in timing and perspective visible so the source context is not lost. If the accounts disagree, record what each source supports and use the difference to shape a further search rather than smoothing them into one version.

A research trail is most useful when it leaves room for what is not yet known. Record the title, date, and page or item reference where available, along with what remains uncertain and which question you want to follow next. Those details help keep a possible connection from becoming an unsupported conclusion.

Review collection titles

Community Partnership

Keeping local history a community resource

This community archive is made possible by the collaboration of the Plainville Memorial 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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