18Titles
Explore publications and collections from the past.
Community History Archive Partner
What Cheer Public Library
What Cheer, Iowa
Explore this community history collection to discover the people, places, organizations, and events of What Cheer.
1800 to 2005Dates represented
See individual titles for available dates.
124,816Archive pages
Historical pages reported for this collection.
Explore local history
Discover the people, places, and stories of What Cheer, Iowa.
Discover another side of What Cheer, Iowa through newspapers as well as military records and history preserved in the What Cheer Public Library's digital archive. Its eighteen titles include material from 1800 to 2005.
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Selected titles
Selected titles from What Cheer Public Library include “20th Century Alumni Album” and “What Cheer Twice A Week Patriot”.
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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 public account in a newspaper and the perspective preserved in a military history or record need not tell the same story. Each reflects a particular purpose and audience. Exploring their differences can open new questions about the past, whether you begin with a familiar place or a period you would like to understand more closely. 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 eighteen titles and 124,816 digitized pages, with material from 1800 to 2005. Through a partnership with Advantage Archives, What Cheer Public Library shares these sources from the past. Some years or items may be missing between the dates shown.
Follow a family connection or a question about the community through the titles below and the history they preserve.
20th Century Alumni Album
544 pages in 1999
Honor Roll Keokuk County
390 pages in 1920
Rosecrans Rubrics
568 pages from 1901 to 1903
Service Records World War II
216 pages in 1946
The Barnes City News
22 pages from 1920 to 1929
The Deep River Record
8 pages in 1899
The Delta Chronicle
4 pages from 1960 to 1963
The Delta Press
30 pages from 1927 to 1937
The What Cheer Patriot
37,808 pages from 1883 to 1929
The What Cheer Patriot Chronicle
55,672 pages from 1929 to 1996
The What Cheer Reporter
12 pages in 1884
Ulster County Gazette
8 pages in 1800
What Cheer 100 Years
530 pages in 1965
What Cheer 125 Years
596 pages in 1990
What Cheer Chronicle
1,854 pages from 1908 to 1922
What Cheer Paper
8,824 pages from 1996 to 2005
What Cheer Reporter
16,060 pages from 1884 to 1906
What Cheer Twice A Week Patriot
1,670 pages from 1896 to 1898
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About the Library
About The What Cheer Public Library
Welcome to the What Cheer Public Library. The library is your one-stop source for all of your informational needs. We have a large selection of books, magazines, newspapers, and electronic resources available to be checked out by our library cardholders. Here you will also find electronic resources, news, announcements, and a calendar of upcoming library events! The What Cheer Public Library is committed to providing a welcoming space for learning, engagement, and community connection. With a mission to create opportunities for all through information, advice, guidance, learning, and inspiration, the library regularly updates its collection based on patron requests and hosts a variety of programs and events to engage the community.
Library History
The History Of The What Cheer Public Library
The What Cheer Public Library has been serving the community for many years, evolving with the needs of its patrons. The library has a rich history of providing essential resources and services, adapting over time to include modern amenities and digital archives. This dedication to progress and accessibility ensures that the library remains a vital part of the community, preserving the past while looking toward the future.
About the Community
About The City of What Cheer
What Cheer, Iowa, is a small town located in Keokuk County with a rich history and a strong sense of community. The town is known for its unique name and its commitment to preserving its heritage. Local landmarks, historical sites, and community events reflect the vibrant culture and history of What Cheer. The What Cheer Public Library plays a significant role in preserving this history, providing residents with access to a wealth of local historical resources.
Local History
Did You Know?
Did you know that the What Cheer Public Library's digital archives include rare editions of local newspapers, such as the Ulster County Gazette from 1800? Additionally, the library's collection features unique resources like the Service Records World War II from 1946 and the 20th Century Alumni Album from 1999. These unique resources offer a fascinating glimpse into the past, capturing the history and growth of the What Cheer community over the years.
More ways to explore and share local history
Research Guidance
Read a report in its time and place
Bring a question about What Cheer, whether it begins with a family name, a neighborhood, or an event people remember. Search the newspaper titles shared by the What Cheer Public Library for the details that connect a story to its time and community. The people and places in a report can make familiar local history more specific and worth exploring. Check nearby issues or another listed newspaper when available. Differences in timing and wording can add perspective to a story, while the issue date and surrounding articles help show what kind of account you are reading.
Follow a promising report into a nearby issue or another title where available. Compare dates and surrounding coverage; a single account is one perspective on a story. Use the surrounding account to shape your next question, while keeping each source's perspective distinct.
Keep the title, date, page, or item reference with each useful finding. Separate the words in a historical account from your interpretation, and note conflicting perspectives rather than choosing one too quickly. These notes help connect a local story to its evidence and show what remains uncertain.
Community Partnership
Keeping local history a community resource
This community archive is made possible by the collaboration of the What Cheer 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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