A couple weeks back I happened upon the "morgue" for a newspaper that Glacier Media used to publish, here at our new office where we work alongside other Glacier properties The Vancouver Courier, Westender, BIV, The Growler and REW.ca. Since we were acquired by them a couple months back I've learned more about the newspaper industry than I thought I ever would - one thing I've learned is that a "morgue" is a bound "archive" of newspaper editions - and I've also learned a lot more about our city and how it looked in 1986, thanks to a morgue.
The literally dusty volume in my hands right now is for a weekly called the EastEnder, which was a paper that was published from 1983 until 1989. It was a sister paper to the Westender back when the cultural distance between being from East Van and Kitsilano was similar to today's Vancouver to Fraser Valley divide.
There's no digital archive of this paper available, so in an initial attempt to drum up interest in digitizing it I've started a thread on Twitter. I take a few moments of every day to shoot an image of a story or an ad and share it.
The ads and stories are weird. Some are entirely not PC (the word "hookers" is often used to describe prostitutes), others are a window into brands and advertising practices of the day, the excitement around Expo 86, and the community as a whole. It's an interesting overview of the East side of our city in 1986, and below are a few of the standouts I've stumbled upon so far.
Back when the #Skytrain was 3 months old pic.twitter.com/unjSSXIdCk
— Bob Kronbauer (@BobKronbauer) October 3, 2017
Nudies holding a protest sign promoting @vancity board voting pic.twitter.com/kXku6dhCqg
— Bob Kronbauer (@BobKronbauer) October 3, 2017
"Lots of mirrors" and a limo lunch key to the marketing of Rigney's restaurant pic.twitter.com/0DetpFukMk
— Bob Kronbauer (@BobKronbauer) October 4, 2017
The anticipation! pic.twitter.com/nG5YXnumES
— Bob Kronbauer (@BobKronbauer) October 4, 2017
Back when @Sears was diversifying their offerings pic.twitter.com/TjEerJY2KU
— Bob Kronbauer (@BobKronbauer) October 11, 2017
What year did they stop using the word "hooker" on the front page of the newspaper? Also, alderman Gordo running for mayor! pic.twitter.com/Gb9CsYeSxa
— Bob Kronbauer (@BobKronbauer) October 11, 2017
OMG remember this guy who taught us all to buckle our seatbelts pic.twitter.com/UCNe3VUrsH
— Bob Kronbauer (@BobKronbauer) October 11, 2017
John Casablanca's in the 1980's pic.twitter.com/wRdCqsMZBu
— Bob Kronbauer (@BobKronbauer) October 11, 2017
If there is a God somebody will bring back Carlos 'n Bud's pic.twitter.com/HEGV9uvaVE
— Bob Kronbauer (@BobKronbauer) October 11, 2017
GARFIELD DAYS AT @PNE_Playland pic.twitter.com/F4fxytU7D4
— Bob Kronbauer (@BobKronbauer) October 11, 2017
To celebrate the city's 100th the newspapers... held a cake making contest pic.twitter.com/HahMAvYQXz
— Bob Kronbauer (@BobKronbauer) October 13, 2017
Mail this in to win tix to see the #canucks take on the North Stars at the Pacific Coliseum pic.twitter.com/23BvHPr2Oj
— Bob Kronbauer (@BobKronbauer) October 6, 2017
These people won free @Canucks vs North Stars tickets AND got their names in the paper pic.twitter.com/DbQINAJI9M
— Bob Kronbauer (@BobKronbauer) October 13, 2017
"Are computers affecting the way women work?" pic.twitter.com/lyoiIHsqCq
— Bob Kronbauer (@BobKronbauer) October 3, 2017
Before #Craigslist pic.twitter.com/3Yndpm3kdk
— Bob Kronbauer (@BobKronbauer) October 16, 2017
HERE is a direct link to the Twitter thread. I'll be attempting to add to it every day, and we just might do something more with this archive in the future.