The Columbus Metropolitan Library will unveil a trove of Columbus history this month, gathered for more than 150 years by Columbus Dispatch journalists.

Library CEO Patrick Losinski and Dispatch Executive Editor Michael Shearer will host a special event at 3 p.m. Wednesday in the Main Library to discuss the new partnership and digital resources that will be free to the public. The event will allow the community to share what types of content are most important to them.

The library's local history & genealogy department has been archiving the 152-year-old newspaper's collection of newspaper clippings, newsroom artifacts, microfilm and microfiche, digital images, photo prints and negatives for several years. More than 6,000 already-scanned images will initially be available. The collection is the largest donation of archival material in the history of the 23-branch library system.

This physical archive alone comprises about 750 boxes, the bulk of them photographs, that the library took ownership of in June.

"The earlier stuff, for me, is the most valuable," said Angela O'Neal, manager of the history and genealogy department. "If this doesn't get saved by us, it won't be available for future generations, to help people have a sense of place and understand how they got here as a community."

The growing database will be accessible through the library's My History collection. Online searchers should look under “Browse by Collection” and then select “Columbus Dispatch Collection.”

You can read more in an article by Dean Narciso published in the Columbus Dispatch web site at: https://tinyurl.com/2eerwm7r.