Ann Tice is an avid genealogist currently living near Ann Arbor, Michigan. Ann was introduced to Advantage Preservation by a librarian and has since helped fund the digitization of Clear Lake (IA), Klemme (IA), and Red Wing (MN) newspapers.
Ann noticed a void in digitized papers available in areas valuable to her research so she took it into her own hands to help get this content online. Ann grew up in Clear Lake and Mason City, Iowa, a place she describes as rich with history, before moving to Illinois and later Michgian. Ann also had family from Klemme, Iowa and Red Wing, Minnesota.
With a passion for genealogy, Ann was looking for an alternative to traveling to libraries where the research was often reduced to scrolling hours through reels of microfilm and returning with “blurry eyes”.
Ann not only wanted the newspapers online, but available to those who can’t pay for access. After researching companies who digitize newspapers, she decided the Advantage model fit all of her needs.
Free to users, Ann described the Advantage Community History Archives as incredibly user friendly with a wonderful search engine and clipping tool that saves the newspaper source and info. “It has easier and better searching than even some of the huge paid online sites. I love how it can highlight articles you have already viewed, which is enormously helpful when returning to a search of hundreds of articles on the same computer later so you don’t lose your place.”
“Unlike birth or death records, newspapers provide an incredible amount of information about ancestors” said Ann. “It is amazing how newspapers bring a person to life. Also, for historians it’s helpful to understand the times- from politics, the pandemic influenza scare, to the routine community goings on, it gives one more of an idea of the times and where we came from.”
With 5 generations of family who have lived in Clear Lake, Ann now has the ability to research from the comfort of her own home and thanks to Ann others with ties or interests also in Clear Lake, Klemme, or Red Wing can access this information from anywhere in the world.
Page 1 of The Klemme Times, published in Klemme, Iowa on Thursday, October 26th, 1899
