Issues from the beginning in 1943 are digitized for posterity
For more than 30 years, efforts toward collecting consecutive copies of the Checkerboard and putting them in form for researching have been made by the 99th Infantry Division Association Archives Committee. Archivist Donald Mehus, E/394, worked to gather the copies and send them to the Wisconsin Historical Society for microfilming. With the advancement in technology, it was determined to move to digitizing.
At the suggestion of Eric Meyer, son of Bill Meyer, longtime Checkerboard editor, Heritage Microfilm/Newspaper Archives of Cedar Rapids IA, was contracted to do the digitizing. To date, microfilm of issues from 1943 to 1999 have been digitized. Subsequent issues will be included on the website soon.
The website is http://www.99div.newspaperarchive.com.
The issues are searchable by keyword and date, making it easy for researchers, historians, members and others to look into the lives and activities of the “Greatest Generation.”
A complete history of the project is located elsewhere in this issue of the Checkerboard.