It smells like old books when you walk down the rows of the Santa Barbara Historical Museum’s research library. Archivist Chris Ervin knowingly shows off volumes of bound newspaper copies dating back to the 1890s.

“Journalism is the first rough draft of history,” as the saying goes, and the museum wants to buy the Santa Barbara News-Press’ physical archives to add to its already-impressive collection.

Museum leaders immediately took action when the newspaper’s parent company declared bankruptcy in July, Executive Director Dacia Harwood told Noozhawk.

They rallied supporters behind the cause, including the board and local historians, she said.

The museum has bound newspapers from the 1890s to the 1980s that were previously donated – probably by the News-Press itself.

They’re hoping to buy the former newspaper’s “photo morgue,” microfiche collection, clippings, newspapers, and bound copies.

“Photographs are extraordinarily information rich, and the News-Press ones were taken by professional photographers,” said Ervin, the museum’s head archivist.  

Clippings are articles and photos cut out of newspapers and arranged by subject.  

“That’s gold to us,” Harwood said. “Our researchers use clippings all the time.”

Harwood and Ervin toured the historical News-Press building at 715 Anacapa St. with the bankruptcy trustee last year to see what archive material was there.

But there wasn’t much time to see how extensive they are, or what condition they’re in, Harwood said. At the time, they couldn’t confirm there’s anything older than the 1940s, she said.

The trustee for the bankruptcy case wants to sell News-Press assets by auction, including printing press equipment and the newspaper’s physical and digital archives. The proceeds will go into the estate’s bank account and probably be used to pay creditors.

“They’re as eager to sell the archives as we are to acquire it,” said Tim Metzinger, an attorney volunteering his time to help the museum.

The next step is getting the archives appraised, and that means building access – which owner Wendy McCaw has limited, according to court documents.

The museum is offering to pay for an appraiser report, which could be used to solicit bids, Metzinger told Noozhawk.

“At this point we wouldn’t even know what we were bidding on,” he said.

Once they have a number, the museum can organize donors, Harwood said.

Harwood and Metzinger argue that the museum is the natural place for the collection to be safely stored and provide public access.

“It’s the museum’s hope that if there is anyone else local interested in acquiring it, they’ll work with us, not against us,” Metzinger said.  

“I think all of us who care about Santa Barbara history would be crushed if the archives were lost or go into private hands and there wasn’t public access,” he said.

The Gledhill Library  

The Santa Barbara Historical Museum’s Gledhill Library is a research library with a reading room open to the public.

Ervin, the head archivist, helps historians and other researchers find the material they need from the museum’s 10,000 volumes of books on Santa Barbara history, 100,000 photos, and archives of the Santa Barbara News-Press and other publications.

It’s located in the museum at 136 E. De la Guerra St.

“You can tell when the newspaper was at its peak because the bound issues are huge,” he said. “So many ads.” That was in the 1980s – later than people might think, he said.

The climate-controlled underground storage area includes bound copies of the News-Press and its predecessors that were donated in two batches: the 1890s to 1950, and then 1958 to 1986, Ervin says.

The missing 1950s copies are “one of the holes we hope to fix,” he said.

“How do we get the most complete version of what happened in Santa Barbara?”

Some old newspapers have been digitized or put on microfiche, but the museum keeps the paper copies because they’re better quality, Ervin says. Microfiche loses all grayscale and has lower-quality photos because of it.

“Researchers can go back to the source material, which is why we keep them,” he said.

Bankruptcy Trustee Selling News-Press Website Next Week

Attorney Jerry Namba, the trustee for the bankruptcy case, already found a buyer for the News-Press website domain, social media accounts, and trademark. He will hold a hearing and entertain higher bidders on April 9.

The Malta-based company Weyaweya Ltd. would pay $250,000, and the sale deal includes payment agreements with former News-Press employees who have logins for the websites.

The museum would have liked to purchase the digital archives too, but it can’t match a $250,000 bid, Metzinger said.

“That’s not as important to them, the last 30 years,” he said.

The museum has its own clippings from that time, and the library donated its clipping collection, which it maintained through about 2000, according to Ervin.

It is unclear what Weyaweya plans to do with the News-Press website and social media accounts.

Weyaweya Ltd.’s chief executive officer who signed the sale agreement is Max Noremo, who appears to also be a lead investor of the firm that purchased Deadspin.

“At this time we have received no other offers,” Namba told Noozhawk this week. “But other buyers are encouraged to appear at the hearing and make higher bids.”

The April 9 hearing is scheduled for 2 p.m. in Central California District Bankruptcy Court at 1415 State St. in Santa Barbara.