Inside the walls or at the library, brittle paper offers glimpses of the past – Burlington Hawk Eye

Today, The Hawk Eye gets a new look. Old issues, be they found in the walls of a house or carefully stored at the public library, show how the newspaper has constantly changed.

Most have heard the saying, If these walls could talk.

The walls of Dorothy Hesters house on Orchard Street in Burlington can, in a way. They were filled with old newspapers, dating back to the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Hester has lived in her house for 30 years. A few years after moving in, she and her husband decided to remodel. But when the couple started knocking down walls, papers started flying out.

Back in the day, they used to insulate houses with all this, Hester said, pointing to boxes of brittle, yellowed newspapers.

We had fun when we were remodeling, because you had to be careful because all the stuff would come flying out at you, she said.

The papers once were stuffed into walls throughout the house, including the kitchen, bathroom, laundry room and living room.

An 1891 copy of The Burlington Hawk-Eye read Easter Announcements across the top.

That was years ago, and Hester said she had forgotten all about the newspapers. Her late husband, whom she described as a saver, had packed the newspapers away somewhere to gather more dust.

Then, recently, Hester decided to replace the windows in her attic. As the young man working on the project pulled away woodwork from the windows, Hester said he called down to show her another armful of old newspapers. Snippets of fragile pages floated down into her yard. Hester said she was picking them out of the grass all day.

Hester delicately flipped through the pages with ink-stained fingers. She laughed at how outdated the content seemed ads for rustproof corsets, recipes for scalloped eggs, and embroidery patterns.

One paper, dated 1913, showed the papers cost to be 1 cent.

They better not tell them that today, Hester joked. Because I just sent in for a year.

While she does not have any use for the papers, Hester said she could not throw away the history they contain. Since using newspapers for insulation was a common practice of the time, Hester said she is sure other houses in the neighborhood have their own stories tucked away inside the walls.

However, Burlington residents who dont want to tear out their plaster can find any copy of The Hawk Eye at the Burlington Public Library. Samantha Helmick, the public services librarian, said the newspapers are bound in large books and kept in the basement for posterity. However, the public can access them on eight microfilm machines.

Every single day we have folks coming in to research their family history, research the history of the community, look for specific articles of interest for legal investigations, Helmick said. Its fascinating.

Those books full of newspapers show decades of history. They illustrate the changes the newspaper has gone through since it was established as the first daily newspaper in Iowa in 1837.

An 1860 copy reads Burlington Daily Hawk-Eye across the top of a wide newspaper. Underneath, the tagline reads An Independent Republican Journal. Tiny font covers the pages, which do not have photos.

Advertisements for everything from hoop skirts to hog prices recall a time before television and internet offered businesses other outlets.

Stories encouraged Burlington residents to vote for Abraham Lincoln.

In 1951, the paper was called The Burlington Hawk-Eye Gazette. By then had photos and bigger headlines. Crossword puzzles and comics were added, along with a section titled News for Women, which included engagement and marriage announcements and fashion advice.

Today the paper looks different, too, adding to the time machine-like collection at the library.

This teaches us about our history, Helmick said. And where we are going.

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Inside the walls or at the library, brittle paper offers glimpses of the past - Burlington Hawk Eye