Villanova University’s Falvey Memorial Library has partnered with the Radnor Historical Society to digitize historical newspapers from the Wayne Weekly Signal, as well as other early Main Line publications. This digitization partnership will preserve and make public these historical newspapers.

“These digital partnerships enable us to make these historical collections discoverable and available to scholars wherever they live,” Millicent Gaskell, University Librarian, said. “We welcome researchers, historians and everyone interested in our shared past to peruse Falvey Library’s growing digital library to discover the ever-growing resources available there.”

“The Radnor Historical Society appreciates the Villanova Digital Library partnering with us on this very important project,” Radnor Historical Society Board Member Jennifer Beacom said. “Scanning the old issues of the Suburban will make them available to researchers all over the world. It is a wonderful legacy to leave for future generations who are interested in learning about life on the Main Line.”

Falvey Memorial Library began its digitization initiative in 2006. The goal of the project is to scan and digitize images of printed materials and manuscripts to build online collections of historical documents and rare books and make them freely available on the Internet via Villanova University’s digital library. Since then, the Library’s digitization projects have included a partnership with the American Catholic Historical Society, headquartered in Philadelphia and Independence Seaport Museum.

Limited access to important documents and papers, as well as the desire to preserve historic documents for future generations, brought forth a need for digitization.