A Century of Student Voices on Display

An exhibit in Memorial Library highlights 22 front pages from MSU’s student newspaper, celebrating 100 years of campus life, community connection and student storytelling.

By Joe Tougas '86

Junior Kelli Flink spent two months sifting through 100 years’ worth of student journalism at Minnesota State Mankato.

She did that in order to create what’s now displayed on the walls outside the Marilyn J. Lass Center for Minnesota Studies in the Memorial Library: a collection of 22 front pages from the University newspaper spanning the past century. 

This year marks the 100th anniversary of The Reporter, MSU’s student-run newspaper, which was launched in 1926 under the name Among Ourselves. According to its front page, the publication was created to "establish a permanent paper in and of The Mankato Teachers’ College," which was the second of five names the University has had. "Whether or not we are to succeed," the front-page message continued, "depends entirely on the interest and support obtained from the student body."

Visitors can read that entire front page at the exhibit, along with 21 others published over the course of 100 years—a period that saw the paper change names only three times after Among Ourselves. It became School Spirit, then The College Reporter, and finally The Reporter, which it remains today.

Flink, who is majoring in history and minoring in creative writing and sociology, said she enjoyed the assignment from University Archives to peruse past issues and select 22 front pages that represent important moments in the University’s history and the nation’s.

"I really enjoyed looking at the different headlines and stuff over the years," she said. "It’s interesting to see how what they reported on changed and evolved, and to see the different stories about what was happening not just here on campus but in the community. It was especially interesting to see, particularly in the early years, how connected students were to what was going on in the larger Mankato community."

There is also a display case featuring artifacts from the newspaper’s past—pica poles, proportion wheels, typewriters, and reporters’ notebooks—as well as photos of newspaper staff at work in production rooms and offices.

One of the more interesting discoveries for Flink was how the frequency of publication changed as the school grew.

"It started off as a bi-monthly newspaper, then became a weekly paper, and during the ’70s it was published daily," she said. "It was interesting to see how it went from being something that came out every once in a while to something very impactful—how students got their information. I can’t imagine how much work it took to put out a daily paper." 

All issues of the newspaper are archived through the Memorial Library and can be searched via ARCH.