When To Recycle Your Papers?

My first byline as a full-time sports reporter ran in early 2001. I have every newspaper in its entirity in which I had a byline appear.

So, I have literally thousands of newspapers in boxes in closets and my storage room in the apartment I live in. I'm running out of space and fast.

How long do you keep your past newspapers in hard copy form? Should I just recylce these things?

 

I lasted about a year or so before I began recycling mine. At first, I kept the entire paper, then I tossed everything but the sports section. Now I only save the good clips.

 

I didn't care to save my newspapers until it was time to apply for my second job. After days of scanning the morgue for clips, I developed the now useful habit of saving papers with potential clip/award stories and recycling the rest.

I save about seven or eight stories or series of stories a year. That used to be because I couldn't buy a good clip at my old paper. Now it's because I feel like I can be picky. Every day I thank God I left.

 

To keep significant amounts of papers from the past, I turned to a bindery and got bound volumes made.

 

That's funny you should mention that. Paring my piles down is my next big project. And I've been at it since 1992.

Wish me luck. :'(

 

If you want a nice, easy way to save them, try obtaining pdfs of the pages. Some papers store all their pages copies in this format, so try nosing around. It makes it really easy to go back and find the story/date you're looking for and is higher quality than you scanning it in the first place.

 

Clip your stuff before you have a fire. Seven years of newspapers? Yikes.

 

Sounds like a packrat.

I save only my best stuff. The rest goes away in a day.