And A History of An Organization Newsletter
This month marks the fifth anniversary of the Fenton History Center’s official newsletter, the Walnut Grove Press. Before diving into the history of the current newsletter, readers might find it interesting to go back to the Fenton’s original newsletters. as this current iteration is not the first. This also gives us the opportunity to look at the history of a newsletter from the perspective of a historian or an archivist.
The changing volume numbers and formats over the years show how the Fenton Historical Society’s newsletter evolved as the organization grew. Early issues were inconsistent in numbering and sometimes changed names, which can make it harder to track the full history of issues. These shifts reflect a developing structure and the challenges of keeping a regular publication going. This kind of pattern isn’t unique to the Fenton; many organizations experience similar changes as they grow. Studying the history of newsletters can help us understand how an organization developed, what it prioritized, and how it connected with its community over time. When a newsletter has consistent volume and issue numbers, it is much easier to track whether certain issues need to be located. Many organizations may just use the month or season, and not always volume numbers, which can make it difficult for an archivist to ensure that any missing issues can be found.
The earliest known newsletter for the Fenton was the May 1964 edition, which included notice of the second annual meeting. This issue concluded the first year since the organization of the Fenton Historical Society. It included a letter from President Mary W. Torrance and a notice of the annual meeting from Secretary Sybil McFadden. There was no specific name for the newsletter, and they were simply titled “Fenton Historical Society Newsletter.” A February 1967 issue called the newsletter The Bulletin of the Fenton Historical Society. This seemed to have been a short-lived title, only issued until April 1968.
In December 1968, the “Fenton Historical Society Newsletter” had a header, which featured the mansion. This issue was numbered as “Vol. II No. 1.” It is unclear what they considered to be volume 1. Volume 2 (1968–1969) ran for seven issues. Volumes 3 (1970), 4 (1971), 5 (1972), 6 (1973), 7 (1974), 8 (1975), and 11 (1977–1978) each had four issues, though only two of Volume 4’s were numbered. Volume 9 (1976) produced five issues, while Volume 10 (1977) had just two. Volume 12 (1978–1979) also had four issues, and Volume 13 (1979–1980) concluded with three.
The May 1980 newsletter was Volume 13, Issue 4. After this, they stopped numbering the issues, and so it is unclear if we have all of them accounted for, although it is more than likely that we do. The header that was used since December 1968, continued until the February/March 1983 issue, and then there was a redesign for the May/June 1983 issue.
The newsletter used months or seasons for each of the subsequent issues, and a generic newsletter name was used until 2005. In that year, Joni Blackman rebranded the newsletter as Fenton Focus, which ran through 2009.
The next iteration of the newsletter was in the form of a weekly email, the earliest sent on July 29, 2011. Titled This Week in Local History, the emails featured Fenton news as well as historical events that occurred that week in history, from a list compiled by Norman Carlson. These weekly emails ran through September 24, 2020.
In the summer of 2020, Noah Goodling wanted to build on that weekly email by having a longer form e-mail newsletter, something he reported at the July 1, 2020 Board meeting. At the time I was the Secretary of the Board of Trustees, and I volunteered to help. I started to design a concept of the newsletter. Board Member Julie Hewitt suggested the name Walnut Grove Press. While the newsletter was set to go out on email, I designed a PDF version in the event it is ever printed. On July 16, Noah and I decided on the name Walnut Grove Press.
The first issue of the current iteration of the newsletter was released to the Fenton’s email list on August 6, 2020. The PDF started out at four pages with four articles, one from each member of the staff. The September 2020 issue only had three articles in the 4-page format. For the third issue, in October 2020, it expanded to an 8-page newsletter. I included three posters of upcoming events in this issue. The first non-staff article was written by Janet Wahlberg for this issue. In April 2021, the newsletter grew to 12 pages and to 16 pages in August 2021, and 20 pages in October, although it bounced between 12 or 16 pages depending on the amount of content. The first 24-page issue was August 2023. Since January 2024, most issues have been 24-pages, and only one issue was 16-pages. In June 2025, the first 28-page issue was released.
In January 2022, the articles were posted on the Fenton’s blog on the website for the first time. The first issue of the newsletter to be printed was in June 2022, and since then, we have always printed copies to have available in the store at the mansion, at the Hall House, and we have also handing them out at special events. The latest issue always contains our upcoming events, and so it has become a perfect resource to see what is happening at the Fenton. In late 2024, our first issue was printed on our new printer with the booklet finisher, while the previous issues that were printed had to be stapled manually.
All of the previous issues of the Walnut Grove Press can be found on the Fenton’s website. Some of the older newsletters have been scanned, and eventually the rest of the older issues will be scanned.
