Editorial: ‘Our Yesterdays’ will continue — in a new home

For more than 25 years, The Laconia Daily Sun has been proud to publish Warren Huse's “Our Yesterdays” and “Then and Now” features, continuing a tradition begun by the Laconia Evening Citizen. These pages have helped preserve our community's history, and we know how much they mean to our readers.

We're pleased to share the tradition will continue, with one change: Beginning this month, both pages will appear in our free Saturday e-edition, rather than in print.

The change is necessary, but the stories will remain.

The newspaper industry has changed dramatically since we began publishing The Sun in 2000. The economics of producing and distributing a newspaper are very different today. To continue our mission of providing trusted local news and information to everyone in the Lakes Region, we’ve had to adapt.

Some decisions have been difficult, including reducing the number of days we publish in print. Now, we find we can no longer sustain devoting two full print pages each Saturday to “Our Yesterdays.”

But we have never wanted to lose this feature, or the history it preserves.

We're grateful to the Laconia Historical & Museum Society for working with us on a solution. The society has agreed to provide the completed pages, including photographs, so we can continue publishing them in our Saturday e-edition, just as readers have come to know them.

Our e-edition is free and available to everyone. That means readers will continue to have access to both pages every Saturday, at no cost. The pages will also become part of The Sun's digital archives, preserving these stories for future generations.

Reading the e-edition is easy. Visit our website at laconiadailysun.com and select the e-edition, or go directly to laconiadailysun.com/print. No paid subscription is needed.

You can also have The Sun delivered to your email inbox every publication day. Visit laconiadailysun.com/users/signup, create a free account and select "Daily eReader Subscribers" under the mailing list options. You'll receive an email with a link to each edition and a preview of the day's top stories.

If you already enjoy our e-edition, you'll continue to find “Our Yesterdays” in your Saturday newspaper. If you haven't tried it, we invite you to do so. Our staff will be happy to help anyone get started.

We know some readers will miss seeing these familiar pages in print. We will, too. But we're pleased Warren's work will continue to reach our readers and remain part of The Sun, and thank him and the Historical Society for their dedication to telling Laconia's story, and for their willingness to help us carry this tradition into the future.

It is also possible they could return. If you a local business, organization, or group of people who'd like to sponsor the pages, The Laconia Daily Sun would match the donation through our Sunshine Partners program. Contact Adam@laconiadailysun.com for details.

Our commitment to local history has not changed. Nor has our commitment to serving the Lakes Region. What must change, from time to time, is how we carry out that mission.

“Our Yesterdays” has a long history. We're glad it will continue to have a future.