NOLA DNA Project, a History of New Orleans in Newspapers

New Orleans newspapers preserved in tubes. Courtesy of Joseph Makkos, NOLA DNA Project.

The NOLA DNA Project – a History of New Orleans in Newspapers

Have you ever been perusing Craigslist and come across something remarkable? Well, that’s exactly what happened to Joseph Makkos, my guest on today’s episode.

Joseph is a writer, a printer,a self-described media archaeologist, and thanks to that Craigslist ad, the founder and curator of the NOLA DNA project.

Join us as we discuss how one person’s love of all things print-related led to an amazing discovery of 30,000 newspapers from the golden age of New Orleans newsprint.

Check out some of these images from the NOLA DNA Project warehouse….

Newspaper masthead shows the transition and merger of New Orleans newspapers. — Newspaper masthead shows a late 20th century merger of New Orleans newspapers.

Note the symbol between the words Times and Picayune. It is the present-day symbol of NOLA.com and the T-P. — Notice the mark between the words Times and Picayune. It is still the brand mark or symbol used by NOLA.com in 2019 as their logo. This image is of a supplement to the paper that focused on spider webs!

One wall of the nearly 30,000 tubes containing newspapers. Courtesy of Joseph Makkos and NOLA DNA Project. — One wall of the nearly 30,000 tubes containing newspapers. NOLA DNA Project.

Follow the NOLA DNA Project Online

You can keep up with the NOLA DNA project on their website, as well as on Twitter (@neworleansdna), Instagram, and Facebook.

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Thank You

Thanks to Joseph Makkos for inviting me in to explore the vast NOLA DNA collection!

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