On September  17th , 1969  The Drake Times-Delphic published what is widely considered the first printed account of Beatle Paul McCartney’s supposed death. Days after Drake undergrad Tim Harper asked the question “Is Paul Dead?” on the TD’s front page, college papers across the country ran with the story and the theory of “Paul is Dead!” raced across America.  This is the first page of Mr. Harper’s story.

Cowles Library holds nearly a complete run of the student newspapers of Drake University (going back to 1884.) The library is working to digitize the old microfilm and present these materials online, so stories like this one will be available to researchers worldwide.  It’s an ambitious project. It’s going to take a while. We think it’ll be worth it. What do you think?