The Original Allen Gazette

I have one copy of an original Allen Gazette self published in 1917. It was a written by my great, great grandparents, the Allen family as their family newspaper.  Reading it, I get the feeling that they were all would-be writers and dry witted comedians. If you enjoy these personality traits and a tendency to mock the English language, then you will enjoy their paper.  I have no idea of how many editions were written or how often. I was told that it waffled in and out of their lives for years and that they all thought it hilarious. I am so happy to have one to share on this blog.

If there is anything I take away from entries in the gazette is that I come from a family of education, witty people who enjoyed each other and found fun wherever they were. I hope you enjoy it as well but most important, please read the entries as a way to hear the voices of your ancestral grandparents and get to know them. Reading the Gazette affords us a tiny window into their personalities.

The one copy we have is tissue thin old typing paper with fading type. I have spent hours scanning different ways to find the best quality I can get for this blog. After trialing various settings of contrast and brightness,DPI’s and colors, this is the best version I came up with for you. All 20 pages are scanned here.

You should be able to save each page to your own computer and then print it out. If not, you can read it here. Remember that this was written in 1917, so please excuse the wrinkled and aged paper. At some point I plan to retype it all out into a PDF. But here, hopefully you get a feel for the original that I have here. I hope you enjoy this as much as myself.