Use history as a rallying point

The 137-year-old Plainsman Herald is a weekly paper that covers rural Baca County, Colo. — and is a great example of how media can both document history and bring it to life. When Kent Brooks bought the ailing paper last year, he recognized it as a record of the community’s memory. And it was the community that stepped up to join Brooks in saving the paper by agreeing to higher subscription rates, sponsoring sections and finding other ways to support the Plainsman Herald.

That show of support bought Brooks breathing room to rethink what local journalism could look like in rural America, he said in an essay he wrote for API. “We don’t just want to limp along,” Brooks wrote. “We want to lean into what makes our paper indispensable: covering the stories nobody else will, connecting generations and preserving the history that shapes Baca County’s identity.”

By connecting generations and harnessing history to tell the story of Baca County, the Plainsman Herald has found new revenue sources, partnerships with community and historical organizations and a path forward to serving its community.

Bring history back to life

We saw renewed interest in the 1983 Baca County History Book. For decades, that thick volume — hardbound in brown leatherette — stood as a go-to source for family history, local lore and civic pride. But it was long out of print, and copies had become rare, fetching from $200 to $1000 on eBay and Facebook Marketplace.

With some urging, we decided that reprinting the original book, along with launching a Volume II to continue the story of our county, could do more than preserve history — it could bridge generations.

To reprint the 1983 book, we reactivated the long-dormant Baca County Historical Society and secured a copyright release from the now-defunct co-publisher. That legal clarity set the stage for both the reprint and the upcoming Volume II.

But this effort isn’t just about nostalgia — it’s about honoring the past while inviting new voices into Baca County’s ongoing story. We’ve been collecting those voices for some time. Stories like that of the Little Red Gym that became a Red Cross hospital are unique — a story blending the Dust Bowl, civic resilience, community memory and generational connection.

The community has shown great excitement. Some offered to help with scanning. Others volunteered to call elders who didn’t use email or Facebook. Several have asked how they could contribute stories about relatives who had never made it into the original volume.

Bridging generations isn’t just a slogan. In our town, it’s a necessity. And here’s what’s helping us do it:

• Use history as a rallying point. Reprinting the history book gave us a natural way to reconnect with older residents and invite in younger contributors at the same time.
• Be honest about the stakes. When we told people the paper was on the edge, they listened — and responded. Don’t hide the crisis. Use it to build urgency and agency.
• Create pathways for offline engagement. Not everyone will email you a submission. Some need phone calls. Some need paper forms. Others just need to be asked in person.
• Highlight cross-generational stories. From family-run ranches to multigenerational farmsteads, our best stories are the ones that connect eras — and they’re the most shared, too.
• Balance tradition and technology. We’re using AI, but we’re also using typewriters, scanners and notebooks. There’s room for all of it — if the purpose stays clear.
• With 137 years of copyrighted reporting — featuring what might be the most detailed Dust Bowl archive anywhere — this collection is both a historic treasure and a strategic asset.
• We need to connect with our local schools. Our goal is to make our current Baca County History curriculum available for use with students in county schools.

Kent Brooks is the owner and publisher of the Plainsman Herald, a weekly newspaper in Baca County, Colorado. He has published 14 books, leads multiple local history projects, including the reprint of the 1983 Baca County History Book and the development of Volume II. You can find his entire essay here.