And that’s the way it was

The chapter will kick off the 2008-09 program season Sept. 4 with a trip to Fredericktown’s Main Street Free Press Museum for the program “And that’s the way it was: How we got the hometown newspaper out, back in the old days.”

In the 1930s, Marjorie McMahon, now 88, was the reporter, proofreader, paper folder and more for the Knox County Citizen, Fredericktown’s weekly newspaper. Here’s a rare chance to glimpse our profession at work in a bygone era, the heyday of small towns and their weekly newspapers. You won’t want to miss the tales Marjorie has to tell. The moderator will be chapter member John C. Long, an editor at The Wall Street Journal and a co-founder of the museum.

Tours of the museum will be conducted from 6 to 6:45 p.m. The program, with Marjorie McMahon’s talk, will begin at 7 at First Baptist Church, a short walk around the block from the museum. After the program, the museum will reopen for more tours, browsing and socializing.

The chapter’s fifth annual September getaway to the Main Street Free Press Museum will, as in past years, coincide with the Fredericktown Tomato Show, so a wide variety of food will be available a la carte at booths just outside the museum before and after the program.

The program is free. To let us know you plan to attend, please call John Long at 917-693-7664 or chapter programming chair Kevin Kemper at 614-220-5460, or e-mail [email protected] or [email protected].

For more information, download the event flier [pdf]