Page updated 12/3/20
J. Froimson
Access to our archived newsletters is provided only to current and former troop members. To obtain a UserID and password, please contact the Scoutmaster.
Donald Harris generated a newsletter called "The Torch" monthly (except during the summer) from October 1977 to April 2015. He typed every issue on a manual (non-electric) typewriter. In his later years, Mr. Harris had some difficulty finding ribbons (needed for the ink) for his typewriter as so few such devices were still in use. Mr. Harris used the original "cut and paste" technology (scissors and glue or tape) to add pictures or other items to the newsletter.
All issues of The Torch were created on legal size paper (8.5x14"); Before October 2012, distribution was by hard copy only. Starting in October 2012, most distribution transitioned to e. mail. The wavy lines of text were that way in the paper archive; based on the fact that this effect ended when The Torch started to be photocopied by Russell Mattson, this was almost certainly due to a problem with the previous duplicating machine (a mimeograph). Mr. Harris referred to the sheets on which he generated the originals as stencils.
Scans of all 377 issues of the Torch are available in this archive; these were generated in 2017 by Joshua Froimson from copies as sent to the readers. Most of the scans were left at the legal size and can be fitted to letter size paper when printed. Starting with the October 2011 issue, the scanned issues were reduced to letter size. The paper archive is a set of issues on the paper originally used for the copies. Most of the older issues were printed on something like a light construction paper that in 2017 was starting to crumble. Most of the issues were printed on colored paper (some on dark red); to reduce the background, the scans were mostly done in black and white (not grayscale). Most of the pages are printed double-sided, so there is some bleed-through.
Joshua Froimson has generated a monthly eNewsletter called "Troop 54 Informer" since December 2013. These are created in Open Office with a PDF file generated from that for distribution by E. Mail. The PDFs of all issues are available in this archive.
In 2020, Mark Skagerlind (Eagle '72) shared that the troop newletter preceeding The Torch was called Smoke Signals. At this time, we do not have any issues of that newsletter.
Page updated 12/3/20 |
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