View through the MT Historical Society’s: Montana Newspapers.
ABOUT THE DIGITAL COLLECTION
A printable brochure guide is available here.
The Digital Char-Koosta News Project is a collaborative effort of the D’Arcy McNickle Library at Salish Kootenai College, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Indian Reservation and the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library of the University of Montana. Funding came from the Institute of Museums and Library Services.
Digitization of the publication covers the years 1956 to 1961, and 1971 to 1988. Digitized at the University of Montana Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library; Scanned as master TIFF using Bookeye 3 scanner at 400 ppi, 8 bit grayscale; Optical Character Recognition with Abbyy FineReader Corporate Edition; Derivatives created using Photoshop CS.
ABOUT THE CHAR-KOOSTA NEWS
Published by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Indian Reservation, the newspaper started in November 1956 and has continued through five decades. With the exception of a ten-year hiatus from December 1961 through May 1971, the paper continues to publish a weekly issue. Tribal Councilman Walter W. McDonald served as editor for the first five years. Clarence Woodcock resurrected the paper in 1971 as editor. Many editors took turns leading the Tribal newspaper through the years.
The Char-Koosta served as an attempt to increase communication between the tribal members on and off the reservation as well as among other United States Indian Tribes and whites. The name “Char-Koosta” is derived from the names of the last two recognized ancestral leaders of the Salish and Kootenai Tribes. Chief Koostahtah of the Kootenai and Chief Charlo of the Bitterroot Salish were Chiefs when the Indian Reorganization Act established a CSKT Constitution and Tribal Council in 1935.