Cuban eastern province digitalizes its first newspaper

LAS TUNAS, Cuba, Mar 24 (ACN) The Provincial Historical Archive of Las Tunas completed the digitalization of all copies of El Eco de Tunas (1909-1962), a newspaper that was published during the mediatized republic and in the early years of the Revolution, which was donated by a descendant of its founder and owner Rafael Zayas Gonzalez.

The institution confirmed this on its official Facebook profile after concluding the digitization process that comprised 47 volumes - ranging from 1910 to 1962 - after submitting it to dry cleaning and quarantine as part of the actions of the archival work to swell the historical heritage of the territory and be available to the public.

The process began in 2020 by a team of professionals from the Archive who were in charge of disinfecting the issues of El Eco de Tunas in order to promote its proper preservation, since the volumes of the newspaper remained for many years in the home of the owner's granddaughter, Olga Tarin Zayas, conditions that contributed to the accelerated deterioration of the gazette paper.

Under strict compliance with the rules of preservation of the physical integrity of the copies, which circulated twice a week and was the main exponent of the neocolonial press in Las Tunas, is now available to the public in digital format as part of the work of the Historical Archive in its computerization process.

The Echo of Tunas complied with the particular seal of this type of publications of the time, by positioning among its priorities the cultural information in all its manifestations, aspects of political, pedagogical character and of course, the latest news of the social environment of the time; no printed media in the province of Las Tunas has exceeded its time of circulation (53 years) and Rafael Zayas became the father of journalism in Las Tunas.