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This issue officially marks the beginning of the 28th year of publishing Lighthouse Digest that started on a whim, a dream, and a shoestring in May of 1992 with only 34 paid subscribers. In the beginning we witnessed an initial period of tremendous growth, which virtually disappeared overnight after the tragic events of 9/11 at which time we experienced a dramatic drop in subscriptions, something that has taken us years to rebuild and stabilize. All through those many years, we never wavered in trying to do our best in providing not only current lighthouse news, but uncovering and publishing the lost and often forgotten stories and photos of many lighthouse keepers and their families, and in most cases being the first and only publication to ever publish them. We also have done the best that we can, with the limited resources we have, to help and promote lighthouse groups and lighthouse preservation causes. Now, again, we find ourselves dealing with changes in our world that heavily impact us. As our older subscriber base is dying off, we are finding it increasingly difficult to attract new and younger subscribers, as many people seem to be spending all their time on social media rather than reading magazines and books, or being interested in history, especially lighthouse history. Also, the last of the descendants with any kind of first hand memories of lighthouse life are also dying off. During our research, we are increasingly discovering that many of those
stories and memories have already been lost forever. In some circumstances, even the old photographs have already been thrown out. Once they are gone, they can never be replaced. We truly are facing a crisis in saving lighthouse history. There are thousands of stories and photographs yet to be rediscovered and published to be saved for future generations. That’s why what we are doing is so vital, but we need your help to continue. We urge you to please tell others about us and encourage them to subscribe or purchase gift subscriptions for friends, relatives, schools or libraries. You can also make a donation to our archive fund that supports our Lighthouse History Research Institute at www.LighthouseDigest.com/Donation. In the meantime, we thank all of you, our loyal subscribers, those who have been with us from the beginning, and those who have joined us along the way. It’s been an amazing 27 year journey, and with your help, we hope to continue well into the future.
Timothy Harrison
Editor and Publisher
Lighthouse Digest
This story appeared in the
May/Jun 2019 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. The print edition contains more stories than our internet edition, and each story generally contains more photographs - often many more - in the print edition. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.
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