Collections
All online collections are listed below.
Michigan Central Railroad Crash - 1914
Photographs and Newspaper article about a crash that happened near Nashville, MI in 1914.
View the items in Michigan Central Railroad Crash - 1914
Hastings Public Library's 125th Anniversary
Did you know the Hastings Public Library has been around in one form or another since 1896?
It started out as the Women's Club Reading Room and over time, grew into the vital and vibrant public institution we all know and love.
Look through this collection to learn about where it all started, see the how the efforts of so many helped the library grow, and have some fun seeing photos of the past.
James P. Dibble: World War II P-38 Fighter Pilot
This collection recounts the early life, military training and combat career of WWII P-38 pilot James P. Dibble of Hastings, MI.
It includes information on:
- His early life through time spent in Chicago just before the war,
- The efforts of his nephews to unearth more information about him,
- The story of finding his crash site in Italy,
- His posthumous Distinguished Flying Cross medal,
- Personal correspondence,
- Military records and eye-witness information surrounding not only James' final flight but other WWII air battles,
- Information on the memorial erected to him in Italy where he died.
We hope you enjoy learning more about James and help us honor his contribution and ultimate sacrifice to keep our country safe.
The collection is divided into the below sections: View the items in James P. Dibble: World War II P-38 Fighter Pilot
James P. Dibble: His Early Life
Born in Hastings, MI, James grew up in the area. He attended one room schoolhouses around Hastings, spent some time in Grand Rapids and ultimately graduated from High School in 1939.
This collection is entirely photographs of James' early life with his parents and brother Bill.
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James P. Dibble: High School into the Army Air Corps
An athlete, James played on the Hastings High School football team for several years and later was active in sports at the YMCA in Chicago. In High School, James met Maxine Erway who would ultimately become his wife.
After graduating from Hastings High School in 1939, he went to Chicago and began working in the bakery business. He worked for a time at the Schultz Bakery in Chicago and was even sent to New York to learn at the Fleischman Lab.
This colllection contains high school graduation information, photos and letters.
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James P. Dibble: Flight Training
James trained on a number of different planes in preparation to be a P-38 pilot. His training took place in California and Arizona in late 1942.
He flew a P-38 similar to this one:
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See photos, documents and letters home during James' time in flight training. Be sure to look at the Chico and Luke Field yearbooks that were produced when his class graduated from those training facilities.
James P. Dibble: Combat!
James spent his combat time based out of North Africa and helped clear the way for the eventual invasion of Italy in 1943.
He was a member of the 94th Air Squadron, 1st Fighter Group, and flew the famous twin-engined P-38. Learn more about the P-38 at:
Don't miss the section titled Day of Armageddon recapping the events of August 30, 1943. This air battle over Italy ultimately earned James the Distinguished Flying Cross. He was lucky to survive - many pilots made the ultimate sacrifice.
See photos, letters, mission reports and more about James' time spent in combat over Africa and Italy in 1942 and 1943.
Jump to other sections of the collection: View the items in James P. Dibble: Combat!
James P. Dibble: Mission Reports
A collection of Mission reports from James' combat flights.
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James P. Dibble: Letters Home
Getting letters from home was always a highlight of the week for everyone overseas. They wrote home frequently as well as evidenced by the volume of James' letters.
Here is a collection of letters and postcards he sent home to his wife Maxine, brother Bill and parents while serving in Africa and Italy.
Be sure to look at the letter dated 1943-04-10. Notice how James indicated he censored his own letter and look at the special form he had to use to send it home.
Notice on other letters where they are stamped whether they were censored or not. Like most others, James had to be careful not to divulge too much information about where he was.
James was killed on September 9, 1943. Be sure to read his last letter home, sent the day before.
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View the items in James P. Dibble: Letters Home
James P. Dibble: The Day of Armageddon - August 30, 1943
From Jim Dibble's account titled "The Day of Armegeddon" included in this collection:
"Following the invasion of Sicily in July 1943, the missions flown out of North Africa by the 1st Fighter Group pilots in their P-38 Lightnings had a common objective of preparing for the invasion at Salerno, Italy by the United States Fifth Army."
A mission on August 25th was highly successful, with a loss of only 8 P-38's. The 1st Fighter Group earned a Presidential Distinguished Unit Citation for their efforts, but the August 30 mission, for which they would earn a second citation, was not so easy.
See mission reports, photos, first hand accounts and more information about this infamous air battle known as The Day of Armageddon.
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View the items in James P. Dibble: The Day of Armageddon - August 30, 1943
James P. Dibble: Killed in Action
Typically pilots rotated home after their 50th mission. James took off for his 49th mission on Septemebr 9, 1943, and never returned.
He was shot down on a straffing run near the town of Padula, Italy. Initially there was much confusion amongst the other P-38 pilots, and it was thought James survivied and may have been taken prisoner.
Ultimately it was discovered that James had been shot down and then killed by German soldiers.
James was ultiamtely brought home and buried in Mt. Hope Cemetery in Middleville, Michigan. See information on his gravesite at FindAGrave.com.
See reports, documents and letters around James' missing in action status and then the determination that he was killed in action. Included are letters from the Army to his wife Maxine and parents, newspaper clippings and local memorials.
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View the items in James P. Dibble: Killed in Action
James P. Dibble: The Search for Answers
Learn about the 30+ years James' nephews Jim and Ted spent investigating his death to unearth what actually happened.
Using private investigators, government contacts and tenacious research, see how they learned what really happened the day James died, how they found his crash site, including witnesses, and made new friends in Italy along the way.
Included are photos and documents about James' posthumous Distinguished Flying Cross, photos of the crash site and finding plane wreckage, plus documents and letters amassed during their search for answers.
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View the items in James P. Dibble: The Search for Answers
James P. Dibble: The Monument in Padula, Italy
The citizens of Padula, Italy, were extremely friendly and helpful during Jim & Ted Dibble's search for answers to their uncle's death.
As everyone learned more about James and what happened, they viewed James as a hero and wanted to honor him. In May 2005 they erected a monument to his memory and sacrifice in helping them win freedom during WWII.
See photos from the dedication ceremony, including the monument itself, along with transcriptions of the speeches given.
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James P. Dibble: Flying with Eisenhower
See records of the flight where James and other P-38 pilots flew escort for Eisenhower in 1943.
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James P. Dibble: We Got Married!
James and Maxine dated in High School and after. They decided to get married while he was in flight training and tied the knot on October 29, 1942.
See photos of the day, a couple of letters James sent home before the big day and the local newspaper announcements. Note the letter where he had to get his parents' permission for the military as he was still not of age.
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Barry County Michigan Plat Maps
A collection across multiple years of Plat Maps covering Barry County, MI.
View the items in Barry County Michigan Plat Maps
Hastings Banner
The Hastings Public Library wishes to thank Smith Imaging of Rockford, MI for their work digitizing the Hastings Banner.
The Library also wishes to thank all of the community members who donated money to support our digitizing efforts.
The Banner Overview:
The Hastings Banner newspaper has been published in Hastings, Michigan since 1856. The following history highlights are taken from Richard Cook's history as published in the 1956 Centennial Edition of The Hastings Banner, and recapped by Esther Walton in her From Time to Time column in The Banner dated April 12, 1984.
Links to online copies of the paper follow the history section.
Searching the paper:
The Banner, and all other PDF files on this history portal, are fully searchable. To search:
- Click on the magnifying glass search icon in the upper right.
- Enter your search term(s) in the simple search box and press Enter or click on Search.
- Any PDF file on the site that contains your term(s) should be listed. Do not use the Advanced Search.
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The Banner History:
C.S. Burton & Co. were listed as the proprietors of the "Republican Banner", which first appeared here on May 1, 1856, with Dr. C. S. Burton as the publisher and Norman Bailey as editor.
Publication office was on the second floor of the Rower Block, whose address was given as "corner of State and Church"; which corner was not specified.
The objective of this publication was to win support for the newly created Republican party and thus counteract the influence of the Barry County Pioneer, a Democratic journal that had been published here since 1851. No copies of the first three issues of The Banner were saved.
Make-up on the first journal corresponded with a pattern typical of most local journals then published. Page one contained a few columns of advertising, fiction (often a continued story), and a short feature of no particular news value. Page one was the "literary" page.
Page two contained the editorial barbs, along with state news, political articles, Washington items and news of the national and territorial giovernments. Page three contained a few items of local news, sandwiched inbetween the local and foreign news.
Page four was usually solid with advertising and as such was the editor's "bread and butter" page....Locally it was the pattern until the early 1880s.
Several changes in ownership and management occurred during the first two years of publication, with J. M. Nevins taking over ownership interests on July 16, 1857. With the issue of May 7, 1862, "The Republican Banner" became "The Hastings Banner". Editor Nevins thought the village had developed sufficiently during the past several years to merit this recognition.
Another major change in the management of The Banner came when Nevins sold the newspaper to George M. Dewey of Niles on March 14, 1866, who then took over as editor and publisher. Dewey, an ardent Republican and somewhat of a crusader, gave considerable space to editorial comment and party affairs and also directed pointed paragraphs against the saloons and local traffic in liquor. Dewey was the grandfather of Thomas E. Dewey, Republican presidential nominee in 1944 and 1948. Editor Dewey on May 4, 1870 changed the format (and name) of the paper to "Hastings Republican Banner".
A fire in December 1883 burned The Banner plant (located in the middle of the block on the north side of State St. across from the courthouse). Files and back issues from August 1880 to December 1883 and the January 4, 1884 issues are missing.
The Banner was purchased by Marshall L. Cook and George Bower on July 21, 1880. They changed the name to "The Hastings Banner". M. L. Cook soon became the sole owner and remained so until July 7, 1887 when Albert Nishern (M. L.'s brother-in-law) joined him. Albert Nishern sold his interest on November 6, 1889 to William Cook (M. L.'s younger brother).
The Cook brothers partnership held together (56 years) ... Richard Cook followed his father into the newspaper business, and Richard's son William joined him. So the Cook family ownership continued for 85 years, from 1880 to 1974, when Richard and William sold the paper to High Fullerton. J-Ad Graphics became the owners of "The Hastings Banner" in August of 1981. View the items in Hastings Banner
Nashville News
The Hastings Public Library wishes to thank Smith Imaging of Rockford, MI for their work digitizing the Nashville News.
The Library also wishes to thank the Nashville Michigan Historical Society for their generous support in underwriting all digitizing expenses to have the Nashville News scanned into PDFs.
The Nashville News is one of the oldest newspapers in Barry County, MI. All copies held by the Hastings Public Library have been scanned to PDF for easy public access.
Available years cover 1873 - 1966.
Note some years are incomplete while others are missing (1942-1943).
See How to Use Online Newspapers for more information about using and searching online newspapers.
Maple Valley News
The Hastings Public Library wishes to thank Smith Imaging of Rockford, MI for their work digitizing the Maple Valley News.
The Library also wishes to thank the Nashville Michigan Historical Society for their generous support in underwriting all digitizing expenses to have the Nashville News scanned into PDFs. The Maple Valley News from 1967-1969 was included in that project.
See How to Use Online Newspapers for more information about using and searching online newspapers.
Hastings Herald
The Hastings Public Library wishes to thank Smith Imaging of Rockford, MI for their work digitizing the Hastings Herald.
The Library also wishes to thank the Nashville Michigan Historical Society for their generous support in underwriting all digitizing expenses to have the Nashville News scanned into PDFs. The Hastings Herald from 1896-1913 was included in that project.
See How to Use Online Newspapers for more information about using and searching online newspapers.
Bull Diaries
The Bull Diaries is a collection of newspaper clippings assembled by the Bull family over many years. It is not a traditional diary in that no one ecorded their thougths on paper. This collection is presented as is due to ongoing interest from the community, with some caveats:
- Indexes to most of this content are included within the collection.
- The indexes sometimes refer to Bull Diary books that are not included here and are not available. We do not have any books numbered 16 and higher.
- Much of the content contaied in the diaries came from the Hastings Banner which is also availabe on this site.
To find content in a diary:
- Look up a name in the appropriate Index.
- Once found, look in the column labeled "Book" or "Liber". This will tell you the book and page where information about that name can be found.
Sun And News
The Hastings Public Library wishes to thank Smith Imaging of Rockford, MI for their work digitizing the Sun & News.
The Sun & News is one of the older newspapers in Barry County, MI. All copies held by the Hastings Public Library have been scanned to PDF for easy public access.
Available years cover 1981 - 2022.
Note some years are incomplete while others are missing. Some missing issues during the COVID-19 pandemic years of 2020 and 2021 may be found in harcopies of The Reminder. The Library has these available upon request.
See How to Use Online Newspapers for more information about using and searching online newspapers.
Barry County Cemetery Information
A collection of information about Barry County, MI cemeteries and burials.
View the items in Barry County Cemetery Information