The Banner was a worthy adversary to the old Goshen Democrat, and although they didn't always have the same political viewpoint, they shared a common goal in getting information out to the public.� People looked forward to the Banner for their weekly dose of community news and gossip, and the Banner served as a refreshing contrast to other news sources.

For years, the only archives of the past Banners were stacks of scrapbooks and piles of un-filed papers in the back press room. � It was feared that the valuable history they contained would be lost in the shuffle of time, but a grant allowed the papers to be microfilmed so that future generations would not lose this precious resource.�

They are now available to be searched at the Bristol Library.� The microfilm begins with Roll #1 - 4/18/1877 and goes through roll 78 - 1/1879 through 4/1880.� Some years are incomplete.� The Bristol Library also has a notebook containing Vital Statistics of births, deaths, etc. copied from the Bristol Banner which runs from 4/13/7/1877 to 4/25/1887.� Bound books of the Banner from 1878 through 1947 are listed in this notebook, but are not available at the Library.� They may be in the collection at the� Elkhart County Historical Museum