P a ge 21 t opside V olume 79 , I s s u e 4
The TOPSIDE Newsletter Archive is Now Online By COMO Joseph Giannattasio
Coast Guard Auxiliary District Fifth-Northern ( D5NR ) is proud to introduce their newsletter TOPSIDE ’ s online archive for all Auxiliarists , Active Duty and the public at-large to enjoy on the D5NR website at https :// 5nr . org / topside-archives /. TOPSIDE is the official newsletter of Auxiliary District Fifth-Northern . Launched in March 1943 , it is the oldest continuously published Auxiliary newsletter in the U . S . The TOPSIDE online bibliotheca contains the most complete collection of TOPSIDE from March 1943 to present .
The second half of the twentieth century bore witness to the revolutionary development of the Coast Guard ’ s volunteer organization that shaped the Auxiliary as it is today . Containing over 92 issues and more than 1,400 articles , the TOPSIDE online archive offers readers amazing insight into the Auxiliary and the Coast Guard throughout this period . Online users can search through every digital issue of TOPSIDE back to March 1943 .
The district ’ s Historian , Steve Marthouse , assembled a dedicated multi-disciplined team of members to find a costeffective means to insure the preservation of the collection of old TOPSIDE newsletters . Soliciting help from an educational institution , the team - Melvin Borofsky , COMO Joe Giannattasio , Tim Marks , Linda Skvarla , Rick Taylor and Mark Wirtz digitally scanned each issue and uploaded them onto a section in the district ’ s website where they could be stored and accessed .
TOPSIDE ’ s online archive reveals a wealth of treasure from the Auxiliary ’ s history . Gems include a 1944 article chronicling the Auxiliary ’ s response to the “ Great Atlantic Hurricane ” of September that year , the golden 50-year anniversary fall 1989 issue featuring the “ History , 5th ( Northern Region ) Coast Guard Auxiliary ,” and policy pieces including the 2003 essay about the Auxiliary being the only volunteer organization to be included in the newly created Department of Homeland Security .
The TOPSIDE archive is an integrated part of the Auxiliary District Fifth-Northern website . All users can browse and download issues in the online archive via https :// 5nr . org / topside-archives /. Users can browse by year and issue .