All of Long Island’s East End stories on which Dan Rattiner — founder and owner of Dan’s Papers — and other notable writers collaborated will be available for researchers and the public at Stony Brook University Libraries. The papers, which are in binders, span 1960 to 2023. The archive will be part of Stony Brook’s Special Collections, the library division that stewards and curates the university’s collections of rare books, archival collections, manuscripts and historical maps.
Rattiner grew up in New Jersey and moved to Montauk when his father bought a pharmacy. During a summer break from college, he created a summer paper called the Montauk Pioneer, which he continued to publish every summer until he graduated. He then started a second paper, called the East Hampton Summer Sun, and hired a small staff. Eventually, both of these were merged into a single edition called Dan’s Papers, and it is currently one of the only weekly publications covering the entire East End.
The full collection is undergoing a preservation assessment before it can be digitized, which would allow the publications to be freely available online. In addition to his collection, Rattiner has donated to support the digitization process.
Click here to learn more about the process and perhaps help a piece of East End history live on through the Dan’s Papers archive.
Read the full article in SB Matters.
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