As you can imagine packing up 145 years worth of newspaper history, with 117 of those years in the same building – is a lot of work.

Times veterans editor Toni Bell, senior journalist Mick McDonald and photographer Scott Calvin have been busily archiving historic memorabilia and photo negatives. 

Scott Calvin packed up decades of negatives which will be stored in the new Victoria Street office.

The photos go right back to 1971 when the Times employed its first full-time photographer.

Former Times cadets Laura Polson and Lachlan Leeming (now based at Kempsey’s Macleay Argus) were the final journalists to start their careers in the building located on the corner of Albert and Manning Street. 

“Starting my working life in a building so steeped in history is something I’ll never forget,” Lachlan said. 

Bound copies of the Manning River Times dating back to the early 1950s are now stored at Cundletown Museum.