Before the rise of the internet, the paper newsletter was the instrument of choice for companies and organizations to trumpet news to their employees.
For 50 years — or at least 50 volumes, however they are defined — Florida State University’s employee newsletter was State: The Faculty-Staff Bulletin of Florida State University.
State’s final issue was published in January 2016.
As a city within a city, Florida State University needed a “hometown newspaper” to keep its “residents” informed. State served as the document of record for any and all university news — from multimillion dollar research grants to campuswide steam outages.
Originally named Florida State, the newsletter was commonly referred to as “State.” So when the publication rolled out a new design in July 1998 (Vol. 33, No. 1), “Florida” was officially dropped from the name.
To give FSU employees a newsletter that was both informative and attractive, University Communications added “spot color” with the Aug. 30, 1999, issue (Vol. 34, No. 3). While the photos remained black-and-white, spot color enabled type and graphics to be printed with garnet ink.
Varying between four, six, eight, 12 and even a couple of 16-page issues over its history, State settled on a 12-page format once it began taking advertising with the Sept. 24, 2007, issue (Vol. 42, No. 5).
State was produced in full color from June 2008 to August 2009. The reason? No printing costs. Those issues were posted online as PDF documents rather than being printed and delivered via campus mail.
State resumed its black-and-white format from August 2009 until December 2015. Its final issue, posted online as a PDF, was produced in color.
Hard copies of State dating back to the 1980s are archived in Special Collections at Strozier Library.