Re:Historical strips! (Score 2, Informative)

The main reason we can't find the originals anymore is because the newspapers have been discarded. The libraries screwed up and threw out the papers after microfilming everything, in the name of preserving "intellectual content" and "saving shelf space".

Note that microfilm is black & white only and often of poor quality.

You can read more about it in Nicholson Baker's controversial "Double Fold", excerpts at nytimes.com or bookreporter.com.