Holders of Columbus library cards will soon be able to search and view actual pages from Columbus Dispatch newspapers dating back to the 1870s.

The first Dispatch was published July 1, 1871, six years after the death of Abraham Lincoln. It was the Wild West era of Wyatt Earp and Jesse James, the reign of Queen Victoria, a horse and buggy decade that began without light bulbs or telephones.

Columbus Metropolitan Library trustees agreed on Thursday to pay NewsBank Media Services $932,970 for lifetime digital archive rights to the searchable content from 1871 to 1985.

Trustees had tabled the decision last month in order to compare the cost of similar, recent acquisitions by peer libraries and found:

• The San Francisco Public Library paid NewsBank $395,000 for The San Francisco Chronicle content for a similar period. It paid an additional $900,000 to extend its content from 1985 to 2015.

• The Dallas Public Library bought the rights to the Dallas Morning News (1885-1984) for $875,000.

• The Cleveland Public Library and Cuyahoga Public Library separately purchased Plain Dealer content (1845-1991) for $367,000 each.

After their review, library officials called the pricing "reasonable" and voted unanimously Thursday to move ahead. The cost will be spread over the next four years. It includes a 1 percent annual "hosting" fee.

The content could be available as early as next month, once library technicians configure it into their website, said Ben Zenitsky, library spokesman.

At the time GateHouse Media bought the Dispatch in 2015, it asked NewsBank to “digitize” the newspaper's content, nearly 2 million pages, a job that was completed last year.

The library contract will give users perpetual access to "every page of our hometown newspaper," according to a library staff memo, including the ability to search, using keywords, photographs, illustrations, cartoons and advertisements. The library already has a digital database of content from 1985 to the present, but it is searchable by text only, Zenitsky said.

Pat Losinski, library director said he's thrilled to roll out the new service, whose speed and ease of use he called "the difference between a stage coach and a rocket ship."

dnarciso@dispatch.com

@DeanNarciso