In the Bernard Mainwaring News-Editing Lab, students are learning to lay out newspaper copy on the latest versions of industry software, jumping from program to program in order to do so. That wasn’t possible last year.

This past summer, the Bernard Mainwaring News-Editing Lab received 17 new Macintosh computers, including monitors, thanks to the continuing generosity of the Mainwaring family. Bill Mainwaring, ‘57, and Mary Mainwaring as well as Ruth Layton, ‘59 Psychology, and C. Rex Layton, ‘60 Business, gave $40,000 to upgrade of the lab equipment. Bill Mainwaring and Ruth Layton, Bernard Mainwaring's children, made this second donation to the School of Journalism and Communication to continue to honor their father’s commitment to journalism and local news coverage.

The previous gift, which first started the lab, was made in 1987 by Bernard Mainwaring’s widow Jennie Mainwaring, who passed away in 1998. The decision to upgrade the lab computers this summer was one that Bill Mainwaring finds well-suited to his father’s memory.

“We thought it was a fitting memorial to him,” he said. “We couldn’t think of anything more appropriate than that. When we learned the computers needed to be replaced, we thought it was still a fitting memorial.”

A respected publisher and editor of Oregon newspapers for 34 years, Bernard Mainwaring once described himself as “a news and editorial man, not a business office man, although forced to be a business man in order to continue to control my paper and preserve its independence.”

Out of college for only a year, Bernard Mainwaring launched his career in 1921, when he invested $700 in a one-third interest in the Hermiston Herald. He subsequently edited and published the Milton Eagle (1922-23) the Baker Democrat-Herald (1925-53), the Nampa (Idaho) Free Press (1937-53), the Ontario Argus-Observer (1947-53), and the Capital Journal, from 1953 until his death in 1957. The Mainwaring family operated the Capital Journal until 1974, when it was sold to Gannett Corp.

Ruth Layton has childhood memories of her father’s dedication to newspapers—a dedication he brought into all aspects of his life.

“Even when we were on trips, the typewriter was always along with us,” she said.

Bernard Mainwaring was not only a strong supporter of local coverage in newspapers, but he was also an advocate for education. He was a member of the Oregon State Board of Higher Education at his death, and had been Chairman of the College of Idaho Board of Trustees for some years. For Layton, the lab offers critical skills in the education of aspiring journalists.

“We wanted to support the premise we started out with that the news lab was an important part of their educational experiences that needed upgrading,” she said. “And we needed to support what had been started. We wanted to continue that.”

Associate Professor John Russial, who teaches news editing classes in the lab, sees the new computers as key to the educational mission of the School of Journalism and Communication. The old computers weren’t capable of accommodating the newest versions of software and were beginning to have electrical problems.

“The computers are fast,” he said. “It enables us to keep up with the industry, which benefits our students tremendously.”