A study examined how school newspapers in residential schools for deaf persons acted as a mode of transmission for the issues of the deaf community itself and to the outside world. It investigated the content and format of these newspapers (known collectively as "Little Papers") in four geographic locations in the United States, in an effort to discern some of the uses of this press in the late nineteenth century. Data examined included microfilm copies of the newspapers and collections of histories of residential schools for the deaf. Results indicated that the Little Papers were fairly similar in their formats and general content, which included fictional pieces, inspirational stories, and reprints of articles from general interest publications that related to deafness or deaf people. Findings suggest that the Little Papers did much to perpetuate deaf culture and bind a community which spread across the United States. (Four illustrations and 44 footnotes are included; a 30-item bibliography is attached. (RS)