This paper is based on a confrontation of the uses of the written press,paper and digital, by two historians, Rémi Korman and François Robinet. Thepaper underlines the difficulties usually faced by historians. The Rwandan printmedia collections are dispersed and digital Rwandan press archives remainscarce. Although the French press is more easily accessible in print, it is not al-ways available in digital format, that allow for instance full-text search. They the-refore wonder about the feasibility of a systematic digitization of the Rwandanprint media collections and its possible contributions to the writing of history.