I’m a collector. Not in the reality TV show “Hoarders” vein, but a collector of old newspapers.

So it was pure happenstance that a relative found himself in London for the past month, coinciding with the escalating and overflowing News of the World hacking scandal. The British media — no fans of their own competition — pounced. Eventually, the longest-running Sunday tabloid’s final edition rolled off the press with a banner headline: Thank you and good bye.

A copy is in the mail now.

There is something about newspapers from historic events that make me believe that the world of printed news will flourish despite moves to the contrary to more technological gadgets so popular today. Anyone with an Internet connection can read the New York Post online edition, but that robs one of the senses — the smell of the ink, the schmutz — that gray, flaky refuse left on the fingertips — and the 100-point headlines.

The final News of the World will find its way into the box with the rest of the old papers, seeing light again only when the imagination runs down memory lane. Gliding the fingers of the pages sure is more satisfying than calling up a saved bookmark on some computer screen.

Some historic events are remembered just because of a newspaper. On the day after Election Day 1948, the Chicago Tribune printed a mammoth headline — Dewey defeats Truman. Of course, Harry Truman won the election over Thomas Dewey and the picture of him holding up the newspaper with the Dewey headline is iconic. Imagine 50 years from now the same scenario. Will the Harry Truman of the era be forced to hoist an iPad? Probably not. Editors would have caught the mistake and, with a few keystrokes, Truman would have, in fact, defeated Dewey. And one of the most iconic political photos would not exist.

So I go into the box of memories every once in a while — when I need an appreciation for this business and the memories it holds.

The day after the first-ever Major League Baseball All-Star game, the Chicago Tribune took up most of its front page — 10 columns wide — with photos and stories of Babe Ruth homering at Chicago’s Comiskey Park. To get a feel for how newspapers have changed over the years, pause for a second, take the paper you are reading now and turn it sideways. That was the top half of the front page circa Chicago 1933.

In the box are papers marking deaths of famous people, not-so-famous people and that terrible Tuesday nearly 10 years ago. Each piece of schmutz that lands on the fingers a tangible reminder of the good, bad and famous.

No gadget will ever replicate that.