Old stamp magazines - scan - OCR - web images - any ideas?

Does anyone have any experience and suggestions on how to better scan
in and process old stamp collecting newspapers for the web?

Questions:

a. What dpi resolution is needed for decent scans of 6 point text? (Old
newspapers use smaller type)

b. What is the best way to process the grayscale image down from 256
shades to monochrome?

c. Is decent quality OCR possible on a gray background newsprint 6
point text at anything below 300 dpi?

d. What is the best way to scan in pages larger than your scanner
(e.g., 11x13 inches on an 8.5x11 inch flatbed scanner)?

e. Is there a better way to get straight scans? I line up the edge of
the paper with the edge of the scanner glass and close the lid but keep
getting scans tilted. This is troublesome because old newspapers are
usually not printed exactly straight horizontally or vertically due to
bending of the paper during printing.

For example, I processed a public domain 1911 issue of Meekel's Weekly
Stamp News as follows:

a. Scan top half of a page in 300 dpi grayscale with de-screen turned
on
b. Scan bottom half of a page - same settings
c. Rotate both scans using Gimp (GNU Imaging Program)
d. Join images together by hand:
d1. Open top half image
d2. Double its height
d3. Open bottom half image
d4. Copy bottom half image into blank area below top half image
d5. (troublesome) Join the two halfs by trimming off top part of
bottom image. I tried a photo stitch program but it failed unless each
image was exactly straight.
e. Smooth background colors (grays)
f. Adjust histogram
g. Adjust curve
h. Threshold at about 160 out of 255 to get most of the black colors
i. Save as a monochrome bitmap file and a monochrome gif file

Thanks