For hundreds of years, people relied heavily on the information made available in newspapers. These historical newspapers now provide snapshots for researchers and genealogists, helping them to find the stories that impacted individuals, families, communities, and nations. Aging newspapers fade, become brittle, and deteriorate. Each time a newspaper is lost, a piece of history is gone forever. That is why Newspapers.com™ is thrilled to announce the Newspaper Preservation Project.
The Newspaper Preservation Project was born with the goal to provide publishers, historical societies, libraries, and institutions a way to digitally preserve delicate newspapers. Newspapers.com™ provides remote camera stations to participating institutions for free, and their employees and volunteers then carefully photograph each page of the newspaper. We take those images, create a master digitized copy, and host it for free on Newspapers.com™. The papers are then searchable from any electronic device, at home or on the go. We also provide the institution with free in-house access to the digitized paper.
In 2019, the Franklin County Historical Society partnered with us to take advantage of the Newspaper Preservation Project, hoping to digitize their collection of historic newspapers from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.
The papers date back to 1793 and chronicle the important history of that area. We digitized their microfilm collection our traditional way, but recently the Society found some additional fragile papers that needed digitizing. We sent a camera station to the Society, and together with a host of volunteers, they photographed each page of the historic papers. Today these newspapers are not only easily accessible and searchable, but they are also protected for generations to come.
Please contact a Newspapers.com™ team member if you would like more information on the Newspapers Preservation Project.