This is the blog site for the Oregon Digital Newspaper Program, a service of the University of Oregon Libraries. This website provides information about ODNP, including history, policies, and guidelines for newspaper digitization. This website also provides news and updates about the program and digitization projects.

To access digitized newspapers, please go to Historic Oregon Newspapers.

Street Roots is a non-profit weekly newspaper published in Portland since 1999. Issues are sold by people experiencing homelessness and poverty, and a majority of the proceeds go to the vendors. The newspaper provides local news and investigative reporting focused on social and environmental justice issues, as well as poetry and other creative writing written by vendors.

The Oregon Digital Newspaper Program recently completed a digitization project of ten years’ worth of Street Roots issues (2009-2019), thanks to an anonymous donor. We’re pleased to add this title to Historic Oregon Newspapers and to ensure it is preserved for research into the future. Street Roots provides news and opinion that often isn’t found in mainstream news outlets, and it can widen our perspective on what the news is and, eventually, what our history is. Similar to newspapers published by and for a particular audience, Street Roots adds to the diversity of resources in Historic Oregon Newspapers that tell the complex stories of Oregon.

We recently added a phase 2 project to digitize more back issues of Street Roots (1999-2008) and its predecessor Burnside Cadillac (1995-1998). These issues will become available in Historic Oregon Newspapers in early 2027.

As the program manager for the Oregon Digital Newspaper Program (ODNP), I’m frequently asked what newspaper titles we’re currently working on. I post periodic updates about the digitization queue on this blog, but I thought it would be useful to have one page that provides a real-time list of all of the projects that we have underway and that are in the pipeline. I will update this page as we complete projects and add new ones.

Some projects on the list are far out into the future, so I have indicated the fiscal year when we will start work, e.g., FY27 means the year that runs July 1, 2026-June 30, 2027.

Interested in digitizing newspapers? Check out our overview of how it works, or contact us.

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Projects Underway

Batch 108: Sherman County titles
microfilm digitization
project sponsor: Sherman County Historical Society

• Sherman County Observer (6 reels; 1896-1931) 
• Sherman County Journal (6 reels; 1931-1963) 
• Wasco News (3 reels; 1897-1908) 
• Moro Bulletin (1 reel; 1902-1902) 
• The People’s Republic (1 reel; 1898-1899) 
• Moro Leader (1 reel; 1898-1900) 
• Moro Observer (1 partial reel; 1896- 1897)

Batch 109: SEIU Local 503 publications
digital photography
project sponsor: SEIU Local 503

Batch 110: Vernonia Freedom (1978-1981) and Vernonia News-Weekly (1976-1978)
microfilm digitization and digital photography
project sponsor: Vernonia Public Library

Batch 114: Sandy Post (1949-1952; 1967-1968; 1982-1986)
microfilm digitization and digital photography
project sponsor: Friends of the Sandy Public Library

Batch 115: Sandy Post (1986-1992; Apr 1989-1992 pending permission from publisher)
microfilm digitization
project sponsor: Friends of the Sandy Public Library

Batch 119: Coquille Valley Sentinel (1946-1956)
microfilm digitization
project sponsor: Bert Dunn

Oregon Weekly (1900-1909)
microfilm digitization
project sponsor: UO Libraries

Batch 123: Cottage Grove Sentinel (1956-1967)
microfilm digitization
project sponsor: Cottage Grove Partners in History

Batch 125: Newberg Graphic (1922-1929)
microfilm digitization
project sponsor: Newberg Library

Batch 126: What’s Happening (1982-1993) and Eugene Weekly (1993-2003)
microfilm digitization
project sponsor: Ducks Give fundraising

Projects in the Digitization Queue

Batch 116: Sandy Post (1993-1999; pending permission from the publisher); FY27
microfilm digitization
project sponsor: Friends of the Sandy Public Library

Batch 117: Sandy Post (2000-2002; pending permission from the publisher); FY28
microfilm digitization
project sponsor: Friends of the Sandy Public Library

Batch 120: Sandy Post (2003-2007; pending permission from the publisher); FY29
microfilm digitization
project sponsor: Friends of the Sandy Public Library

Batch 121: Sandy Post (2007-2011; pending permission from the publisher); FY30
microfilm digitization
project sponsor: Friends of the Sandy Public Library

Batch 122: Sandy Post (2012-2014; pending permission from the publisher); FY31
microfilm digitization
project sponsor: Friends of the Sandy Public Library

Batch 124: Cottage Grove Sentinel (1967-1973); FY27
microfilm digitization
project sponsor: Cottage Grove Partners in History

Batch 127: Hood River News and Columbia Gorge News (14 issues; 2020-2021), FY26
digital photography
project sponsor: UO Libraries

Batch 128: Coos Bay News (1873-1879) and The Rustic (1871-1872); FY26
microfilm digitization
project sponsor: Bert Dunn and Mary Barton

Batch 129: Early Eugene newspapers; FY26
microfilm digitization
project sponsor: Bert Dunn and Mike Logan

• Eugene City Guard (2 reels; 1867-1876)
• The People’s Press (1 partial reel; 1859-1860)
• Democratic Herald (1 partial reel; 1860-1861)
• Oregon State Journal (2 reels; 1864-1868)

Batch 130: The Monroe Tribune (1936-1940); FY26
digital photography
project sponsor: South Benton Communities Historical Association Museum

Batch 131: Street Roots and Burnside Cadillac (1995-2008); FY26
digital photography
project sponsor: anonymous donor

Recently Completed Projects

Check out the posts about our New Content.

The Oregon Digital Newspaper Program has been awarded grant funds of $324,900 to digitize 100,000 pages of Oregon newspapers over the next two years. The grant is through the National Digital Newspaper Program, a division of the National Endowment for the Humanities. ODNP got its start with several rounds of NDNP funding from 2009-2015, and has been operating on a cost-recovery model since then. The additional funding will supercharge ODNP’s productivity, since we already digitize about 100,000 pages of historical content per year.

The NDNP grant award will help us expand access to a range of different Oregon newspapers. We will focus on digitizing newspapers from the labor movement, faith communities, and racial, ethnic and linguistic minorities, as well as enhancing geographic representation from Oregon counties that are currently underrepresented in Historic Oregon Newspapers. An advisory board will help make the selections for the specific titles.

Read more here: https://library.uoregon.edu/news/oregon-digital-newspaper-program-awarded-neh-funding.

The Oregon Digital Newspaper Program just added a boatload of new issues from the Sandy Post, completing a large digitization project (nearly 40,000 pages!) sponsored by an intrepid group of folks affiliated with the Sandy Historical Society and Friends of the Sandy Public Library in Sandy, Oregon. This project includes a short run of Sandy News (1915-1917) and a substantial portion of Sandy Post (1938-1982). Thirty-one reels of microfilm in a single project is usually more than we can handle in one go, but we’re glad to add Sandy to the Historic Oregon Newspapers map.

Access this new content directly here:

• Sandy News: https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/2024240280/
• Sandy Post: https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/2024240281/ 

Sharp-eyed readers may notice that the Sandy Post issues fall after the date of public domain, which currently applies to works published 1929 and before. Isn’t this newspaper protected by copyright? ODNP staff conducted copyright research on this title to determine that it had never been registered for copyright and issues published into the 1980s do not have a copyright notice printed on them (the © symbol). According to these criteria, ODNP can legally digitize and host the issues through March 1989 without obtaining permission from the publisher to do so. For content that is protected by copyright, ODNP will always seek permission from the rights holder and will never digitize and host content without obtaining prior permission.

Learn more about copyright, permissions, and reuse of content in Historic Oregon Newspapers.

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Interested in digitizing newspapers? Check out our overview of how it works, or contact us.

The Oregon Digital Newspaper Program digitizes newspapers from all over the state, as illustrated by a clutch of titles recently added to Historic Oregon Newspapers.

From southern Oregon, this project was sponsored by Ashland School District #5:

• Ashland Daily Tidings, 1921-1927
• Southern Oregon Miner, 1944-1952

From the lower Willamette Valley, this project was sponsored by the Springfield Museum and Springfield Public Library with funding from the City of Springfield:

• The Springfield News, 1919-1947
• Lane County News, 1914-1916

From Yamhill County in the upper Willamette Valley, this project was sponsored by the City of Dayton with funding from the Oregon Heritage Commission:

• Dayton Tribune, 1912-1928
• Dayton Herald, 1893-1906

From the Tualatin Valley west of Portland, this project was sponsored by the Hillsboro Historical Society:

• Hillsboro Argus, 1934-1949

From the northern Oregon Coast Range mountains, this project was sponsored by the City of Vernonia:

• The Independent (Vernonia), 1986-2006

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Interested in digitizing newspapers? Check out our overview of how it works, or contact us.

The Oregon Digital Newspaper Program recently completed work on several newspapers that published for specific audiences. Unlike newspapers for a city or town which provide news, opinion, and advertisements for a general audience, these titles provided specialized news for communities that might not get their needs met with general newspapers. Oregon has many newspapers that fall into this category, with publications for ethnic communities, LGBTQ folks, religious groups, migrant farmworkers, and high schools, to name just a few.

Portland Labor Press began publishing in 1900 by a consortium of trade unions, and is still in print today as Northwest Labor Press. This newspaper provides coverage of labor movements and issues affecting working people in the Pacific Northwest, as well as national and global news.

Northwest Labor Press sponsored digitization of historic issues from 1900-1916, for a total of 4,664 pages.

• Portland Labor Press (1900-1915)
• Oregon Labor Press (1915-1916)

The Portland Observer is an African American newspaper published in Portland since 1970. A University of Oregon law professor wrote a grant to sponsor digitization of the complete run of this remarkable publication, a total of 2,551 issues. The Portland Observer provided news that was often ignored by the Oregonian and other mainstream newspapers, including stories about housing, education, police brutality, access to jobs, and displacement and gentrification within African American neighborhoods. The Portland Observer also provided a crucial means of connecting and celebrating the African American community in Portland with stories about families, church activities, community groups, activism, music and dance events, and ads for Black-owned businesses.

• The Portland Observer (1970-2022; more recent issues are forthcoming)

The Torch of Reason was a weekly newspaper published by Liberal University in Silverton. Liberal University was established in the 1890s as a secular university that aimed to educate students in “the sciences, such as economics, politics, ethics, art and the religious meaning of science and humanity, in a word, the higher and final motives and purposes of life.” The Torch of Reason embraced “freethinking,” science, and reason as a stance against religious conservatism, which dominated American society at the time, according to Silverton historian Gus Frederick, who sponsored the digitization project through the Silverton Country Historical Society and a successful community kickstarter campaign.

• Torch of Reason (1896-1903)

The Oregon Digital Newspaper Program recently completed three digitization projects for newspapers representing the Oregon coastal communities of Port Orford, Brookings and Florence.

The Port Orford project was sponsored by Cape Blanco Heritage Society, which received grant funding through Oregon Parks and Recreation Department. We digitized nine reels of microfilm of the following newspapers for a total of 7,973 pages.

• Port Orford Tribune (1920-1925)
• Port Orford Post (1880-1882)
• Port Orford Post (1937-1940)
• Port Orford News (1926-1933)
• Port Orford News (1961-1976)

The Brookings project was sponsored by the Chetco Community Public Library, which received funding through a $5,000 Oregon Heritage Commission grant. We digitized five reels of microfilm of Brookings-Harbor Pilot from 1946-1957 for a total of 598 issues and 6,682 pages. Access this title directly here.

The Florence project was sponsored by the Siuslaw Pioneer Museum. We digitized one microfilm reel of the Siuslaw Pilot newspaper covering 1915-1916, for a total of 927 pages. This project is a great example that no project is too small for ODNP!

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Interested in digitizing newspapers? Check out our overview of how it works, or contact us.

Here is a list of the projects we are currently working on, with links to completed issues in Historic Oregon Newspapers. More issues will appear online over the next few months as we complete scanning, processing, description, and final checks.

Sponsor: Clackamas Community College

• The Clackamas Print, 2011-2023

Sponsor: Anonymous donor

• Street Roots, 2009-2019

Sponsor: State Library of Oregon and UO Libraries

• Spilyay Tymoo, 1976-2022
• Siletz News II, 1990-1992
• Siletz News, 1998-2014
• Chemawa American, 1911-1983

Sponsor: Friends of the Sandy Public Library

• The Sandy News, 1914-1917
• Sandy Post, 1938-1982

Sponsor: Sherman County Historical Society

• Sherman County Observer, 1896-1931
• Sherman County Journal, 1931-1963
• Wasco News, 1897-1908
• Moro Bulletin, 1902
• People’s Republic, 1898-1899
• Moro Leader, 1898-1900

Sponsor: SEIU Local 503

• various titles

Sponsor: Vernonia Public Library

• Vernonia Freedom, 1978-1981
• Vernonia News Weekly, 1976-1978

Sponsor: Bert Dunn

• Coquille Valley Sentinel, 1946-1955

This page provides information about copyright, permissions, and reuse as related to the content in Historic Oregon Newspapers.

Copyright

The copyright status of the content in Historic Oregon Newspapers varies and falls into three categories:

• Public domain — Newspapers published 95 years ago or before are automatically in the public domain and are free of copyright restrictions. As of January 1, 2025, public domain applies to newspapers published in 1929 and earlier. Content in the public domain may be re-used in any way, although we appreciate a credit/attribution for Historic Oregon Newspapers.
• Out of copyright — Newspapers that may have been registered for copyright but not renewed, never registered at all, or did not print a copyright notice (©) on the paper (see below).
• In copyright — These newspapers are covered by copyright but publishers have granted the Oregon Digital Newspaper Program permission to digitize and host their content online. Some of these newspapers also have a Creative Commons license that specifies what kinds of reuse are allowed.

Any content on the Historic Oregon Newspapers website that was published after Dec. 31, 1929, may not be used for commercial purposes.

Copyright Status Research

Newspapers published January 1, 1930-March 30, 1989 may be covered by copyright. ODNP staff conducts copyright research on titles to determine if a newspaper was registered for copyright, if the copyright was renewed, and if a copyright notice (©) appears on the publication itself. If a newspaper is still protected by copyright, ODNP obtains permission from the rights holder before digitizing and adding the title to Historic Oregon Newspapers.

ODNP staff uses the guidelines provided by Cornell University Copyright Services, summarized below:

Published 1929 and before	Public domain
Published between 1930-1963	Must be registered and/or contain a copyright notice on the publication       Must have been renewed 28 years after date of publication       If no renewal, title is in public domain
Published between 1964-1977	Anything published during this time period without a copyright notice (©) is in the public domain.
Published 1978-March 1989	No notice on publication but registered within five years       Or, copyright notice on publication (©)
Published April 1989-current	In copyright

ODNP staff reviews newspaper issues for a published copyright notice (©) in five-year increments, saving pdf copies of the issues as documentation. We use the following resources for copyright research:

• Historic Copyright Registrations (pre-1928): https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/cce/historic.html  
• Copyright Registrations and Renewal Records: https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/cce/index.html  
• Original and renewal copyrights 1928-1949: https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/cce/to1949.html  
• First Copyright Renewals for Periodicals: https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/cce/firstperiod.html 
• Catalogs of Copyright Entries: https://archive.org/details/copyrightrecords  
• Copyright Registrations 1978-present : https://cocatalog.loc.gov/  

Reuse & Permissions

For items in the public domain, no permission is necessary for reuse and you may do whatever you like with the content. We do appreciate a credit for Historic Oregon Newspapers.

For items covered by copyright, first check to see if the newspaper title has a Creative Commons license. The CC license will guide what kind of permission you need to obtain and what kind of uses are allowed. ODNP staff can help put you in touch with rights holders.

The University of Oregon Libraries is not the owner of any intellectual property which may be presented in Historic Oregon Newspapers. Unless an item is in the public domain (published 1929 or before), ODNP can grant neither rights nor permissions regarding use of the newspapers or their contents. It is up to individual researchers to assess copyright and appropriateness of use, and to ensure that materials are properly credited; however, ODNP staff may be able to help, so please contact us.

Fair Use is a provision of U.S. copyright law that allows for reuse of content in Historic Oregon Newspapers for educational and research purposes. Check out our K-12 curriculum resources for examples!

Still have questions? Contact us.

The Oregon Digital Newspaper Program has collaborated with Newspapers.com (a subsidiary of Ancestry.com) and publisher E.O. Media to digitize even more historic Oregon newspapers. Newspapers.com borrowed negative master microfilm reels from UO Libraries to digitize multiple newspaper titles at no cost to ODNP. After an embargo period, ODNP can add the digitized issues to Historic Oregon Newspapers.

In 2020, ODNP staff started adding digitized issues from the first project, and we are continuing to work on adding the rest of the Phase 1 files. In 2027, we will be able to add files from the second project.

In the meantime, the UO Libraries provides access to all of these titles and issues through a subscription to Newspapers.com. UO students, staff, and faculty can access the database online, and the public can access it on public library computers in any UO campus library. Subscribers to Ancestry.com and/or the Oregon newspapers portion of Newspapers.com can now access of this new content.

Phase 1 Titles (2015 project)

Albany, Oregon 

• Morning Daily Herald, 1888-1891 
• Albany Daily Democrat, 1889-1922 
• Daily Evening Albany Democrat, 1888-1889
• Albany Democrat, 1900-1910; 1922-1925 
• Albany Evening Herald, 1910-1925 
• Albany Evening Herald and Albany Democrat, 1925 
• Albany Democrat-Herald, 1925-1963 

Bend, Oregon 

• Bend Bulletin (Daily), 1918-1963 
• Bulletin, 1963 

Corvallis, Oregon 

• Corvallis Gazette-Times, 1910-1963 

Eugene, Oregon 

• Daily Eugene Guard, 1891-1906 
• Eugene Daily Guard, 1906-1926 
• Eugene Guard, 1926-1930 
• Eugene Morning Register, 1895-1906 
• Morning Register, 1906-1929 
• Eugene Register, 1929-1930 
• Eugene Register-Guard, 1930-1963 

Klamath Falls 

• Klamath News, 1923-1942 
• Evening Herald, 1923-1942 
• Herald and News, 1942-1963 

LaGrande, Oregon 

• Morning Observer, 1897-1904
• Evening Observer, 1912-1959 
• Observer, 1930-1933; 1959-1963 

Medford, Oregon 

• Medford Mail, 1892-1909 
• Medford Mail Tribune (Daily), 1906-1909; 1916-1963 

Portland, Oregon 

• Oregon Daily Journal, 1902-1963 

Roseburg, Oregon 

• Review (Daily), 1901-1920 
• Evening News, 1909-1920 
• News-Review, 1920-1963 

Salem, Oregon 

• Oregon Statesman, 1851-1963 
• Capital Journal, 1923-1963 

Phase 2 Titles (2024 project)

Astoria, Oregon

• Astoria Evening Budget, 1893-1930
• Astoria Weekly Budget, 1904-1915
• The Daily Astorian, 1876-2014
• Weekly Astorian, 1949-1965

Baker City, Oregon

• Baker City Herald, 1890-2014
• Bedrock Democrat, 1905-1874
• Evening Baker Herald, 1918-1929
• Weekly Bedrock Democrat, 1921-1928

Bend, Oregon

• The Bend Bulletin, 1903-1931
• The Bulletin, 1916-2014
• Central Oregon Press, 1921-1926

Enterprise, Oregon

• Wallowa County Chieftain, 1884-2014
• Wallowa County Reporter, 1917-1921

Hermiston, Oregon

• Hermiston Herald, 1945-2014

John Day, Oregon

• Blue Mountain Eagle, 1900-2014
• Grant County News, 1897-1908

La Grande, Oregon

• La Grande Morning Star, 1907-1911
• La Grande Weekly Observer, 1897-1911
• The Observer, 1897-2014
• The Observer-Star, 1909-1924

Pendleton, Oregon

• E O: East Oregonian, 1882-1910
• East Oregonian, 1888-2014

Redmond, Oregon

• The Redmond Spokesman, 1914-2014

Salem, Oregon

• Capital Press (California ed.), 1992-2007
• Capital Press (Eastern Oregon ed.), 1975-2014
• Capital Press (Idaho ed.), 1991-2003
• Capital Press (Western Oregon ed.), 1928-2014

Seaside, Oregon

• Seaside Signal, 1964-2014