Current Projects in the Digitization QueuePosted on July 25, 2025July 24, 2025 by Elizabeth 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
ODNP Collaboration with Newspapers.comPosted on July 24, 2025 by Elizabeth 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
Welcome to the Oregon Digital Newspaper ProgramPosted on July 22, 2025July 23, 2025 by Elizabeth 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.
“A Rather Ambitious Microfilming Project”: A History of the Oregon (Digital) Newspaper Program Posted on January 23, 2025July 23, 2025 by Elizabeth In 1952, a University of Oregon librarian set out to accomplish an audacious vision: to collect and preserve all Oregon newspapers on microfilm. To reach her goal she would need more than administrative buy-in, more than state-of-the-art equipment, more than funding: she would need a roadmap of Oregon and plenty of gas. Reference Librarian Elizabeth Findly created the Oregon Newspaper Microfilming Project in the University of Oregon library over seventy years ago, and researchers from Oregon and beyond continue to benefit from her vision. Her work established the library’s unique collection of over 1,500 Oregon newspaper titles on microfilm, which eventually enabled the library to create the Oregon Digital Newspaper Program to ensure open, online access to these important primary sources. Part I: Early Newspaper Collecting Elizabeth Findly came to work in the UO library in 1934. By then the library had started collecting Oregon newspapers in their original newsprint for a while, thanks to a gift from Professor Joseph Schafer of the History department who donated his personal collection to the library (Sheldon, qtd. in McCullough, 102). By 1942 the library’s newspaper collection numbered over 8,000 bound volumes (McCullough, 102). Findly had “a well-known enthusiasm for newspapers as research materials,” and in her role as head of the Reference Division from 1947-1970, she systematically ordered subscriptions to nearly every Oregon newspaper published in the state to grow the library’s collection (Stave, 14). In 1969, the library was subscribing to 123 Oregon newspapers, as well as twenty titles from out of state and thirty foreign newspapers (“Newspapers on Microfilm”). Elizabeth Findly, 1949. UO Archives Photographs, University of Oregon. “Library Staff [14] (recto)” Oregon Digital. 31 Jan 2025. https://oregondigital.org/concern/images/9z904k168In 1943 the publisher of the Eugene Register-Guard donated 148 bound volumes (1885-1930) of the Eugene Register to the UO Libraries. Willis C. Warren, the head of the library, “expressed his pleasure” at the gift, and “explained that the library had ample facilities for storing newspaper volumes. He hoped, too, that other state newspapers would send their files and…a microfilm laboratory might be established…Microfilming, Mr. Warren believes, is the filing system of the future” (“Baker Gives”). In 1949 the UO Libraries purchased the first microfilm copies of a newspaper for the library collection. The library acquired microfilm copies of the Portland Oregonian for the years 1851-1910 directly from the Oregonian. Carl W. Hintz, head librarian, “states that microfilm will not only be more durable but will save 95 per cent in storage space” (“Library Buys Old Copies”). By the late 1940s the “ample facilities for storing newspapers” was running short and the library’s collection of newspapers was fragile and in danger of disintegration (Stave, 14). Elizabeth Findly and the library’s administration were actively planning to establish a newspaper microfilm operation in the library. Part II: The Oregon Newspaper Microfilming Project Begins In 1952 the Oregon Newspaper Microfilming Project began in the library’s General Reference department under Elizabeth Findly’s direction. She set out to accomplish what she called “a rather ambitious microfilming project,” nothing less than assembling the most comprehensive collection of Oregon newspapers in order to preserve them on microfilm (qtd. in Stave, 14). Findly created a cost-recovery model to fund the microfilm service. The library would contract with newspaper publishers such that publishers would give the library current subscriptions to their papers and loans of their back files for microfilming. Once the issues were microfilmed, the publishers would buy copies of the microfilm reels at $18 per 1,200-page reel. “About a dozen newspapers became ‘contract papers’ but Findly affirmed her intention to film all Oregon newspapers with or without the cooperation of their publishers” (Stave, p. 14). Findly had to go out on the road to retrieve the papers herself. Over the next twenty-five years, Findly, and later Frances Schoen, traveled by car around the state in search of newspaper back files. They visited “every known publisher, including the smallest weeklies, and [brought] back their papers for the [microfilm] camera.” Findly sometimes put thousands of miles on her Oldsmobile in a biennial period. Schoen often traveled with her three children and husband, and the whole family helped load papers into their station wagon. Schoen reported that she went through three station wagons, and that there were ‘no back roads in Oregon that we did not travel’” (Stave, 15). Oregon libraries and historical societies also contributed back issues of newspapers. For example, the Oregon Historical Society had collections at least as large as those at UO and OHS generously lent papers that had not been part of their own microfilming efforts (Stave, 15). Part III: Production and Funding Challenges In 1958 the Oregon Daily Emerald reported that the library had microfilmed more than 200,000 pages of Oregon newspapers since 1956. Nonetheless, in the first decade of the program, the microfilming staff averaged twelve rolls per month, hardly enough to keep up with current subscriptions, much less to address the back issues already in the library. In 1961 Findly took over the microfilming operations and pushed the staff to increase their output. Frances Schoen, along with five to fifteen student employees, pushed the project’s output up to forty reels per month in 1963, and up to sixty-eight per month by 1967 (Stave, 15) The newspaper microfilming project relied on sales of positive reels to newspaper publishers, as well as libraries, historical societies, and museums to help fund the program. However, the most profitable newspapers—the Portland Oregonian, the Salem Statesman-Journal, and the Eugene Register-Guard, were sold exclusively by a commercial microfilm publisher, so the library program had “to rely for most of its income upon single subscriptions to the smaller, less frequently filmed papers” (Stave, 15). This cost model also didn’t account for microfilming newspapers that had ceased publication, and which no longer had publishers or successors to purchase the backfiles. The UO Library eventually became the microfilm service’s best customer when it decided to purchase one positive copy of every roll produced. In 1997, the UO library and one other subscriber accounted for 60 percent of the of the newspaper microfilm project’s revenue (Stave, 15). Part IV: Stability and Growth According to Stave, the program enjoyed a long period of stability and efficiency from 1977 into the late 1990s thanks to full-time expert staff, well-designed workflows, standards-based filming, quality control checks, good equipment, and an accurate database of holdings (Stave, 20). This positioned the program to receive a $52,220 planning grant in 1994 from the National Endowment for the Humanities to participate in the U.S. Newspaper Program, a national project started in 1982 to “preserve, catalog and microfilm newspapers from the 1800s to the present.” The library’s grant award funded a survey of newspaper holdings at libraries and historical societies across Oregon, ultimately contributing to a union catalog of all U.S. newspapers (Klopfenstein). Another larger grant of $258,220 came in 1998 to continue the cataloging and microfilming project (Meeuwsen).” Part V: The Oregon Digital Newspaper Program Begins The UO Libraries continued to subscribe to Oregon newspapers and to preserve them on microfilm through the 1990s and early 2000s. In 2008, Karen Estlund, the head of Digital Scholarship Services, seized the opportunity to make the newspaper collection more accessible by partnering with the National Digital Newspaper Program to begin digitizing titles in the Libraries’ newspaper collection. Below is a timeline of the next phase of the newspaper program, the Oregon Digital Newspaper Program. 2009 – UO Libraries awarded a $363,042 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to establish the Oregon Digital Newspaper Project. The grant award funded digitization of 100,000 pages of Oregon newspapers as part of the National Digital Newspaper Program. 2010 – Historic Oregon Newspapers website goes live. 2011 – Over 100,000 pages of digitized newspapers added to Historic Oregon Newspapers website. UO Libraries awarded additional funding to continue newspaper digitization. 2012 – More than 200,000 pages of digitized newspapers available on the Historic Oregon Newspapers website. 2013 – UO Libraries awarded additional funding to continue newspaper digitization. Over 300,000 pages of digitized newspapers available in Historic Oregon Newspapers. 2014 – Historic Oregon Newspapers website reaches over 500,000 pages. The last year of newspaper microfilming in UO Libraries. 2015 – Final year of National Digital Newspaper Program funding. Over 700,000 pages available online. The UO Libraries’ newspaper microfilm service ends. Born-digital newspaper preservation program begins. 2016 – A selection of current, born-digital Oregon newspapers available in Historic Oregon Newspapers. The Oregon Digital Newspaper Program begins to operate on a cost-recovery model by partnering with organizations to fund digitization. 2025 – Over 2.5 million pages of digitized and current newspapers—380 titles—available in Historic Oregon Newspapers The story of Elizabeth Findly’s work to assemble the tens of thousands of newspaper issues that became the University of Oregon Libraries’ comprehensive collection illustrates both the precarity of the historical record and the impact that one person and one institution can have to preserve that record. It’s amazing that we now have such complete runs of so many newspaper titles, with so few gaps in coverage. Her work demonstrates that library collections and archives don’t simply happen; they are the result of advocacy, planning, fundraising, lifting, sorting, describing, and documenting. Elizabeth Findly died ten years before the first digital Oregon newspaper appeared online in Historic Oregon Newspapers, but it couldn’t have happened without her foresight and drive, literally. –written by Elizabeth Peterson ____________________________________________ References “Baker Gives Old Files To Library Collection,” Oregon Daily Emerald, March 19, 1943, p. 11. Klopfenstein, Ed, “University librarians to help in preserving state’s old newsprint,” Oregon Daily Emerald, July 7, 1994, p. 1, 4 “Library Buys Old Copies,” Oregon Daily Emerald, Nov. 1, 1949, p. 6. McCollough, Robert. “The Development of the Collections of the University of Oregon Library: Policies and Practices, 1875-198_. University of Oregon Library, 1988. https://hdl.handle.net/1794/903 Meeuwsen, Teri. “National project archives Oregon’s newspapers.” Oregon Daily Emerald, Feb. 19, 1998, p. 9. “Newspapers Microfilmed,” Oregon Daily Emerald, May 5, 1958, p. 7. “Newspapers on Microfilm Ready at UO.” Eugene Register-Guard, May 5, 1969, p. 12A Sheldon, Henry Davidson, and University of Oregon. Library. The University of Oregon Library, 1882-1942. Eugene, Or: [University of Oregon Library], 1942. Stave, Tom. “Newspaper microfilming at the University of Oregon.” OLA Quarterly (1997), 3(2), 14-15+. http://dx.doi.org/10.7710/1093-7374.1448
Other State Digital Newspaper ProgramsPosted on October 31, 2024October 31, 2024 by Elizabeth There are digital newspaper programs in every U.S. state. Some programs have their own searchable database of newspapers and others use Chronicling America to host their content. Alabama Alabama Newspapers at Chronicling America University of Alabama Libraries Alaska Alaska Newspapers at Chronicling America Alaska State Libraries, Archives & Museums Arizona Arizona Digital Newspaper Program Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records Arkansas Arkansas Newspapers at Chronicling America Arkansas State Archives California California Digital Newspaper Program University of California, Riverside Colorado Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection Colorado State Library Connecticut Newspapers of Connecticut Connecticut State Library Delaware Delaware Newspapers at Chronicling America University of Delaware District of Columbia District of Columbia Newspapers at Chronicling America Library of Congress Florida Florida Digital Newspaper Library University of Florida Digital Collections Georgia Georgia Newspaper Collection Digital Library of Georgia Hawaii Hawai’i Digital Newspaper Program University of Hawai’i at Mānoa Library Idaho Idaho Newspapers at Chronicling America Idaho State Historical Society Illinois Illinois Digital Newspaper Collections University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Indiana Hoosier State Chronicles: Indiana’s Digital Historic Newspaper Program Indiana State Library Iowa Iowa Newspapers at Chronicling America State Historical Society of Iowa Kansas Kansas Digital Newspapers Kansas State Historical Society Kentucky The Kentucky Edition: Kentucky’s Historic Newspapers University of Kentucky Libraries Louisiana Digitizing Louisiana Newspapers Project Louisiana State University Libraries Maine Maine Newspaper Project Maine State Library Maryland Historic Maryland Newspapers Project University of Maryland Libraries Massachusetts Massachusetts Newspapers Online Boston Public Library Michigan Michigan Newspaper Project Central Michigan University, Clarke Historical Library Minnesota Minnesota Digital Newspaper Program Minnesota Historical Society Mississippi Mississippi Newspaper Holdings Mississippi Department of Archives and History Missouri Missouri Digital Newspaper Project The State Historical Society of Missouri Montana Montana Digital Newspaper Project Montana Historical Society Nebraska Nebraska’s Newspapers: Digitizing Nebraska’s History University of Nebraska–Lincoln; Nebraska State Historical Society Nevada Nevada Newspapers at Chronicling America University of Nevada–Las Vegas New Hampshire New Hampshire Newspapers at Chronicling America Dartmouth University New Jersey New Jersey Digital Newspaper Project Rutgers University Libraries, the New Jersey State Archives and the New Jersey State Library New Mexico New Mexico Digital Newspapers University of New Mexico New York New York State Historic Newspapers Northern New York Library Network North Carolina North Carolina Newspapers DigitalNC North Dakota North Dakota Newspapers at Chronicling America State Historical Society of North Dakota Ohio Ohio’s Digitized Newspapers at Ohio Memory The Ohio History Connection; The State Library of Ohio Oklahoma The Gateway to Oklahoma History Oklahoma Historical Society Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Newspaper Archive Pennsylvania State University Libraries Rhode Island Rhode Island Newspapers at Chronicling America Rhode Island Digital Newspaper Project South Carolina Historical Newspapers of South Carolina University of South Carolina South Dakota Newspapers Online South Dakota State Historical Society Tennessee Digital Tennessee: Tennessee Newspapers Tennessee State Library & Archives Texas Portal to Texas History University of North Texas Utah Utah Digital Newspapers University of Utah Vermont Vermont Digital Newspaper Project University of Vermont Libraries; Vermont Department of Libraries Virginia Virginia Chronicle Library of Virginia Washington Washington Digital Newspapers Washington State Library West Virginia West Virginia Newspapers West Virginia University Libraries Wisconsin Wisconsin Digital Newspapers Wisconsin Historical Society Wyoming Wyoming Digital Newspaper Collection University of Wyoming and Wyoming State Library
Upcoming titles in the digitization queuePosted on October 7, 2024 by Elizabeth There are several new projects in our digitization queue that will add content from six newspaper titles to Historic Oregon Newspapers: Dayton Herald (1893-1906) Dayton Tribune (1912-1928 Sandy News (1915-1917) Sandy Post (1938-1981) Willamina Times (1911-1974) Spilyay Tymoo (1976-1984) Funding for these projects has come from state grant funding and local fundraising. Want an overview of the Oregon Digital Newspaper Program and how to partner with us for digitization? Check out this short presentation or this overview of how the program works.
Oregon Newspapers from East to WestPosted on September 30, 2024September 30, 2024 by Elizabeth The Oregon Digital Newspaper Program has always aimed to provide newspapers that represent the geographic diversity of our state. Historic Oregon Newspapers has titles from the biggest cities–Portland, Salem, Eugene–as well as small communities like Nyssa on the far eastern border, Lakeview in the rural south, and Spray in remote central Oregon. Our map of titles provides a helpful visualization of titles from around Oregon. We have recently added several new titles to Historic Oregon Newspapers that add even more coverage from the Oregon Coast and northeast corner of the state. The Upper Left Edge (1992-2001) is a quirky weekly from Cannon Beach.* The West (1891-1901) was published in Florence.** Vernonia Eagle (1922-1974), from Columbia County, also includes special editions written by Vernonia High School students.*** Wallowa Chieftain (1884-1909) includes some of the earliest issues from this Union County newspaper.**** Want an overview of the Oregon Digital Newspaper Program and how to partner with us for digitization? Check out this short presentation or this overview of how the program works. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ *This project was sponsored by Watt Childress. **This project was sponsored by the Siuslaw Pioneer Museum. ***This project was sponsored by Friends of the Vernonia Public Library. ****This project was sponsored by Wallowa History Center.
Halsey Newspapers Now AvailablePosted on September 30, 2024September 30, 2024 by Elizabeth A span of years from the Halsey Enterprise (1917-1924 and 1927-1929) and Rural Enterprise (1924-1927) are now available in Historic Oregon Newspapers. Halsey is a rural town in Linn County south of Albany. It is also the hometown of Joanne Skelton, who generously sponsored this digitization project. Ms. Skelton is a dedicated local historian and genealogist who, after inquiring about online access to her hometown newspaper, decided to fund the project herself. As soon as the papers went live online, she started research. Here is a message she shared: I have been having fun reading these old papers. I was a little surprised at how many names I recognized, since it is a little before my time. Already it has helped me with a family story. My Dad said that his grandparents had come from Kansas to Oregon for a visit in about 1917 because she [my grandmother] was going to a national DAR [Daughters of the American Revolution] convention in Portland. I doubted that it was completely correct because I had no record that she had belonged to the DAR. However, her obituary did say that she was a member of the WRC, Women’s Relief Corp, which is a women’s group of the GAR [Grand Army of the Republic], Civil War Veterans. I had previously done research to find if there was any type of national convention for them in Portland. I did find some articles in the Oregon Daily Journal from Portland in 1918, telling of a GAR and WRC convention that year August 19-24. But I had not been able to find any indication that my great-grandmother had come to Oregon then. So today I put in the name Albertson for the Halsey paper and found an article on August 29, 1918 which stated: “J. N. Elliott and family, who expected to start for Kansas Tuesday of last week, were delayed a day the arrival of relatives from the east — Mrs. E’s parents, who are guests in the Albertson home.” Mrs. Elliott was my grandmother’s sister, this was my great-grandparents who were here in Oregon at the right time to attend the convention in Portland. I am certainly looking forward to more discoveries. The Halsey project is a good example of how even one person can spearhead a newspaper digitization project. Thanks, Joanne! We can do as little as one reel of microfilm at a time (this project was just three reels). Want an overview of the Oregon Digital Newspaper Program and how to partner with us for digitization? Check out this short presentation or this overview of how the program works.
New Titles from Southern OregonPosted on September 30, 2024 by Elizabeth We have recently added several new newspaper titles from Central Point and Gold Hill to Historic Oregon Newspapers totaling over 15,000 pages. These projects were sponsored by the Central Point School District and spearheaded by George Kramer, who has championed digitization of many other newspapers from southern Oregon. Central Point American (1939-1956) Central Point Star (1929-1930) Central Point Times (1964-1967) Gold Hill News (1897-1942) The Times [Gold Hill] (1952-1953) Want an overview of the Oregon Digital Newspaper Program and how to partner with us for digitization? Check out this short presentation or this overview of how the program works.
New titles added to the digitization queuePosted on April 3, 2024October 7, 2024 by Elizabeth We have added several more newspapers to the digitization queue for 2024. Some of these titles are funded through state grants and others are sponsored by community groups. Brookings. HARBOR PILOT (1946-1957) Moro. SHERMAN COUNTY OBSERVER (1896-1963) Moro. MORO BULLETIN (1902) Moro. PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC (1898-1899) Moro. MORO LEADER (1898-1900) Wasco. WASCO NEWS (1897-1908) SEIU Local 503 publications (c1940s- ) Vernonia. VERNONIA FREEDOM (dates vary) Vernonia. VERNONIA NEWS WEEKLY (dates vary) Siletz. SILETZ NEWS (1998-2014)
