Yesterday, the Oregon Digital Newspaper Program launched the new website for Historic Oregon Newspapers. Developed from the Open-ONI initiative, the new site has an updated look-and-feel that’s easier to navigate and more consistent with web presence of UO Libraries. It also has a “This Day in History” feature that showcases a different newspaper every day that corresponds with that day’s date. New functions include browsing by date with the Calendar and an improved Advanced Search. An updated Map, along with a Location list, allows for simplified title access by city. Along with the updated site, we have developed a fundraising how-to guide to assist the public with funding their newspaper digitization. Several digitization projects are underway. We are frequently adding new stories and updates to the blog, so check back regularly!
Thank you to Jeremy Echols, Linda Sato, Duncan Barth, Azle Malinao-Alvarez, Tyler Stewart, and Holli Kubly for their hard work and contributions to the website!
If you have any questions or feedback, please contact us.
Greetings from the University of Oregon Libraries’ Oregon Digital Newspaper Program (ODNP)! We have been so busy lately, that we are just now announcing the exciting news – the ODNP has been awarded a 2016 Oregon Heritage Excellence Award from the Oregon Heritage Commission! Recognition, praise, and a beautiful ceramic plaque featuring the Oregon state capital building were presented to ODNP representatives on May 5, 2016 at the historic Reed Opera House in Salem as part of the 2016 Oregon Heritage Conference.
Representatives from the University of Oregon Libraries, Oregon Heritage Commission, and Oregon Parks and Recreation Department celebrated ODNP’s achievements in Salem on May 5, 2016.
We are thrilled to receive this award and recognition! Special thanks to all of the ODNP Advisory Board members who have helped us determine priority content for digitization over the years, all of the partners that we have worked with to add content to the Historic Oregon Newspapers site, all of the staff involved in the ODNP since its inception in 2009.
The Oregon Digital Newspaper Program (ODNP) was featured on Jefferson Public Radio this morning! Visit their site to listen to the interview with Sheila Rabun, Project Manager for the ODNP: http://ijpr.org/post/newspaper-history-preserved-online
The Historic Oregon Newspapers site has expanded its scope to include born-digital current newspapers from participating publishers around the state! News from 2015 and beyond is current now, but in a number of years it will become “historic,” so we are getting started early.
Traditionally, the University of Oregon Libraries has microfilmed the majority of newspapers from around Oregon, but microfilm production is becoming increasingly unviable. As we phase out our microfilm production operation, we are now working directly with publishers to make their current content keyword searchable and freely available to the public online at http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu. The following newspapers are now becoming available for 2015 and beyond. Use the “calendar view” to browse issues, or do a keyword search for specific content:
Each of these newspapers has a different copyright statement, so please be aware of copyright restrictions when using current newspapers. Copyright information about each title can be found on our blog site at http://odnp.uoregon.edu/current-newspapers/participating-newspapers/, and copyright statements will appear at the bottom of the screen when viewing a page from one of these newspapers in the Historic Oregon Newspapers site.
Additional information about the digital program for current newspapers can be found on our blog site:
Since 2009, the University of Oregon (UO) Libraries’ Oregon Digital Newspaper Program (ODNP) has participated in the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP), a grant-funded initiative led by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress to digitize historic newspapers from across the United States to be made available online at Chronicling America. As of November 2015, after completing three rounds of funding, Oregon’s participation in the NDNP has drawn to a close.
Over the course of six years, the ODNP has digitized over 300,000 pages of historic newspaper content for Chronicling America, also available online at Historic Oregon Newspapers. The ODNP Advisory Board, with input from public libraries and historical societies across Oregon, selected a total of 60 newspaper titles for inclusion in the project, ranging from prominent dailies such as the Portland Morning Oregonian, Pendleton East Oregonian, and the Morning Astorian, to small town papers such as the Echo Register and Spray Courier, and so much more!
Grant funding from the NDNP has also supported the production of new and improved K-12 lesson plans for using historic newspapers to meet Oregon common core standards in the classroom, as well as initial funding for the Open-ONI (Online Newspaper Initiative) collaborative open-source project to enhance the Library of Congress’ chronam software, with the goal of making it easier for state institutions to host newspapers online.
Many thanks to the NDNP, partner institutions across the state, and all of the current and former staff and student workers at the UO Libraries for making this project a success over the years! But don’t worry, the ODNP is continuing beyond NDNP funding, working with other institutions and donors across the state to secure funding to continue adding valuable historic newspaper content to the online collection. Additionally, a selection of current newspapers published in 2015 and beyond are also being added to the Historic Oregon Newspapers online collection as we continue to preserve and provide access to Oregon’s history in the making. Visit our blog at http://odnp.uoregon.edu to stay up to date with the latest ODNP news and collection additions.
The Oregon Digital Newspaper Program (ODNP) joins the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) in celebrating a major milestone for Chronicling America. As of Tuesday, October 7, 2015, Chronicling America has more than 10 million pages of historic U.S. newspapers available online, transforming access and impacting research of all kinds!
Launched in 2007 by the Library of Congress and the NEH, Chronicling America is a free, searchable database of historic U.S. newspapers. It provides enhanced and permanent access to historically significant newspapers published in the United States between 1836 and 1922. Chronicling America is part of the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP), a joint effort between the Library of Congress, the NEH, and partners in 40 states and territories.
Oregon joined the partnership in 2009, when the University of Oregon announced via press release that it had been awarded a $364,042 grant from the NEH and the Library of Congress to digitize historic Oregon newspapers dating from 1860 to 1922. This grant money was augmented by matching funds from the Oregon State Historic Preservation Office and Oregon Heritage Commission through the Oregon Cultural Trust. Since 2009, ODNP, a program of the University of Oregon Libraries, has contributed nearly 300,000 pages of historic Oregon newspaper content to the Chronicling America site.
“Chronicling America is one of the great online treasures, a remarkable window into our history and a testament to the power of collaborative efforts among cultural institutions nationwide,” said Mark Sweeney, the Library of Congress’s Associate Librarian for Library Services. “The Library of Congress is proud to work alongside NEH and all our partner institutions to make this vision a growing reality. In the coming years, we look forward to adding newspapers from the remaining states and territories, as new partners join the program.”
Map of All NDNP Awardees, Current as of 2015. http://www.loc.gov
“We at the National Endowment for the Humanities are proud to support the Chronicling America historic newspaper project,” said William Adams, NEH Chairman. “This invaluable resource preserves and makes available to all the first draft of America’s history so that we can see the ideas and events that shaped our republic unfold in the headlines of their times.”
Traditionally, historic newspapers have been available for general use through microfilm and shared among users through interlibrary loan (ILL) or by purchasing copies. Chronicling America has revolutionized access to historic newspaper content by digitizing pages and providing full-text keyword access to the content. This has been transformative for research of all kinds. In addition to saving researchers hours of scrolling through reels of microfilm, full-text access allows them to discover connections between research topics and uncover little-known stories in U.S. history.
“Historic newspapers supply vital evidence of our history and culture and are used by students, scholars, historians, arts groups, businesses, urban planners, genealogists, and others,” said Karen Estlund, former Head of the Digital Scholarship Center for the University of Oregon Libraries. From 2009 to 2015, Estlund was also Project Director for ODNP. Speaking specifically on access to historic Oregon newspapers, Estlund said, “These primary source materials provide a window into the life of local Oregon communities a century or more ago, covering early environmental preservation, industry, agriculture, urban development, Native American and race relations, the establishment of the state, and more.”
East Oregonian. (Pendleton, Umatilla Co., Or.) September 20, 1919, Image 1
Through a few clicks, users of Chronicling America can narrow their focus to newspapers published all on the same day, in the same region, or the entire country. In addition, the content in Chronicling America is available for bulk download and API use. Here are additional facts about Chronicling America:
Between January and December 2014, the site logged 3.8 million visits and 41.7 million page views;
The resource includes more than 285,000 pages in almost 100 non-English newspapers (French, German, Italian, and Spanish);
More than 250 Recommended Topics pages have been created, offering a gateway to exploration for users at any level. Topics include presidential assassinations, historic events such as the sinking of the Titanic, inventions and famous individuals such as the Wright Brothers, and cultural or offbeat subjects such as fashion trends, ping-pong, and world’s fairs;
NEH has awarded a total of more than $30 million in grants to 40 partner institutions to contribute to Chronicling America, listed at http://www.loc.gov/ndnp/awards.
In celebration of the Chronicling America milestone, the Library of Congress will post a new blog every Thursday for 10 weeks, beginning October 7, 2015. Each blog post will highlight a different offbeat topic with headlines in Chronicling America, such as “Medical Advances Gone Wrong,” “Coffee ‘Facts’,” and “End of the World.” Subscribe to the blog or check out loc.gov/blogs each Thursday for the week’s installment.
In addition, the National Endowment for the Humanities will launch a special website on September 29, 2015, commemorating the 50th anniversary of NEH’s founding. The website will highlight Chronicling America in an online feature at 50.neh.gov/projects/newspapers-the-first-draft-history. Share online with the hashtag #NEHturns50.
Also, check out the NDNP Impactreport, which features information from interviews with NDNP project directors.
About the Library of Congress: Founded in 1800, the Library of Congress is the nation’s first-established federal cultural institution and the largest library in the world. It seeks to spark imagination and creativity and to further human understanding and wisdom by providing access to knowledge through its magnificent collections, programs, publications, and exhibitions. Many of the Library’s rich resources can be accessed through its website at loc.gov.
About the National Endowment for the Humanities: Celebrating its 50th anniversary as an independent federal agency in 2015, National Endowment for the Humanities brings the best in humanities research, public programs, education, and preservation projects to the American people. To date, NEH has awarded $5 billion in grants to build the nation’s cultural capital – at museums, libraries, colleges and universities, archives, and historical societies – and advance our understanding and appreciation of history, literature, philosophy, and language. Learn more at neh.gov.
One of our big projects this year has been revising and enhancing ODNP lesson plans to align with Oregon Common Core State Standards. Thanks to the excellent work of Erin Choi, recent graduate from the University of Oregon’s UOTeach Master’s Program, these new lesson plans are now available for use in K-12 classrooms! Erin began her work as a graduate student and student teacher in October 2014, focusing on topics in Oregon history and American history, incorporating primary source content from newspapers found in the ODNP’s Historic Oregon Newspapers online and the Library of Congress’ Chronicling America website, and aligning lesson plans with Common Core standards for English Language Arts (ELA) and Social Sciences.
The new lesson plans are targeted at Grade 4 ELA standards and Grade 4 Social Sciences standards for Oregon History topics, and Grades 6-8 ELA standards and Grades 6-8 Social Sciences standards for American History. However, all of the lesson plans can be adapted to any grade level, allowing K-12 educators to either utilize the plans as they come, or insert relevant articles and activity ideas into their existing lessons.
Check out our new K-12 Resources page for links to applicable Oregon Common Core State Standards and ODNP lesson plans, as well as additional resources from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Library of Congress, and the University of Illinois.
The lesson plans were designed for commenting by K-12 educators – please feel free to add comments to each, as well as any additional relevant resources or newspaper links that others might find useful.
Special thanks to:
David Parker, graduate student in the UOTeach program, for initial research on American History topics
Jason Stone, former ODNP Project Manager, for developing initial ODNP lesson plans in 2010
Gina Murrell, ODNP Project Coordinator, for editing and proof-reading
The International Federation of Library Associations’ (IFLA) Newspaper group recently convened in Salt Lake City for a two-day conference focused on “Spreading the News.” Representatives from across the United States, as well as from other countries such as Finland, the United Kingdom, Nigeria, Japan, and Vietnam, presented and shared their processes, expertise, and experiences working with newspapers in a library setting:
History of Newspapers
Newspapers first appeared available to the public in England around 1620, covering mostly foreign news items. Because each sheet of paper was taxed, the font on these early papers was extremely small, so as to include as much content as possible on each page. The oldest surviving newspaper is the London Gazette, dating back to 1665.
In the early 1700s, vital records and news of the local common people began appearing in newspapers, and this practice continued into the 1800s. The Boston News-Letter was the first official newspaper published in the United States, appearing in 1704.
As we have blogged about before, the University of Illinois’ History, Philosophy and Newspaper Library (HPNL) has created several short videos focusing on the history of newspapers in the United States before the Civil War. The newest videos, each roughly 20 minutes long, are entitled: “Introduction to American Newspapers, 1800-1860,” “American Newspapers, 1800-1860: City Papers,” and “American Newspapers, 1800-1860: Country Papers.” These and other informational videos are available online through the library’s guide on Antebellum American Newspapers or via YouTube.
Genealogy and Newspapers
Genealogy is one of the fastest growing hobbies in North America, and genealogists are one of the largest groups of newspaper researchers – birth, death, and marriage notices published in newspapers often provide a starting point for the information that genealogists are seeking, and ancestors’ names can be found in other types of articles and listings in historic newspapers as well, including:
lists of letters remaining in local post offices
local news/gossip columns
tax notices
land claims
news/entries from past years published in current papers
school stories/honor role listings
There are 3200 county courthouses in the United States, and 644 of those have had records destroyed by fire or otherwise. Newspapers help to minimize these losses by providing an alternate record of vital information on ancestors, pinpointing people in time and space.
Social Media
The rise of social media is contributing to the changing face of current news media and journalism. Now that anyone can post their own news announcements and opinions for the world to see, often with little or no editing or censorship, it is increasingly important to remember to view news reports of all kinds with a critical eye, checking sources, facts, and credibility before spreading the word.
Social media outlets, such as Facebook, Flickr, and Pinterest, are increasingly being used by libraries to “spread the news” about collection materials, especially digital newspapers!
In Nigeria, about 70% of the population has access to social media, and Nigerian libraries are starting to use social media outlets to promote their resources.
Access to Newspaper Content
The University of North Texas’ Portal to Texas History website contains over 1.4 million pages of digital newspaper content, made possible by strategic partnerships between newspaper publishers, local libraries, and the University.
The University of Utah’s Digital Newspapers website can be searched and browsed at the article level. In partnership with FamilySearch, the genealogical arm of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Utah is currently indexing all of the obituaries contained in their digital collection.
The British Library in London is hard at work preserving and providing access to historic print newspapers, digitized newspapers, and current news, including current born-digital news websites, with a strategy of making all news media accessible to users in one location. The physical library space previously referred to as the “reading room,” is now called the “news room,” and users can research, collaborate, and network to celebrate all things news! The online British Newspaper Archive contains over 7.4 billion pages of newspaper content covering news from the 1700s up to the 1950s.
Collaboration is key to ensuring preservation and increasing access to both historic and current newspapers!
Scholarly Use of Newspapers
The Library of Congress’ Chronicling America newspaper website has proven to be a very useful resource for scholars and researchers of all kinds. A full list of tips, resources, and scholarly use of Chronicling America content can be found on the Library of Congress’ Extra! Extra! NDNP Extras! web page. Here are just a few examples of digital scholarship projects based on Chronicling America content:
Information on how to download bulk full text from Chronicling America’s newspapers can be found at http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ocr/.
A recent content analysis of dissertations and theses at the University of Arizona Libraries found that students from a variety of disciplines, including history, communication/journalism, political science, sociology, education, literature, arts, and foreign language/literature, have used newspapers in their research. The majority of students used current newspapers published in North America, with a small percentage, mostly in the foreign language/literature discipline, using newspapers published in other countries. Historic newspapers were mostly utilized by history students.
Preservation of Historic Newspapers
Finnish national law, namely the “Act on Collecting and Preserving Cultural Materials (1433/2007),” requires that all newspapers published in Finland be kept in hard copy at the National Library of Finland, “to preserve the Finnish published heritage for coming generations” (National Library of Finland).
Likewise, the British Library in London has undertaken an extensive program to preserve and store the printed hard copies of all newspapers from the U.K.; bound volumes of historic newspapers are shrink-wrapped and stored in a temperature and oxygen-controlled facility, and a robotic system is used to retrieve papers for use by researchers.
Unlike our European counterparts, rather than go to great lengths to store printed hard copy newspapers here in the United States, we have turned to microfilm as the preferred archival format for newspapers. From 1982-2011, the federal United States Newspaper Project (USNP) provided over $50 million of funding for libraries across the U.S. to microfilm and catalog historic U.S. newspapers. However, no funding was allocated for preservation or storage of print hard copies, as these were considered local, rather than national, affairs.
Some concerned parties have compared historic print newspapers in the United States to the Passenger Pigeon, which is now extinct. Like the Passenger Pigeon, newspapers have been so abundant throughout history that it has seemed like no big deal to just throw them away, especially since many have been made available on microfilm, and now in digital format. Proponents of print newspaper preservation argue that the black and white images available on microfilm render many color printed graphics meaningless, not to mention that many newspapers have been filmed in poor condition or with gaps in content, leaving portions unreadable and thus un-usable. Also, who knows what kinds of future technologies might emerge in say, 5o years? For example, 3D digital might be the next advancement, and microfilm or current digital files might not suffice in a transition to future formats.
However, there are some institutions in the U.S. that have committed to preserving print copies, such as Duke University, which houses about 10,000 various titles in print, and the University of Utah’s ARC, or Automated Retrieval Center, where print newspapers are stored in lightweight, water-resistant Coroplast boxes.
Get ready for some serious keyword searching and browsing! Historic Oregon Newspapers online has just added over 92,000 pages of historic newspaper content from Ashland, Enterprise, Grants Pass, St. Helens, Pendleton, Portland, Salem, The Dalles, and Toledo! See links below for specific titles and date ranges, and use our Search page to quickly scan the content for names, places, and events of interest. Happy researching, and Happy 4th of July!
Bohemia nugget. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1899-1907, June 29, 1900, Image 6. http://tinyurl.com/l9j649c
The Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) March 31, 1914, Page 1.The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) March 1, 1914. Page 1.
Content from the Morning Oregonian is now available from September 1878 through March 1914, and The Sunday Oregonian can now be searched from January 1895 through March 1914.
Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) January 24, 1914, Image 1. http://tinyurl.com/adazpju
Happy searching, and stay tuned for more new historic content to be added soon!
