National Digital Newspaper Project Update

The Maine State Library continues to make progress on the National Digital Newspaper Project. We will be adding 100,000 newspaper pages published in Maine between 1850 and 1922 to Chronicling America (ChronAm). ChronAm is a Library of Congress database funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. The first batch of Maine newspapers is expected to go live in Chronicling America during the first quarter of 2018. Updates should occur regularly after that.There are already over 12 million newspaper pages from 45 states and territories.  If you are interested in following the workings of ChronAm you can watch for #ChronAm on social media. At least once a month contributors use that hash tag to share interesting or amusing tidbits from historic newspapers.

For the 2017-2018 grant cycle, we are working on:

The first batch of Maine newspapers is expected to go live in Chronicling America during the first quarter of 2018. Updates should occur regularly after that.

This blog will be one of the ways we alert you to the newspapers added, not only to Chronicling America, but also to Digital Maine. Our goal is to have a complete list of Maine newspapers available digitally on one convenient web page.

The Maine State Library has applied for a second round of grant funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities.  We will know in August 2018 if we will have two more years of work on the project. To support our ongoing interest with Maine newspapers we are looking for information and ideas.

The information we need: who owns what newspaper titles and in what format (Print, microfilm, digital). You can check your holdings against the existing inventory created in 1999. If your holdings have changed let us know by filling out a form updating your holdings on the MSL web site .

The ideas we need are your suggestions of newspapers which fit the requirements of the grant.

To be included newspapers must:

• Have readily available master microfilm (microfilm that is not used by the public or anyone else)
• Be published before 1922 or be copyright clear through 1963.
• Be Maine based.

Ideally, the newspapers suggested should not have already been digitized, although exceptions can be made.

There are dozens of titles that meet these criteria. The suggestions we receive are presented to a committee of scholars, historians, and librarians who make the final call.

Make the case for your favorite newspaper. Tell us where to find the master microfilm and why the newspaper belongs in the project!