Technical Guidelines & Specifications
Over a period of two years, successful applicants will select newspapers—published in their state or territory between 1836 and 1922—and convert approximately 100,000 pages into digital files (primarily from microfilm), according to the technical guidelines outlined here.
Current Guidelines
- Technical Guidelines for 2012 Awards
(PDF, 339KB)
- For more information on applying for NDNP awards, see the NEH NDNP Program Guidelines
- Overview of Technical Guidelines (PDF, 1.78MB)
Past Guidelines
- Technical Guidelines for 2011 Awards
- Technical Guidelines for 2009 and 2010 Awards
- Technical Guidelines for 2007 and 2008 Awards
NDNP Resources
Architecture Development
- Technical Premises and Digital Preservation (PDF, 220 KB)
- Structural Metadata & Use of XML (PDF, 149 KB)
- Open-source LC Newspaper Viewer Software
Presentations & Publications Relating to NDNP
- NDIIPP News and Events - "Mediated by Software"
- NDNP 2010 (PDF, 724 KB), presented at American Libraries Association (June 2010)
- D-Lib article, Littman, "Actualized Preservation Threats," (Jul/Aug 2007)
- JPEG2000 Historical Newspapers Profile Report (PDF, 1.9 MB)
- D-Lib article, Littman, "Technical Validation," (May 2006)
- More Presentations and Publications...
Selection Criteria
- Content Selection
- Microfilm Selection (PDF, 1.3 MB)
- N. W. Ayer & Son's American Newspaper Annual (1880-1922) - (See Digital Reference Collections)
Guidelines for Newspaper Title History Essays
- General Writing Guidelines (PDF, 22 KB)
- Newspaper Title Notes - Elements (PDF, 33 KB)
Resources for Preservation & Digital Conversion
Preserving Newspapers
- United States Newspaper Program Preservation Guidelines
- Caring for Your Collections: Preserving Newspapers
Digital Conversion
To view PDFs
Last Updated: 04/10/2012
