Program News Archive

NEH Announces the Winners of the Chronicling America Data Challenge

August 5, 2016

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) announces the six prize recipients of the Chronicling America Data Challenge. This nationwide competition garnered high-quality entries that used digital humanities to explore and exhibit untold stories found in the Chronicling America database.

The contest challenged members of the public to produce creative web-based projects using data pulled from Chronicling America, the digital repository of historic U.S. newspapers. The Chronicling America database, created through a partnership between the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress, provides free digital access to over eleven million pages of historically significant newspapers published in the United States.

And the winners are . . .

FIRST PRIZE

Project Name: America’s Public Bible: Biblical Quotations in U.S. Newspapers

Project Director: Lincoln Mullen, Assistant Professor, Department of History and Art History, George Mason University (Fairfax, VA)

Project Description: America’s Public Bible: Biblical Quotations in U.S. Newspapers tracks Biblical quotations in American newspapers to see how the Bible was used for cultural, religious, social, or political purposes. Users can either enter their own Biblical references or choose from a selection of significant references on a range of topics. The project draws on both recent digital humanities work tracking the reuse of texts and a deep scholarly interest in the Bible as a cultural text in American life. The site shows how the Bible was a contested yet common text, including both printed sermons and Sunday school lessons and use of the Bible on every side of issues such as slavery, women’s suffrage, and wealth and capitalism.

SECOND PRIZE (TIE)

Project Name: American Lynching: Uncovering a Cultural Narrative

Project Director: Andrew Bales, PhD Student in Creative Writing, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH)

Project Description: American Lynching: Uncovering a Cultural Narrative explores America’s long and dark history with lynching, in which newspapers acted as both a catalyst for public killings and a platform for advocating for reform. Integrating data sets on lynching created by Tuskegee University, the site sheds light on the gruesome culture of lynching, paying close attention to the victims of violent mobs. The site allows users to use an interactive chronological map of victim reports and see their state-by-state distribution, linking to Chronicling America articles.

Project Name: Historical Agricultural News

Project Director: Amy Giroux, Computer Research Specialist, Center for Humanities and Digital Research, University of Central Florida (Orlando, FL)

Project Description: Historical Agricultural News, a search tool site for exploring information on the farming organizations, technologies, and practices of America’s past. The site describes farming as the window into communities, social and technological change, and concepts like progress, development, and modernity. Agricultural connections are of significance to those interested in various topics including immigration and assimilation, language use and communication, education and affiliations, and demographic transitions.

THIRD PRIZE (TIE)

Project Name: Chronicling Hoosier

Project Director: Kristi Palmer, Associate Dean of Digital Scholarship, Indiana University-Purdue University (Indianapolis, IN)

Project Description: Chronicling Hoosier tracks the origins of the word “Hoosier.” The website has maps that visually demonstrate the geographic distribution of the term “hoosier” in the Chronicling America data set. This distribution is measured by the number of times the term appears on a newspaper page. Each point on the map shows a place of publication where a newspaper or newspapers contain the term. Another feature on the website is the Word Clouds by Decade visualizations, which are created by looking at the word “hoosier” in context. The text immediately surrounding each appearance of the word is extracted, and from this the most frequently occurring terms are plotted.

Project Name: USNewsMap.com

Project Director: Claudio Saunt, Professor, Department of History, Co-Director, Center for Virtual History and Associate Director, Institute of Native American Studies, University of Georgia (Athens, GA)

Project Description: USNewsMap.com discovers patterns, explores regions, investigates how stories and terms spread around the country, and watches information go viral before the era of the internet. This site argues that newspapers better capture the public discourse because of their quick publication schedule. For example, users can track “miscegenation,” a term coined in 1863 by a Democratic Party operative to exploit fears about Lincoln, and “scalawag,” a recently arrived term that quickly gained currency after 1869. Other examples for use are tracking regional differences in language, tracing the path of epidemics, and studying changing political discourse over time and space.

K-12 Student Prize

Project Name: Digital APUSH: Revealing History with Chronicling America

Project Director: A.P. U.S. History Students at Sunapee High School (Sunapee, NH)

Project Description: Digital APUSH: Revealing History with Chronicling America uses word frequency analysis—a kind of distant reading made possible by the API—to discover patterns in news coverage. Some examples of investigations include geographic coverage of Plessy v. Ferguson, temporal trends in use of the words “secede” and “secession,” articles about Uncle Tom’s Cabin by year, state-by-state coverage of the KKK, and geographic trends in coverage of labor unions.

Read the complete announcement at: http://www.neh.gov/news/press-release/2016-07-25

NDNP Date Range Expansion

July 8, 2016

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and Library of Congress are pleased to announce the expansion of the chronological scope of the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP)! Expanding on our current scope (1836-1922), the program will now begin to allow state partners to digitize historic newspapers from 1690 to 1963.

NEH and the Library of Congress hope that this expansion will further our goal of representing the political, social, economic, and cultural history of every state and U.S. territory in the open access historic newspaper database Chronicling America. By including the very first American newspapers, we can explore the history of the early days of the republic. In the twentieth century, the number of newspaper publications exploded and papers themselves grew in both length and scope. By extending the coverage of NDNP back to 1690 (when Benjamin Harris and Richard Pierce published the first American newspaper in Boston) and forward to 1963, we hope to capture the richness and diversity of our nation’s history.

Read the complete announcement at: http://www.neh.gov/news/expanding-our-current-scope-ndnp

NEH Announces Chronicling America Data Challenge

November 5, 2015

"The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has launched a nationwide contest, challenging members of the public to produce creative web-based projects using data pulled from Chronicling America, the digital repository of historic U.S. newspapers....Chronicling America provides free digital access to ten million pages of historically significant newspapers published in the United States between 1836 and 1922.

In a competition posted at Challenge.gov (external link), NEH encourages contestants to develop data visualizations, web-based tools, or other innovative web-based projects using...a user-friendly Application Program Interface (API) to explore the data contained in Chronicling America data."

See NEH.gov (external link) and Challenge.gov (external link) for more information on prizes and entry. The contest closes on June 15, 2016.

NEH Announces Guidelines for 2016 NDNP Awards - Application Deadline: January 14, 2016

October 27, 2015

The National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP) guidelines for 2016 are now available at http://www.neh.gov/grants/preservation/national-digital-newspaper-program. The deadline for submitting proposals is January 14, 2016.

NEH is soliciting proposals from institutions to participate in the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP). NDNP is creating a national digital resource of historically significant newspapers published between 1836 and 1922, from all the states and U.S. territories. This searchable database will be permanently maintained at the Library of Congress (LC) and will be freely accessible via the Internet. (See the website, Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers.) An accompanying national newspaper directory of bibliographic and holdings information on the website directs users to newspaper titles available in all types of formats. During the course of its partnership with NEH, LC will also digitize and contribute to the NDNP database a significant number of newspaper pages drawn from its own collections.

NEH intends to support projects in all states and U.S. territories, provided that sufficient funds allocated for this purpose are available. One organization within each U.S. state or territory will receive an award to collaborate with relevant state partners in this effort. Previously funded projects will be eligible to receive supplements for continued work, but the program will give priority to new projects. In particular, the program will give priority to projects from states and territories that have not received NDNP funding.

For more program information, please visit the NEH's program page at http://www.neh.gov/grants/preservation/national-digital-newspaper-program or for technical information, visit the LC site at //www.loc.gov/ndnp/.

Chronicling America Posts 10 Millionth Page

October 7, 2015

Chronicling America, a free, online searchable database of historic U.S. newspapers, has posted its 10 millionth page.

Launched by the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) in 2007, Chronicling America provides enhanced and permanent access to historically significant newspapers published in the United States between 1836 and 1922. It is part of the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP), a joint effort between the two agencies and partners in 40 states and territories.

"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. The Library of Congress is proud to work alongside NEH and all our partner institutions to make this vision a growing reality," said Mark Sweeney, Associate Librarian for Library Services. "In the coming years, we look forward to adding newspapers from the remaining states and territories as new partners join the program."

"We at the National Endowment for the Humanities are proud to support the Chronicling America historic newspaper project," said NEH Chairman William Adams. "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."

While newspapers are frequently available for general use through microfilm and can be shared among users by interlibrary loan or purchasing copies, digitizing pages and providing full-text keyword access to the content is transformative for research of all kinds. In addition to saving researchers hours of scrolling through reels of microfilm, full-text access allows users to discover connections between research topics and uncover little-known stories in American history. The Chronicling America site includes a broad, curated set of newspapers selected for their historical value that users can browse or search, and through a few clicks 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, fostering new research approaches through computational and linguistic analysis....Read more about it!

2015 NDNP Awards Announced - Wisconsin and Delaware Join the Program

August 25, 2015

From the NEH Division of Preservation and Access: "We are happy to announce that two new partners have joined the National Digital Newspaper Program! NEH has made awards to the State Historical Society of Wisconsin and the University of Delaware to digitize newspapers from their states. Forty states and territories have now participated in the program, along with the District of Columbia. NEH and the Library of Congress are now two states closer to our goal of representing every state and U.S. territory in the open access historic newspaper database Chronicling America...."

NDNP, a partnership between the NEH and the LC, is a long-term effort to provide an Internet-based, searchable database of all U.S. newspapers with descriptive information and select digitization of historic pages. Supported by NEH, this rich digital resource will be developed and permanently maintained at the Library of Congress. The NEH grant program will fund the contribution of content from, eventually, all U.S. states and territories....Read more about it! (external link)

NEH Announces Guidelines for 2015 NDNP Awards - Application Deadline: January 15, 2015

October 3, 2014

The National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP) guidelines for 2015 are now available at http://www.neh.gov/grants/preservation/national-digital-newspaper-program. The deadline for submitting proposals is January 15, 2015.

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is soliciting proposals from institutions wishing to participate in the NDNP. Applications are due January 15, 2015. Program awardees participate in the creation of a national, digital resource of historically significant newspapers published between 1836 and 1922 in U.S. states and territories. Each award supports a 2-year project to digitally convert 100,000 newspaper pages from that state's collections, primarily from microfilm negative. Titles may be printed in Danish, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish or Swedish.

The program provides access to this resource through the Chronicling America web site (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/), hosted by the Library of Congress (LC). The site currently includes more than 8.1 million newspaper pages in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish, from more than 1400 titles digitized by institutions in 32 states. For a list of participants, see //www.loc.gov/ndnp/awards/.

NEH Releases National Digital Newspaper Program Impact Study

September 29, 2014

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has released a study measuring the impact of the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP) has had on the humanities and partner institutions. The report is available at http://www.neh.gov/divisions/preservation/featured-project/neh-releases-national-digital-newspaper-program-impact-study

8 Million Pages Now Online and 2 New States Joining NDNP!

August 8, 2014

The National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP), a joint program of the Library of Congress (LC) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), has passed several exciting milestones recently. More than 8 million historic newspaper pages, published in 32 states and the District of Columbia between 1836 and 1922, are now available through the Chronicling America web site, hosted by LC, and in July, the NEH announced two new partners joining the program this year. Awards were made to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and the South Dakota Department of Tourism and State Development to digitize newspapers from Nevada and South Dakota. This brings the number of participants in the program to 39, including 37 states, one territory, and the District of Columbia. NEH and the LC aim to have every state and U.S. territory represented in Chronicling America (see http://www.neh.gov/divisions/preservation/grant-news/nevada-and-south-dakota-join-the-national-digital-newspaper-progra for more information). In addition, supplementary awards have been made to eight state partners already participating in the program....Read more about it

NEWSPAPERS ADDED: Hundreds of thousands of newspaper pages added

January 29, 2014

This week the Library of Congress began adding more historic newspapers to the Chronicling America Web site. First-time contributions from Maryland and North Carolina, as well as many other newspapers, are being added to the 6.7 million pages already available from 32 states and the District of Columbia.

To learn more about what newspapers have been added or updated recently, subscribe to the Recent Additions RSS feed available from anywhere in Chronicling America. Click on the Subscribe link next to the orange icon (below the Search bar and to the right) and select the 2nd RSS feed listed

NEH Announces Guidelines for 2014 NDNP Awards - Application Deadline: January 15, 2014

October 22, 2013

The National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP) guidelines for 2014 are now available at http://www.neh.gov/grants/preservation/national-digital-newspaper-program. The deadline for submitting proposals is January 15, 2014.

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is soliciting proposals from institutions wishing to participate in the NDNP. Applications are due January 15, 2014. Program awardees participate in the creation of a national, digital resource of historically significant newspapers published between 1836 and 1922 in U.S. states and territories. Each award supports a 2-year project to digitally convert 100,000 newspaper pages from that state's collections, primarily from microfilm negative. Titles may be printed in Danish, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish or Swedish.

The program provides access to this resource through the Chronicling America web site (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/), hosted by the Library of Congress (LC). The site currently includes more than 6.6 million newspaper pages in English, French, German, and Spanish, from more than 1100 titles digitized by institutions in 30 states. For a list of participants, see //www.loc.gov/ndnp/awards/.

Chronicling America Updated: 600,000 pages added, including newspapers from Iowa, Michigan and West Virginia

July 31, 2013

Today, the Library of Congress updated the Chronicling America Web site adding more than 600,000 historic newspaper pages, including first-time contributions from Iowa, Michigan, and West Virginia. Other new additions include content from Hawaii, Indiana, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas.

The site now provides access to more than 6.6 million searchable newspaper pages from more than 1100 newspaper titles, published in 30 states and the District of Columbia between 1836 and 1922.

Chronicling America is produced by the National Digital Newspaper Program, a partnership between the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress.... Read more about it!

NEH Announces $3.5 Million for 2013 NDNP Awards, including Participation by 4 New States and Territories

July 29, 2013

Recently the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) announced 14 awards totaling $3.5 million to institutions representing their states or territories in the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP). Three projects - sponsored by the Connecticut State Library; the Idaho State Historical Society; and the Mississippi Department of Archives and History - are new to the program this year. The University of Florida returns to NDNP, partnered with a new NDNP participant, the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras, to digitize newspapers from both locations. Ten other institutions - University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; Indiana State Library; Kansas State Historical Society; Louisiana State University Libraries; Montana Historical Society; State Historical Society of North Dakota; Oklahoma Historical Society; University of Oregon Libraries; University of South Carolina; and West Virginia University Research Corporation - have received continuing awards to contribute additional content to the program.

This funding will support the selection and digitization of historic American newspapers published between 1836 and 1922 by each participating state, according to NDNP technical guidelines. The Library of Congress (LC) will make these newspapers freely available through the Chronicling America Website (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/) beginning in mid-2014. In all, 37 states and territories have participated in the program.

Chronicling America Update: 800,000 added pages, including newspapers from North Dakota and Indiana

March 20, 2013

On March 18, the Library of Congress updated the Chronicling America Web site to add more than 800,000 newspaper pages, published from 1836 to 1922 in the U.S. In addition to the 25 states and the District of Columbia already represented on the site, this update adds newspapers from Indiana and North Dakota as well as additional French and Spanish newspapers from Arizona, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Texas. Other updates include improved use on iOS devices, added navigation features, and updated US Newspaper Directory information.

Chronicling America Posts 5 Millionth Page

October 24, 2012

Popular Online Resource Provides Access to Nation’s Historic Newspapers

The Chronicling America website, chroniclingamerica.loc.gov, a free, searchable database of historic U.S. newspapers, has posted its 5 millionth page.

Launched by the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) in 2007, Chronicling America provides enhanced and permanent access to historically significant newspapers published in the United States between 1836 and 1922. It is a part of the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP), a joint effort between the two agencies and 32 state partners.

"This magnificent resource captures the warp and weft of life as it was lived in grassroots America," said NEH Chairman Jim Leach. "Metropolitan newspapers were early targets for digitization, but Chronicling America allows the journalism of the smaller cities and the rural countryside to become accessible in all its variety—and sometimes, quirkiness."

"Chronicling America is one of the great historical reference services on the web," said Roberta Shaffer, associate librarian for Library Services at the Library of Congress. "It is a treasure trove of information about communities, personalities, key events and culture in the United States, and it is all free and available to the public."

The site now features 5 million pages from more than 800 newspapers from 25 states. The site averaged more than 2.5 million page views per month last year and is being used by students, researchers, congressional staff, journalists and others for all kinds of projects, from daily podcasts to history contests. The news, narratives and entertainment encapsulated in the papers transport readers in time.

Library of Congress press release: //www.loc.gov/today/pr/2012/12-198.html

NEH press release: http://www.neh.gov/news/press-release/2012-10-22

NEH Announces Guidelines for 2013 National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP) Awards - Application Deadline: January 17, 2013

October 19, 2012

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is now soliciting proposals from institutions wishing to participate in the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP). Applications are due January 17, 2013. Program awardees participate in the creation of a national, digital resource of historically significant newspapers published between 1836 and 1922 in all U.S. states and territories and printed in English, French, German, Italian or Spanish. Each award supports a 2-year project to digitally convert 100,000 newspaper pages from that state's collections, primarily from microfilm negative.

The program provides access to this resource through the Chronicling America web site (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/), hosted by the Library of Congress (LC).

For more program information, please visit the NEH's program page at http://www.neh.gov/divisions/preservation/national-digital-newspaper-program or for technical information, visit the LC site at //www.loc.gov/ndnp/.

NEH Announces $3.6 Million for 2012 NDNP Awards, Including 4 New States

August 20, 2012

Recently the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) announced awards totaling $3.6 million to 13 institutions representing their states in the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP). Four of these institutions - the State Historical Society of Iowa; the University of Maryland, College Park; Central Michigan University and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill - are new to the program this year. Nine other institutions - the Arizona Department of Libraries, Archives and Public Records; the University of Hawai'i, Manoa; the State Historical Society of Missouri; the University of New Mexico; the Ohio Historical Society; Pennsylvania State University, Main Campus; the University of Tennessee, Knoxville; the Washington State Library and the University of Vermont - have received continuing awards to contribute additional content to the program.

This funding will support the selection and digitization of historic American newspapers published between 1836 and 1922 by each participating state, according to NDNP technical guidelines. The Library of Congress (LC) will make these newspapers freely available through the Chronicling America Website (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov) beginning in mid-2013. In all, 32 states have participated in the program.

NDNP, a partnership between the NEH and the LC, is a long-term effort to develop an Internet-based, searchable database of all U.S. newspapers with descriptive information and select digitization of historic pages. Supported by NEH, this rich digital resource will be developed and permanently maintained at the Library of Congress. The NEH grant program will fund the contribution of content from, eventually, all U.S. states and territories.

The press release is available on the NEH website at: http://www.neh.gov/news/press-release/2012-07-26 (external link)

NEH to Offer National History Day Student Award for Creative Use of the Chronicling America Historic Newspaper Archive

June 22, 2012

Last week, NEH’s Chairman, James Leach, announced that the Endowment would create a new category of National History Day (NHD) prizes for students who incorporate research using Chronicling America. To assist young researchers, EDSITEment (http://edsitement.neh.gov/ (external link)), NEH’s educational website, will also develop a new set of online resources around Chronicling America to help facilitate and encourage use of the newspaper material among students and educators. The NEH press release is found at: http://www.neh.gov/news/press-release/2012-06-14 (external link).

Chronicling America now online

May 10, 2012

The Chronicling America Website is now online and available for use. Thank you for your patience.

Chronicling America is currently unavailable

May 7, 2012

The Chronicling America Website is currently offline, undergoing maintenance. We regret the inconvenience and will post notice when the site is once again available.

Newspapers added: more than 4.1 million pages available

October 5, 2011

Last week, the Library of Congress updated the Chronicling America Web site with more than 190,000 additional newspaper pages in various titles. The site now provides access to more than 4.1 million searchable newspaper pages from 581 newspaper titles, published in 25 states and the District of Columbia between 1836 and 1922.

To learn more about what newspapers have been added or updated, subscribe to the Recent Additions RSS feed available from anywhere in Chronicling America (click on the orange Subscribe button).

Chronicling America is produced by the National Digital Newspaper Program, a partnership between the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress.... Read more about it!

NEH Announces Guidelines for 2012 NDNP Awards - Application Deadline: January 17, 2012

October 5, 2011

NEH is soliciting proposals from institutions to participate in the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP). NDNP is creating a national, digital resource of historically significant newspapers published between 1836 and 1922, from all the states and U.S. territories, published in English, French, Italian or Spanish. (See the website, Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers.)

NEH Announces $3.8 Million for 2011 NDNP Awards, including 3 New States

July 27, 2011

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) announced on July 27, 2011 awards totaling $3.8 million to 13 institutions representing their states in the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP). Three of these institutions - Indiana State Library, State Historical Society of North Dakota, and the West Virginia University Research Corporation - are new to the program this year. Ten other institutions - the University of Illinois-Urbana, Kansas State Historical Society, University of Kentucky-Lexington, Louisiana State University, Minnesota Historical Society, Montana Historical Society, Oklahoma Historical Society, University of South Carolina, and the University of North Texas - have received continuing awards to contribute additional content to the program. This funding will support the selection and digitization of historic American newspapers published between 1836 and 1922 by each participating state, according to NDNP guidelines. The Library of Congress (LC) will make these newspapers available to the public through the Chronicling America Website (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov) beginning in mid-2012. In all, 28 states have institutions participating in the program.

More Newspapers Added: 3 new states and coverage from 1836 to 1922

July 20, 2011

This week the Library of Congress updated Chronicling America to include newspapers from 3 new states added to the program in 2010 and additional coverage for 1836-1859. New Mexico, Tennessee and Vermont are now included with 22 other states and the District of Columbia in Chronicling America's almost 4 million pages of historic newspaper pages, published between 1836 and 1922.

To keep up with new additions, subscribe to our Recent Additions title RSS feed at http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/newspapers/feed/. This feed is updated each time a newspaper title is updated with additional content or a new newspaper title is added to the site.

Chronicling America is produced by the National Digital Newspaper Program, a partnership between the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress.... Read more about it!

Chronicling America Has a New Look!

May 24, 2011

The Library of Congress has made big changes to Chronicling America, giving the site a new look and several new features. An exciting and prominent addition to the site interface is the "100 Years Ago Today" gallery, which provides front page views to century-old newspapers. Searching and navigation are improved as well, as the site now enables users to see the search tool at the top of every page, to navigate within search results, to limit searching to only front pages, and to view any newspaper in "full page" mode without any extra information around the page. Users can now also subscribe to weekly updates and recent addition notices or share any page on the site through email and sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Google. Take a look and use the Feedback [+] button to let us know what you think!

Chronicling America is produced by the National Digital Newspaper Program, a partnership between the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress.... Read more about it!

More Newspapers Added: 230,000 more pages added to Chronicling America

May 20, 2011

The Library of Congress updated the Chronicling America Web site with more than 230,000 additional newspaper pages in various titles. The site now provides access to more than 3.7 million searchable newspaper pages from 506 newspaper titles, published in 22 states and the District of Columbia between 1860 and 1922.

Chronicling America is produced by the National Digital Newspaper Program, a partnership between the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress.... Read more about it!

More Newspapers Added: 165,500 historic newspapers added to Chronicling America

April 1, 2011

The Library of Congress added more than 165,500 historic newspaper pages to the Chronicling America Web site. This update includes new titles from Nebraska, Louisiana, Hawaii, Utah, Texas, and Virginia, as well as many issues added for existing titles. The site now includes more than 3.4 million pages from 457 titles published between 1860 and 1922 in 22 states and the District of Columbia. Also, take a "sneak peek" at upcoming changes to the site by clicking on the "beta version" links and use the Feedback [+] button to let us know what you think.

Chronicling America is produced by the National Digital Newspaper Program, a partnership between the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress.... Read more about it!

More Newspapers Added: 178,000 more pages and "Sneak Peek" at new interface

February 17, 2011

The Library of Congress has updated the Chronicling America site with an additional 178,000 pages (including 25 new titles) and a "sneak peek" at upcoming changes to the Web site itself. These changes include a new overall look, a "100 Years Ago Today" daily slideshow, new search features, and improved results navigation, to name a few. Take a look and use the Feedback [+] button to let us know what you think!

Chronicling America is produced by the National Digital Newspaper Program, a partnership between the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress.... Read more about it!

NDNP Tools pre-conference at Code4Lib 2011

January 24, 2011

If you are attending the Code4Lib 2011 library conference in Bloomington, IN, consider attending the afternoon pre-conference "Publishing Historic Newspapers with NDNP Tools," on Feb. 7. The session, presented by Karen Estlund (University of Oregon Libraries, and an NDNP Awardee) and Dan Chudnov (Library of Congress) will focus on implementation of the open-source LC Newspaper Viewer software supporting access to historic newspaper content. See Code4Lib Preconferences for more information.

More Newspapers Added: 440,000 pages added to Chronicling America

December 15, 2010

On December 15, 2010, the Library of Congress added more than 440,000 historic newspaper pages to the Chronicling America Web site. This most recent update expands date coverage for many titles already represented in the site and includes a wealth of content in new titles from Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oregon, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, Virginia, and Washington. The site now includes more than 3.1 million pages from 414 titles published between 1860 and 1922 in 22 states and the District of Columbia.

Chronicling America is produced by the National Digital Newspaper Program, a partnership between the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress.... Read more about it!

More Newspapers Added: 380,000 pages added to Chronicling America, incl. pages from 3 new states (LA, MT, SC)

Sept 16, 2010

On Sept 16, 2010 the Library of Congress added more than 380,000 historic newspaper pages to the Chronicling America Web site, including newspapers from 3 new states - Louisiana, Montana, and South Carolina expanding the site's time coverage further into the Civil War era. The site now includes more than 2.6 million pages from 354 titles published between 1860 and 1922 in 22 states and the District of Columbia.

Chronicling America is produced by the National Digital Newspaper Program, a partnership between the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress....Read more about it!

2011 application deadline extended

Sept. 15, 2010

On Sept. 14, 2010, the National Endowment for the Humanities announced the 2011 National Digital Newspaper Program award application deadline would be extended to Jan. 13, 2011. Institutions receiving 2011 awards will be notified in August 2011 and begin NDNP participation in September 2011.

2011 Technical Guidelines updated

Aug. 31, 2010

On Aug. 31, 2010, the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP) posted a revision to Technical Guidelines for Applicants for 2011 awards, correcting the description of coding practices for non-English newspaper text. See Document Control section for more information.

NEH Announces Guidelines for 2011 NDNP Awards - Application Deadline: Nov. 2, 2010

Aug. 18, 2010

NEH Announces $2.8 Million for 2010 NDNP Awards, including 3 New States

June 10, 2010

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) announced on June 10, 2010, awards totaling $2.88 million to 9 institutions representing their states in the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP). Three of these institutions, University of New Mexico, University of Tennessee and University of Vermont, are new to the program this year. Six other institutions - Arizona Department of Libraries, Archives and Public Records; University of Hawaii-Manoa; Ohio Historical Society; State Historical Society of Missouri; Pennsylvania State University; and Washington State Library have received continuing awards to contribute additional content to the program. This funding will support the selection and digitization of historic American newspapers published between 1836 and 1922 by each participating state, according to NDNP guidelines. The Library of Congress (LC) will make these newspapers available to the public through the Chronicling America Website (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/) beginning in mid-2011. In all, 25 states have institutions participating in the program.

Chronicling America has more then 2 million pages online!

April 2, 2010

On April 2, the National Digital Newspaper Program added more than 302,000 historic newspaper pages to the Chronicling America Web site, hosted by the Library of Congress. The site now provides free and open access to 2,037,000 pages from 255 titles, that were published between 1880 and 1922 in 15 states and the District of Columbia. This most recent update expands date coverage for many titles already represented in the site and includes a wealth of content in new titles from Arizona, DC, Hawaii, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Utah and Virginia. To see a list of all the digitized historic newspapers that can be searched in the site, take a look at the See All Available Newspapers page - http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/newspapers/.

Chronicling America is a project of the National Digital Newspaper Program, a partnership between the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress....Read more about it!

Chronicling America Live-Web Demonstration: "Extra! Extra! More than 1.7 Million Pages Online"

Mar. 17, 2010
2:00 p.m. EST
http://www.opal-online.org/archiveloc.htm (external link)

Extra! Extra! More than 1.7 Million Newspaper Pages Now Online

Get the news of yesteryear here! Explore contemporary reports of the fight for women's rights, St. Patrick's Day celebrations, baseball scores, earthquakes, and more! It's the news you want and the news you need from Chronicling America, the Library of Congress gateway to America's historic newspapers, published between 1880 and 1922. Join Library of Congress staff for a sampling of century-old headlines and articles of significant events that echo in the headlines of today.

To attend, go to OPAL at http://www.opal-online.org/ (external link). From the Quick Links column on the left, choose Auditorium.

Returning OPAL participants should click on the phrase "Click here to enter the room" in the center of the screen.
First time participants should follow the directions highlighted in the gray rectangle in the center of the screen.
Type your name (no password is required) and click "Log on" to enter the online conference.

NOTE: Allow yourself time to download the small software plugin needed to participate in the conference. Depending on your network security requirements, you may need assistance from your local technical support group to download and install the plugin. Actual installation should be very quick, depending on your computer and connectivity. For a complete description of system requirements, see http://www.conference321.com/masteradmin/systemreqs.asp?id=rs1641902f62b4 (external link).

Tips for first time users can be found at http://www.opal-online.org/firsttimetips.htm (external link).

To learn more about programs sponsored by the Library of Congress Digital Reference Section, see Virtual Programs & Services - //www.loc.gov/rr/program/.

To learn more about Chronicling America, see http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/.

To learn more about the Library's Newspaper & Current Periodical Reading Room, see //www.loc.gov/rr/news/.

To register for an orientation to the Library's online materials, see //www.loc.gov/rr/program/orientation.html.

Pages Added: Chronicling America adds more than 280,000 pages

December 2009

The Chronicling America Web site has recently updated to include 287,000 additional newspaper pages from 15 states and the District of Columbia. The site now includes more than 1.7 million pages from 212 newspaper titles published between 1880 and 1922. This update includes increased date coverage of many titles as well as new titles from Arizona, Hawaii, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, Utah, Virginia and Washington....Read more about it!

Content Updated: 192,000 pages added to Chronicling America, incl. pages from 4 new states (AZ, OH, PA, WA)

Sept. 17, 2009

On Sept. 17, the National Digital Newspaper Program added more than 192,000 historic newspaper pages to the Chronicling America Web site, hosted by the Library of Congress. The site now provides free and open access to 1,442,000 pages from 171 titles, that were published between 1880 and 1922 in 15 states and the District of Columbia. This most recent update expands date coverage for many titles already represented in the site and includes content from 4 new states--Arizona, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Washington.

In addition to new content, the site also now includes links to other ways to use the searchable newspapers available in Chronicling America, including:

links to Topic guides for events and subjects found in Chronicling America,
links to use of Chronicling America in the LC Flickr photostream,
and detailed documentation of the Chronicling America API.

The Chronicling America is a project of the National Digital Newspaper Program, a partnership between the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress....Read more about it!

Topics in Chronicling America

September 2009

The Library of Congress has recently launched a series of "topic guides" to the newspapers included in Chronicling America (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ ). Each topic guide (e.g., Baseball's Modern World Series, Ellis Island, or the Russo-Japanese War) includes subject-specific terms (including name usage, historical language, unusual spellings, etc.) and dates that can be readily used to search this topic in Chronicling America, as well as a list of sample articles found in Chronicling America. These topic guides are presented by the Library's Newspaper and Current Periodicals Reading Room. More topics will be added over time as the Chronicling America site continues to make new material available.

"A Magnificent Milestone"

June 16, 2009

On Tuesday, June 16, the Library of Congress updated Chronicling America to include over one million pages of historic American newspapers. The update was initially announced at the Newseum in Washington, DC, and reported widely in national and regional press. Check out the Library's own coverage of the event on the Library of Congress Blog.

Chronicling America Newspapers Added to LC Flickr Commons

June 16, 2009

The Library of Congress has added historic newspaper pages from Chronicling America to its Flickr photostream in the Flickr Commons. This set of cover pages from the New-York Tribune (New York, NY) illustrated supplements begins with the year 1909. These pictorial pages are selected from the Chronicling America newspaper resource at the Library of Congress and more will be added monthly. In Flickr, you can tag it, add a note, see the set in a slideshow, share it....and even read more about it!

Chronicling America Recently Upgraded

June 2009

Over recent weeks the Library of Congress has implemented changes to the Chronicling America web site that improve and expand use of historic American newspapers digitized for the National Digital Newspaper Program. Most changes are behind-the-scenes, but users will notice some differences - search results as thumbnail images, increased performance, and persistent (i.e., "bookmarkable") URLs in use throughout the site. In addition, we've improved the site to provide open access through standard protocols. Check out the Upgrade Details page linked above for more information!

Content Added: more than 112,000 newspaper pages added to Chronicling America

Feb. 26, 2009

On Feb. 26, the National Digital Newspaper Program added more than 112,000 additional historic newspaper pages to the Chronicling America Web site, hosted by the Library of Congress. The site now provides free and open access to 977,440 pages from 112 titles, that were published between 1880 and 1910 in 9 states (CA, FL, KY, MN, NE, NY, TX, UT, VA) and the District of Columbia. Six additional states--Arizona, Hawaii, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Washington--will be contributing content later in 2009. Chronicling America is a project of the National Digital Newspaper Program, a partnership between the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress....Read more about it!

Content Added: 183,698 newspaper pages added, including 14 new titles

Dec. 11, 2008

On Dec. 11, the National Digital Newspaper Program added 183,698 historic newspaper pages (including 14 new titles) to the Chronicling America Web site, hosted by the Library of Congress. The site now provides free and open access to 864,509 pages from 108 titles, that were published in 9 states (CA, FL, KY, MN, NE, NY, TX, UT, VA) and the District of Columbia between 1880 and 1910. Six additional states--Arizona, Hawaii, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Washington--will be contributing content in 2009. Chronicling America is a project of the National Digital Newspaper Program, a partnership between the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress....Read more about it!

Content Added: 38,800 newspaper pages added - now includes papers published 1880-1910 and a new state, Minnesota

Sept. 23, 2008

On Sept. 23, the Library of Congress added 38,810 newspaper pages to the Chronicling America Web site, expanding coverage into the 1880's and including content published in Minnesota. The site now provides access to over 680,000 newspaper pages from 9 states and the District of Columbia. Chronicling America is a project of the National Digital Newspaper Program, a partnership between the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress.

NEH Announces Guidelines for 2009 NDNP Awards - Application Deadline: Nov. 4, 2008

Aug. 2008

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is soliciting proposals from institutions to participate in the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP) by selecting and digitizing newspapers representing their state and regional history. These materials will be digitized according to guidelines established by the Library of Congress and made available via the Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers web site, hosted by the Library of Congress at http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/.

Content Added: 73,000 newspaper pages added - now includes papers published 1890-1910 and 2 new states - Nebraska and Texas

Aug. 1, 2008

On August 1, more than 73,000 newly digitized newspaper pages were added to the Chronicling America Web site at http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/, including content from 2 new states - Nebraska and Texas - and expanding coverage in the 1890s. With this update, the site now provides access to more than 642,000 digitized newspaper pages, published between 1890 and 1910, and representing 74 newspapers from California, the District of Columbia, Florida, Kentucky, Nebraska, New York, Texas, Utah and Virginia. Chronicling America is a project of the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP), which is a partnership between the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).

NEH Announces $1.9 Million for 2008 NDNP Awards in 6 New States

June 17, 2008

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) announced on June 17, 2008, awards totaling $1,867,883 for six successful applicants representing their states in the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP). This funding will support the selection and digitization of historic American newspapers published between 1880 and 1922, by each participating state, according to NDNP guidelines. The Library of Congress (LC) will make these newspapers available to the public through the Chronicling America Website (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/) beginning in mid-2009. The six 2008 awardees - Arizona Department of Libraries, Archives and Public Records; University of Hawaii-Manoa; Ohio Historical Society; State Historical Society of Missouri; Pennsylvania State University; and Washington State Library; - will join 9 states already participating in the program.

Content Added: 79,000 newspaper pages added, plus new features

Mar. 14, 2008

On March 14, more than 79,000 newly digitized newspaper pages, along with several new site features, were added to the Chronicling America Web site. With this update, the site now provides access to more than 500,000 digitized newspaper pages, dating primarily from 1900 to 1910, and representing 61 newspapers from California, the District of Columbia, Florida, Kentucky, New York, Utah and Virginia. Chronicling America is a project of the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP), which is a partnership between the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).....
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Last Updated: 09/06/2018

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