BATON ROUGE - The LSU Libraries' Special Collections division was recently awarded $210,000 from the National Endowment for the Humanities, or NEH, to digitize an additional 100,000 pages of Louisiana newspapers published from 1836 through 1922.
This marks the third award for the libraries' participation in the National Digital Newspaper Program, contributing culturally and historically significant Louisiana newspapers to the Library of Congress' Chronicling America database. The database can be found online at http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
The 2013-15 grant award will fund digitization of newspapers from microfilm, including additional French-language Louisiana titles.
"One of the most exciting aspects about our continued participation in this grant program is the ability to digitize an additional 43 newspaper titles - including 16 French language titles - that are really unique to the culture of our state and region," said project manager Laura Charney.
This award also includes a partnership with first-time 2013-15 NDNP awardee, the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, or MDAH, in Jackson, Miss. LSU Libraries' project staff will provide technical expertise and project management for the digitization of 100,000 pages of Mississippi newspapers over the next two years.
"The Mississippi Department of Archives and History is thrilled with this partnership that will facilitate digital access to Mississippi's historical newspapers," said Julia Marks Young, MDAH archives and record services division director.
MDAH also received a grant for $274,390 from NEH for the Mississippi Digital Newspaper Project.
"The shared history between Louisiana and Mississippi made this partnership a natural fit," said Joel Wurl, NEH senior program officer. "NEH is happy to support the partnership between LSU Libraries and the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Both of these projects contribute significantly to the accessibility of historical information about Louisiana and the lower Mississippi Valley."
The Digitizing Louisiana Newspapers Project website, www.lib.lsu.edu/special/cc/dlnp, links DLNP titles to their Chronicling America records. Currently, a list of titles can be viewed alphabetically by title or by parish. In addition, essays explaining individual newspapers in place and time are also featured, and a hyperlinked map of Louisiana which provides a visual sense of the geographic coverage of the titles chosen for the project. The list will be updated as new titles are selected for the 2013-15 grant cycle.
After a July 31 update, Chronicling America now provides access to more than 6.6 million pages from more than 1,000 titles published 1836-1922 and digitized by awardees in 30 states and the Library of Congress.