Grant to Help Digitize Indiana Newspapers

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has awarded a $293,157 grant to the Indiana State Library to digitize Indiana's historically significant newspapers. Indiana joins 25 states participating in the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP), a partnership between the NEH, the Library of Congress and participating states to provide enhanced access to American newspapers published between 1836 and 1922. Newspapers digitized as part of this two-year project will be included in the Library of Congress' Chronicling America Database (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/).

"This grant is crucial to the State's efforts to provide optimal public access to Indiana's historical documents and cultural heritage," said Jim Corridan, State Archivist and Associate Director of the Indiana State Library. "The State Library houses millions of copies of historic Hoosier newspapers and this initiative will enable Hoosiers instant access to these collections via the internet."

The Indiana State Library will be assisted on the project by an advisory group of representatives from the Indiana Commission on Public Library, the Indiana Historical Bureau, Ball State University, the Hoosier Press Foundation, the Indiana Historical Society, the Indiana University School of Journalism and Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis. The advisory group will develop criteria for inclusion of historic papers and ultimately select the newspapers to be digitized.

In addition to the Indiana papers presence in the Chronicling America Database, the digitized papers will also be available through Indiana Memory (http://www.indianamemory.org/) - a collaborative effort to provide access to the wealth of primary sources in Indiana libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions. Indiana Memory's mission is to create and maintain a digital library that enables free public access to Indiana's unique cultural and historical heritage. Through information and pictures found in digitized books, manuscripts, photographs, newspapers, maps, and other digital materials available on the Indiana Memory website, the program seeks to enhance education and scholarship of Indiana's past. As a portal to the collections, Indiana Memory assists individuals to locate materials relevant to their interests and to better appreciate the connections between those materials.

About the Indiana State Library:
The Indiana State Library was established in 1825 to provide library services to Indiana's state governmental officials and employees. Since that time, its responsibilities have expanded to provide services to all citizens of Indiana, including special populations such as the blind and visually impaired. Additionally, the State Library collects and preserves all types of information about the state of Indiana, supports the development of the library profession, and strengthens services of all Indiana libraries.

Today, the Indiana State Library houses vast collections with over two million volumes and three million manuscripts, as well as thousands of maps, federal documents, microfilm, and more. Just as the Library of Congress serves as the historical repository for our nation, the State Library is responsible for collecting and preserving all types of information and data about Indiana. The State Library also houses two of the largest Indiana history and genealogy collections in the nation.

Source: Indiana State Library