By: Carl Sullivan
The Washington Star hasn't published since 1981, but its vast archives covering 129 years of American history will soon come to life again.
The Washington Post Co., which acquired the
Star's archives after it ceased publication, has contracted Cold North Wind Inc. of Ottawa to digitize the 1.5 million-page archive, currently on microfilm. Terms of the deal were not released.
Cold North Wind will build an online database of full-page, searchable images of the
Star dating back to 1852. The archives will be included on Cold North Wind's
Paper of Record portal, which will offer access to other newspaper archives.
Cold North Wind CEO Bob Huggins said his company's strategy is to begin the Paper of Record project by focusing on newspaper archives in the capital cities of North America: Washington, Ottawa, and Mexico City. Eventually, the company hopes to include many more newspapers in the project.
The Washington Post Co.'s digital subsidiary, Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive, will also have the option of using the
Star archives on its Web sites. Huggins praised the Washington Post Co. for building a "lasting treasure" covering U.S. history.
Separately, the Post Co. has hired ProQuest Co. of Ann Arbor, Mich., to digitize back issues of the
Post from 1877 to 1987. That project is underway.
Privately held Cold North Wind has offices in Falls Church, Va., and Guadalajara, Mexico.
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