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BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Officials with the Idaho State Historical Society say they have secured a $250,000 grant to digitally preserve thousands of pages of old newspapers.
KTVB-TV (http://bit.ly/1QPIEhH) reports that the grant will pay to digitize 100,000 pages of Idaho newspapers published between 1864 and 1923. Newspapers printed before 1923 are in the public domain and are not protected by copyright.
Steve Barrett, with the society, says Idaho's newspaper archive was converted to microfilm in the 1980's. The microfilm now fills racks inside the society's facility, but officials are determined to keep up with technology.
"They're priceless. They're absolutely priceless," Barrett said.
The microfilmed newspapers will be digitized, where the pages will be posted on the Chronicling America website through the Library of Congress.
"Having it digitized provides everyone access so they don't have to come to the archives or we don't have to pull those original microfilms, which are really the preservation record of all of those newspapers," executive director Janet Gallimore said.
One added bonus, Barrett said, is that the new digitized pages will be keyword searchable.
"In the old days, if you were a historian and you were doing research on a topic, you had to go through every page of every newspaper hoping a headline would leap out at you," Barrett said.
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Information from: KTVB-TV, http://www.ktvb.com/
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