Historic Georgia Newspapers Added to Free Online Portal

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May 19, 2020

Georgia’s public libraries continue to make new content freely available online during the public safety closures of the COVID-19 pandemic. Newly digitized historic newspaper pages support remote research, online teaching and learning, and genealogical inquiry. 

ATLANTA– Georgia HomePLACE and the Digital Library of Georgia are pleased to announce the addition of over 53,500 pages of newspapers dating from 1866-1930 to the Georgia Historic Newspapers portal. The portal is the largest provider of free online access to digitized licensed and public domain Georgia newspapers, and currently includes titles dating from 1763-2017. 

Compelling accounts of economic and political change, extreme weather, crime, revivals, and accounts of daily life will both entertain and inform casual readers and serious researchers alike,” said Dr. James Cottingham, retired Vice President for Student Affairs at South Georgia College and Coffee Countyresident.

Consisting of 39 titles and over 7,097 issues covering Atkinson, Baldwin, Bartow, Coffee, Colquitt, Dade, and Henry counties, these latest digital collections provide historical images that are both full-text searchable and can be browsed by date, city, county, and type.

Issues are freely available online through Georgia Historic Newspapers, which utilizes the Library of Congress’ open source tool, Chronicling America, for online delivery. Annually, the Digital Library of Georgia digitizes over 100,000 historic newspaper pages in accordance with technical guidelines developed by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress for the National Digital Newspaper Program

“Historic newspapers are an incredible resource for anyone interested in exploring details about their ancestors’ daily lives,” said Jill McAllister of the Bartow County Library System. “Whether you have an ancestor who lived in the Cartersville area or you are a new resident of our county, this is a fascinating peek into Bartow County life many years ago. We are pleased Georgia HomePLACE has included these newspapers in its latest collection of digital resources.”

Funding for this project was provided by Georgia HomePLACE.

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Georgia HomePLACE encourages public libraries and related institutions across the state to participate in the Digital Library of Georgia. HomePLACE offers a highly collaborative model for digitizing primary source collections related to local history and genealogy. HomePLACE is a project of the Georgia Public Library Service, a unit of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia. HomePLACE is supported with federal Library Services and Technology Act funds administered by the Institute of Museum and Library Services through the Georgia Public Library Service.

Based at the University of Georgia Libraries, the Digital Library of Georgia is a GALILEO initiative that collaborates with Georgia’s libraries, archives, museums, and other institutions of education and culture to provide access to key information resources on Georgia history, culture, and life. This primary mission is accomplished through the ongoing development, maintenance and preservation of digital collections and online digital library resources. The Digital Library of Georgia also serves as Georgia’s service hub for the Digital Public Library of America and as the home of the Georgia Newspaper Project, the state’s historic newspaper microfilming project.

Selected images from the collections:

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