August 12, 2021
CONTACT: Deborah Hakes, Georgia Public Library Service, dhakes@georgialibraries.org

ATLANTA– Georgia Public Library Service and the Digital Library of Georgia are pleased to announce the addition of over 67,000 pages of newspapers dating from 1882-1985 to the Georgia Historic Newspapers (GHN) 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 1763-2018. 

Consisting of 10 titles and over 9,500 issues covering Chattooga, Dade, Hart, Early, Miller, Richmond, and Seminole counties, these latest digital collections provide historical images that are both full-text searchable and can be browsed by date, city, county, and type. This project marks the first time newspapers from Miller and Seminole counties, located in extreme southwest Georgia, are included in the portal. 

Of particular interest from Richmond county are two late 20th century historically Black newspapers, the News-Review (1971-1972) and the Augusta News-Review (1972-1985). These titles are significant in their coverage of issues affecting the African American community in the Central Savannah River Area. Earlier this year, the May 27, 1976, issue of the Augusta News-Review became the two millionth page to be added to the Georgia Historic Newspapers portal.

“The digitization of The Augusta News-Review is historically important because it provides primary sources for information on Augusta’s Black community at a time when there were few alternatives,” said Dr. Mallory Millender, owner and publisher of the Augusta News-Review.  “When the News-Review started, white owned media generally didn’t cover Augusta’s Black community. With digitization, researchers, or anyone with a library card and access to a computer, can access every item ever printed in the News-Review – free.”

All 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. 

Project selection and funding for digitization was provided by Georgia Public Library Service, with additional funding from community partners. Additional Early County titles from south Georgia were funded by the Lucy Hilton Maddox Memorial Library Foundation. The Chattooga County Historical Society funded a portion of the over 22,000 pages of newly digitized newspapers from the far northwest Georgia county, whose coverage now spans 1871-1949.

Historical Society President Gene McGinnis said, “Our mission as a society is to promote, preserve, and protect the history of Chattooga County. The digitization of The Summerville News, our weekly newspaper owned by the Espy family for over 100 years, allows our history to be preserved, promoted, and now easily searchable. State funding allowed the years 1909 -1930 to be digitized. The Historical Society was honored to financially assist for the digitization of an additional twenty years. We look forward to adding additional years of digitization as finances allow. Thanks to the Georgia Public Library Service and the Digital Library of Georgia for their leadership on this project.” 

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Georgia Public Library Service (GPLS) empowers libraries to improve the lives of all Georgians by encouraging reading, literacy, and education through the continuing support and improvement of public libraries. GPLS is a unit of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia. This project is supported with federal Library Services and Technology Act funds administered by the Institute of Museum and Library Services through GPLS. www.georgialibraries.org #GeorgiaLibraries 

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 by developing, maintaining, and preserving digital collections and online digital library resources. DLG 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. dlg.usg.edu @DigLibGA