January 15, 2020

New Year, New Us!

In August 2019, the Florida & Puerto Rico Digital Newspaper Project came to an end.

During the last six years (Sept2013-Aug2019), we have digitized more than 500 microfilm reels with over 300,000 pages of newspapers equating to approximately 13 terabytes worth of data. All the digitized content comes from 43 newspaper titles published in Florida and four newspaper titles from Puerto Rico.

Lucky for us (and you!) when this door closed another one opened.

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) awarded the UF Libraries a new grant to continue its digitization efforts alongside our partners at the University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras (UPR-RP). Our digitization efforts will continue under our new project- the US Caribbean & Ethnic Florida Newspaper Project!

Over the next two years (Sept2019-Aug2021) we’ll work on expanding the efforts of our previous project by continuing to digitize content from Puerto Rico and Florida, with the focus for Florida on ethnic publications. We’ll also introduce content from a new territory, the US Virgin Islands, with the help of our new partners at the University of the Virgin Islands (UVI).

We’re very excited to continue participating in the National Digital Newspaper Program, digitizing and providing access to historic newspapers. We encourage you to follow along and stay tuned for information regarding title selections and other project updates!


August 2, 2017

University of Florida Libraries Receive Additional $310,000 from the National Endowment for the Humanities

Digitization project provides free online access to historic newspapers from Florida and Puerto Rico

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The University of Florida George A. Smathers Libraries was recently awarded supplemental funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to digitize in excess of 100,000 pages of historic newspapers. The $310,000 NEH grant will provide additional funding support for the “Florida and Puerto Rico Digital Newspaper Project, which is part of the state’s and territory’s participation in the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP). The award supplements earlier grants of $288,000 in 2015 and $325,000 in 2013, making the total award $923,000, the single largest direct award ever received by the Libraries.

Led by project director Patrick Reakes and project manager Melissa Jerome, the project is a collaboration between the University of Florida (UF) Libraries and the library at the University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras (UPR-RP). It will provide a national, digital resource of historically significant newspapers published between 1690 and 1963 from Florida and Puerto Rico.

The project provides free, internet-based access to newspapers that are currently available only on aging microfilm. The digitized papers will be available through the Library of Congress Chronicling America (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/, the University of Florida Libraries Florida Digital Newspaper Library (http://ufdc.ufl.edu/newspapers), and the Biblioteca Digital Puertorriqueña at the University of Puerto Rico (http://bibliotecadigital.uprrp.edu/cdm/).

“This additional funding is extremely important and provides the opportunity to substantially expand access to historically important newspapers in both Florida and Puerto Rico” said Reakes. “The Florida and Puerto Rico Digital Newspaper Project has always focused on two primary goals; to provide access to a large corpus of newspapers that previously had limited availability and also to provide a long term, sustainable option for archiving them in a format other than microfilm. By the end of this portion of the project we’ll have in excess of 300,000 pages digitized and they are all freely available to anyone who wants to use them.”

Follow us on Twitter @UFNDNP.


January 10, 2017

We're happy to announce that we have been collaborating with The Matheson Museum and UF Religion and Museum Studies Departments on a new exhibit, River of Dreams: The St. Johns And Its Springs. The exhibit will feature an array of archival materials, including some of our very own newspaper content! It will run from January 21-June 24, 2017 and is free to the public. Learn more about the exhibit and other related events on the Matheson Museum's website http://www.mathesonmuseum.org/events-1.html

 


July 7, 2016

Great news, everyone! The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) recently announced that they and Library of Congress will be expanding the chronological scope of the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP)! The program will be expanding its scope (1836-1922) to allow the inclusion of newspapers published from 1690-1963. 

 

Full news release is available at http://www.neh.gov/news/expanding-our-current-scope-ndnp


News article printed in Entre Paréntesis, an online digital newspaper printed by the Asociación Puertorriqueña de Estudiantes de Periodismo (APEP).

Proyecto de digitalización de periódicos entre la UPR y la Universidad de Florida

February 27, 2016 by Desireé Molina-Ortega

En un esfuerzo para proporcionar el acceso libre y permanente de periódicos históricos, surgió el Proyecto de Periódicos de la Florida y Puerto Rico. Este provee una amplia variedad de periódicos de gran relevancia, publicados entre el 1836 y el 1922. La colaboración entre la Biblioteca George A. Smathers de la Universidad de Florida en Gainesville y el Sistema de Bibliotecas del Recinto de Río Piedras de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, tiene como propósito brindar acceso gratuito a periódicos que registraron las historias más importantes de esta época.

Tomando ventaja de las nuevas tecnologías, los recursos de información estarán disponibles a través de las páginas delSistema de Bibliotecas de la Universidad  de Florida, la Biblioteca del Congreso y la Biblioteca Digital Puertorriqueña. La plataforma virtual incluye las publicaciones entre el 1837 y 1902 del primer periódico puertorriqueño, Gaceta de Puerto Rico, fundado en 1807. La meta próxima es añadir La Correspondencia (1890-1910),  fundado por el empresario Ramón B. López, y La Democracia (Ponce: 1891-1900; Caguas: 1900-1904), establecido por Luis Muñoz Rivera, el cual se convirtió en uno de los periódicos más influyentes del Puerto Rico de estos años.

La recuperación digital de periódicos históricos forma parte de un esfuerzo mundial dirigido a democratizar los bienes de la cultura al nivel más popular posible. “Son varios los beneficios del proyecto”, sostuvo en entrevista Melissa Espino, coordinadora del proyecto en la Universidad de Florida.

“Recordemos”, añadió Espino, “que estos periódicos en un tiempo estuvieron disponibles exclusivamente como microfilmes, así que las personas tenían que ir a un lugar en específico si querían verlos. Ahora desde la comodidad de tu hogar o si te vas de viaje, tienes acceso. La búsqueda por temas y años en específico es más amigable que con el microfilme. Esto es un proyecto nacional y es importante que la gente sepa lo que estaba pasando en ese tiempo. Pienso que nos ayuda a ampliar nuestras perspectivas y conocimientos”.

Myra Torres, Coordinadora de la Biblioteca Digital Puertorriqueña, se desempeña también como coordinadora de este proyecto por parte de Puerto Rico. [Para más información pueden comunicarse al  787-764-0000, ext. 7552, 5089 / e-mail: myra.torres@upr.edu]

Para continuar expandiendo el acceso a este valioso contenido histórico, se exhorta a la comunidad universitaria a hacer uso de esta herramienta tan esencial para proyectos de investigación y enriquecimiento cultural.  La búsqueda de información se encuentra disponible en español, inglés y francés. Le invitamos también visitar la página de Facebook y el blog que forman parte de la divulgación virtual del proyecto.

 

Desireé Molina es estudiante del Programa Graduado de la Escuela de Comunicación, asistente del profesor Luis Fernando Coss, asesor de comunicación del Proyecto de Digitalización en Puerto Rico


January 2016

We've created a blog to showcase some of the content in our digital newspapers! Our blog posts can be found at www.ufndnp.wordpress.com. 


As of October 2015

All titles selected for digitization during the 2013-2015 period have been digitized and are available for viewing in Chronicling America

1.the Ocala Evening Star- 22,800pgs

2.the Ocaleean Ensign- 24pgs

3.the Punta Gorda Herald- 3,200pgs

4.the Palatka News- 400pgs

5.the Palatka News and Advertiser- 3,600pgss

6.the Palatka Daily News- 3,600pgs

7.Palatka Daily News- 2,800pgs

8. the Pensacola Journal- 15,400pgs

9.la Gaceta de Puerto-Rico- 51,500pgs

 


University of Florida Libraries Receive Additional $288,000 from the National Endowment for the Humanities

Digitization project provides free online access to historic newspapers from Florida and Puerto Rico

August 2015

The University of Florida George A. Smathers Libraries was recently awarded supplemental funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to digitize over 100,000 pages of historic newspapers. The $288,000 NEH grant will provide additional funding support for the “Florida and Puerto Rico Digital Newspaper Project, which is part of the state's and territory's participation in the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP). The award supplements a $325,000 grant the UF Libraries received in 2013, making the total award $613,000, the single largest direct award ever received by the Libraries.  

Led by project director Patrick Reakes and project manager Melissa Espino, the project is a collaboration between the University of Florida (UF) Libraries and the library at the University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras (UPR-RP). It will provide a national, digital resource of historically significant newspapers published between 1836 and 1922 from Florida and Puerto Rico.

The project provides free, internet-based access to newspapers that are currently available only on aging microfilm. The digitized papers will be available through the Library of Congress Chronicling America (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/, the University of Florida Libraries Florida Digital Newspaper Library (http://ufdc.ufl.edu/fdnl1), and the Biblioteca Digital Puertorriqueña at the University of Puerto Rico (http://bibliotecadigital.uprrp.edu/cdm/).   

“This is really exciting for the grant teams at UF and UPR” said Reakes. “It supplies funding to substantially expand access to these important historical newspapers and provides a long term, sustainable option for archiving them as well. By the end of this portion of the project we’ll have in excess of 200,000 pages digitized and they are all freely available to anyone who wants to use them.”

The George A. Smathers Libraries at UF is the largest academic library system in the state of Florida. The libraries’ collections are located across the Gainesville campus and throughout the state. The libraries house more than five million books and the UF Digital Collections (http://ufdc.ufl.edu) contain over ten million pages of historical documents, newspapers, archival letters, maps, photographs, museum objects, books and more. 

 

Provided by the George A. Smathers Libraries 


May 2015

Approximately 90,700 pages have been digitized, with 51,900 coming from the Florida papers and 38,800 coming from the Puerto Rico title. Of these 90,700 digitized pages, 70,300 are currently available for viewing in Chronicling America at www.chroniclingamerica.loc.gov

 


 

March 2015

A total of ten batches have been digitized totaling approximately 77,800pgs (five from Florida and five from Puerto Rico). Of these batches, nine have been sent to the Library of Congress. They have approved seven batches thus far (four from FL and three from PR) totaling approximately 55,800pgs that have already been uploaded and are accessible through Chronicling America with 31,900pgs from FL and 23,900pgs from PR. The other two batches awaiting approval (one from PR and one from FL) total approximately 14,400pgs (roughly 7,000pgs from FL and 7,400pgs from PR).

 

 

January 2015
 

As January 1, 2015, the first nine batches (approximately 70,000 pages) have been digitized—five batches from UF and four batches from UPR-RP. Of these batches seven have been sent to LC, and four batches thus far - three from UF and one from UPR totaling 30,616 page - have been uploaded and are accessible through Chronicling America, representing 22,895 pages from the Ocala Evening Star and 7,721 pages from La Gaceta de Puerto Rico.  

The other three batches totaling 23,300 pages awaiting LC approval include two batches from UPR totaling approximately 16,200 pages and one batch from UF totaling roughly 7,100 pages. There are currently four of the nine batches available in UFDC - two from Florida and two from Puerto Rico. These batches total approximately 32,200 pages - 16,400 pages from the Ocala Evening Star and 15,800 pages from La Gaceta de Puerto Rico. Material available on UFDC can also be accessed through the “digitized newspaper” tab above.
 

September 12th, 2014
 
The Library of Congress has accepted our very first production batch! Approximately 6,900 pages of the Ocala Evening Star (1896-1911) have been added to Chronicling America. Check out the newly accessible content at http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84027621/1895-06-24/ed-1/
 
This material will be accessible on our site (under Digitized Newspapers) and through FDNL within the next few months. 
 

July 30th, 2014

Both UF and UPR-RP have reviewed and duplicated all necessary microfilm for the project. Approximately 37,000 pages have already been digitized, with roughly 22,000 of those pages coming from the Ocala Evening Star and the remaining 15,000 pages from La Gaceta de Puerto Rico.

Thus far, only 16,000 pages from the Ocala Evening Star (for the years 1911-1922) have been made available online and can be accessed through the Florida Digital Newspaper Library (http://ufdc.ufl.edu/fdnl1) or through the “Digitized Newspapers” tab found above on this page. 

 


 

Preserving America’s Historic Newspapers: Experiences from the Field

Leah Weinryb Grohsgal- November 19, 2013

Digging into old newspapers can reveal a wealth of information about historical events, changing attitudes and ideas, and individuals—everything from the Civil War to Texas border disputes, local African American newspaper publishing, Chicago’s Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918, and even long-lost relatives.  Since 2005, the National Digital Newspaper Program, a partnership between NEH and the Library of Congress, has sought to bring historic newspapers to the public by creating a national, searchable database of newspapers published in the United States and Territories between 1836 and 1922.  The project’s Chronicling America site currently offers anyone with an internet connection access to over 6 million pages—and we are adding new papers every month! 

State partners from libraries, archives, and historical societies across the country do the work of digitizing and submitting the papers, and each fall, representatives from these state projects meet in Washington, DC.  After this year’s Annual Meeting, we asked staff from several of the project’s 36 state partners—Missouri, Florida, Texas, and Minnesota—to discuss their experiences, what they’ve learned, and what has surprised them so far. 

The Mosaic of American History

The newspapers in Chronicling America reveal the distinctive histories of states and territories at the same time as they paint a national picture.  Historians, professors, librarians, newspaper professionals, and other experts select newspapers for digitization in each state with an eye toward understanding the texture of each state’s history.  Gerald Hirsch of the State Historical Society of Missouri reported that the Missouri Digital Newspaper Project’s newspapers represent the diverse regions of the state: urban areas, rural agricultural regions, the Ozark Mountains in the southwest, and the southeast region more closely affiliated with the South, as well as immigration and commerce along the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers.  Similarly, Patrick Reakes of the University of Florida explained that, in a recently-established partnership between his state and Puerto Rico, the state and territory would seek to focus on a mix of metropolitan and rural papers.  And, in a state with as much movement of peoples as Texas, Cathy Hartman of the University of North Texas noted that her state’s project sought newspapers representing cities and coastal zones, migration, transportation, shipping, population shifts, and cultural movement across early Texas.

Participants agreed that the newspapers in Chronicling America move beyond state and local history, offering perspectives on national history.  In Texas, for example, Hartman reflected that newspapers from the Rio Grande Valley area offer evidence about the various Texas border conflicts that took place at the turn of the 20th century—disputes which resonate today.  Florida’s new partnership with Puerto Rico will, says Reakes, “provide a unique opportunity to compare/contrast the coverage of historical events from both the Puerto Rican perspective and the view from Florida.”  And in Minnesota, Jane Wong noted that newspapers document local issues with national inflection—from the territorial days and early statehood to the Civil War, new immigrant communities, and the growth of railroad towns and the Twin Cities.  Minnesota included newspapers from Ojibwe tribe, African American communities, the Grange, labor and women editors, and representative publications from all political viewpoints.      

Exploring the Nation at Ground Level

Directors of newspaper projects indicated that there are many surprises in store for users of the nation’s historic newspapers.  Florida’s Patrick Reakes indicated that the newspapers were by turns funny, quirky, strange, and tragic.  Missouri’s Gerald Hirsch discussed the power of digital newspapers in making the “lost” history of communities and regions accessible, extending well beyond what is found in textbooks—the “development of towns, of local politics, and of individuals as they struggle with local issues and react to national and international events.” 

One challenge in dealing with newspapers from all over the country is that not all of them were published in English.  The Library of Congress has now added the capability of digitizing newspapers in nine languages (with more to come), and states are taking advantage of this new functionality.  Missouri, for example, is feeding a reignited interest in its German heritage, especially along the Missouri River between St. Louis and the center of the state; Minnesota is also adding German newspapers, and assisting with such publications from both Iowa and North Dakota.  Florida’s collaboration with Puerto Rico, perhaps unsurprisingly, has a higher percentage of foreign-language materials than any previous project—50% of the pages to be digitized are in Spanish.  Texas, similarly, has worked with New Mexico to ensure that its Spanish newspapers are correctly scanned and searchable.

Surprising Uses

The newspapers in Chronicling America have seen many uses, project directors reported—some of them surprising even to those who posted the papers.  For example, Reakes reported that Florida’s newspapers have been used to track the spread of contagious diseases across the country or the state.  People also learn about themselves: Hirsch, of Missouri, reflected that the first search researchers usually conduct is their own last name—sometimes with interesting results.  Dan Gelatt, who assists the Minnesota Historical Society in digitizing state newspapers, found information on his great uncle moving across the upper Midwest from Missouri to Minnesota, Michigan, Kentucky, and Wisconsin, including the story (reprinted in at least seven papers from Wichita to New York) of his falling in love with a Jewish woman and conversion to Judaism.  Full-text searching, pointed out Missouri’s Hirsch, allows users to locate family members and place them in context, rather than just visiting a vital records listing.  Researchers in Minnesota were also able, according to Wong, to investigate a grave stone in Wisconsin reading simply “Some Mother’s Boy,” finding the name and family of the man buried there. 

Project directors pointed to the wealth of information found across newspapers not only for individual stories, but also to indicate broader trends.  Gerald Hirsch, for example, pointed to the creation of Missouri’s “This Day in History” Civil-War themed newspaper articles, the subjects of which are now being turned into a book.  Minnesota scholars, according to Jane Wong, have used advertisements in the newspapers to track social and cultural trends.  In Texas, reports Cathy Hartman, researchers have used 19th-century newspapers to study voting practices, particularly after the Civil War, as well as migration to and movement across Texas in the time when the port of Galveston was the state’s main entry point for immigrants.  For a flavorful turn, a researcher is even using Chronicling America to compile early 20th-century Texas recipes!

Forging Ahead

The National Digital Newspaper Program encourages new states to learn from those that have participated in the program before, either by way of formal partnerships or through informal consultations.  The Annual Meeting provided an opportunity for participants to share their experiences with one another.  These partnerships allow more newspapers to be digitized, but also reflect the realities of U.S. history.  “History,” Jane Wong pointed out “doesn’t stop at the border,” and families and businesses in Minnesota have connections in Iowa and North Dakota (the state’s current partners) and throughout the region.  Similarly, Florida’s collaboration with Puerto Rico, observed Patrick Reakes, allows for a fuller picture of the Caribbean basin and sheds light on historical events in the region.  The same, according to Cathy Hartman, goes for Texas’s collaboration with Oklahoma and New Mexico, as well as her advice and support for Louisiana and Alabama as they forged their own partnership.

Partners are also realistic about the future—noting that not all newspapers will be digitized by the National Digital Newspaper Program.  State partners are attempting to connect Chronicling America with other state resources, such as the Texas Digital Newspaper Program’s collection on The Portal to Texas History.  All the partners agreed, however, that the National Digital Newspaper program gave them the means to begin digitizing and making available state newspapers.  Missouri’s Gerald Hirsch stated that NDNP “provided the seed needed for the growth of newspaper digitization,” stating that the state will continue to digitize according to the same standards.  Jane Wong, similarly, credits the NDNP program with both launching and providing a strong foundation for the digitizing effort, which she says the Minnesota Historical Society intends to continue.  Patrick Reakes hopes for continued expanded access, publicity, and outreach for Florida newspapers, and Cathy Hartman credits NDNP with getting Texas' newspaper digitization program successfully launched and hopes to grow it. 

Thanks to Gerald Hirsch, The State Historical Society of Missouri; Jane Wong, Minnesota Historical Society; Patrick Reakes, University of Florida; and Cathy Hartman, University of North Texas.

 

Provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities

http://www.neh.gov/divisions/preservation/featured-project/preserving-americas-historic-newspapers-experiences-the

 


 Libraries receive $325,000 National Endowment for the Humanities grant award

Barbara Hood- September 3, 2013

The George A. Smathers Libraries were recently awarded funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to digitize approximately 100,000 pages of historic newspapers. The $325,000 NEH grant will provide funding support for the “Florida and Puerto Rico Digital Newspaper Project”, which is part of the state’s and territory’s participation in the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP).

Led by director Patrick Reakes and co-director Margarita Vargas-Betancourt, the project is a collaboration between the Smathers Libraries and the library at the University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras. It will provide a national, digital resource of historically significant newspapers published between 1836 and 1922 from Florida and Puerto Rico.

The completed project will provide free, internet-based access to newspapers that are currently available only on aging microfilm. The digitized papers will be available through the Library of Congress Chronicling America (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/) , the University of Florida Libraries Florida Digital Newspaper Library (http://ufdc.ufl.edu/fdnl1), and the Biblioteca Digital Puertorriqueña at the University of Puerto Rico (http://bibliotecadigital.uprrp.edu/cdm/).

In support of the grant, Dr. James Cusick, curator of the P.K. Yonge Library of Florida History at the University of Florida, wrote: “This project strengthens and enhances the University of Florida’s exisiting database of online newspapers. It ensures more complete coverage of the 19th century for Florida while laying a strong groundwork for digital versions of expanded newspaper coverage that occurred as Florida entered its first major boom period of development, population growth and expansion in the first two decades of the 20th century.”

 

Provided by the George A. Smathers Libraries

http://cms.uflib.ufl.edu/news/index.aspx#20130904