CONTACT: Deborah Hakes, dhakes@georgialibraries.org
ATLANTA, Ga — Georgia HomePLACE and the Digital Library of Georgia are pleased to announce the addition of nearly 27,000 pages of South Georgia newspapers dating from 1863-1927 to the Georgia Historic Newspapers website.
Cameron Asbell, Director of the Ohoopee Regional Library System, which includes Montgomery and Toombs counties, says “Making these newspapers available online provides a unique glimpse into a dynamic time when the area was transitioning from waterways to railways as the primary transportation of goods. This region was shaped by agriculture, timber, and transportation and we are fortunate that now much of the everyday history recorded in newspapers can be found online for everyone to read.”
Georgia Historic Newspapers includes some of the state’s earliest newspapers providing perspectives often missing in history books, including important African-American, Roman Catholic and Cherokee newspapers, as well as local and regional papers from across the state.
Consisting of six titles and over 4,000 issues covering Early, Montgomery, and Toombs counties, this newest digital collection provides historical images that are both full-text searchable and can be browsed by date. Issues are freely available online through Georgia Historic Newspapers.
“Newspapers remain the number one most frequently-requested digital primary source format in Georgia’s public libraries,” says HomePLACE Director Angela Stanley. “We tend to think of Facebook as our virtual community meeting place, but newspapers have been filling this role since the 17th century. We’re excited to be able to offer greater geographical coverage in communities across South Georgia.”
Georgia Historic Newspapers is compatible with all current browsers, and the newspaper page images can be viewed without the use of plug-ins or additional software downloads. Annually, the Digital Library of Georgia digitizes over 100,000 historic newspaper pages with funding from GALILEO, the Georgia Public Library Service, and its partners, and microfilms more than 200 current newspapers.
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Georgia HomePLACE is a project of the Georgia Public Library Service that 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 supported with federal Library Services and Technology Act funds administered by the Institute of Museum and Library Services through the Georgia Public Library Service, a unit of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia.
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.
