Tag Archives: library of congress

Even more Vermont content available on Chronicling America

Good news everyone!
18,000 more pages of Vermont newspapers were just added to Chronicling America! Currently, there are 224,000 pages (52 titles, 1 in French, 1 in Italian) of Vermont newspapers in Chronicling America. The latest addition includes the following titles (click on the masthead or text to access the newspaper):

Read more about it!

-Erenst

Spanish Influenza as reported in the Middlebury Register

One fascinating international story that is described in Vermont’s papers is the Spanish Influenza of 1918. The Middlebury Register chronicled this tragic episode in vivid detail.

Middlebury_RegisterAs part of the Vermont Digital Newspaper Project, the Middlebury Register,  one of Vermont’s longest running weekly newspapers, became available on Chronicling America in 2012. The Middlebury Register started publication in 1836 and eventually ceased publication in the 1940s. Between 1836 and 1950, it changed names 6 times. Continue reading Spanish Influenza as reported in the Middlebury Register

VTDNP booth & Poster at 2014 Vermont Library Conference

VTDNP participated at the 120th Annual Vermont Library Conference, Story Time: Advocate, Celebrate, and Be Heard, on May 20th, 2014 from 9:00 am to 5:30 pm at St. Michael’s College in Colchester. We had a booth and poster presentation setup for the event. We also came with handouts, pamphlets, bookmarks, and candies. We talked to many librarians about the (free) primary resources offered through our project at ChroniclingAmerica.com.

VLC 2014 Poster 'Story Time'
Inspired by Adventure Time. Poster designed by Clay Lewis.
VTDNP booth & Poster at Vermont Library Conference 2014
VTDNP booth, a preview of what’s installed for Vermont History Expo in a month!
VTDNP booth & Poster at Vermont Library Conference 2014
Karyn in action, talking with conference attendance.
VTDNP booth & Poster at Vermont Library Conference 2014
” This is VTDNP: Providing Digital Access to Vermont Newspapers 1836-1922″
Short description: This poster will provide an overview of the Vermont Digital Newspaper Project/VTDNP. This project, part of a larger national initiative, provides free digital access to Vermont newspapers between 1836 and 1922.
Presenter:
Erenst Anip, Library Assistant Professor, Bailey/Howe Library, University of Vermont
Karyn Norwood, Digital Support Specialist, Bailey/Howe Library, University of Vermont
VTDNP booth & Poster at Vermont Library Conference 2014
VTDNP poster among other poster presentations

PS: apologies for some low-res photos as they were taken with different gadgets at various quality settings.

– Erenst Anip

More Vermont content available on Chronicling America

This past month the Library of Congress added four batches of newspaper pages from Vermont including the much-anticipated Italian language newspaper, Cronaca Sovversiva.

Cronaca Sovversiva masthead 1905
Cronaca Sovversiva masthead from Saturday, 14 January 1905

Here are links to new content and new titles available as of today, May 7, 2014:

Congratulations and thanks to our fabulous production team: Karyn Norwood, Mary VanBuren-Swasey, Michael Breiner, and Jake Barickman – with special acknowledgement to Fanny Mion-Mouton (former visiting graduate student from France).

For the complete listing of Vermont’s historical newspaper offerings on Chronicling America, click here.

– Erenst Anip (& Birdie MacLennan)

You’ve Heard The Phrase “100-Year Storm?”

As the world turns its sympathy toward the Philippine islands devastated, just days ago, by the largest typhoon in recorded history, a fascinating fact has emerged and moved explosively across the Internet:

Just over a century ago, those same islands – indeed that same nearly destroyed town on the island of Leyte, Tacloban – were raked by another death-dealing typhoon that was estimated to have killed 15,000.

How was this fact verified? By reference sources available right on the web, housed here at the Library of Congress on a site known as “Chronicling America.”  The site offers hundreds of old newspapers, online, and is searchable. It’s a joint project of the Library and the National Endowment for the Humanities.  Activity on that site (especially from mobile devices) suddenly spiked starting two days ago – it was five or six times the traffic of a normal day — and when our web analysts looked into it, they found typhoon links and a big upsurge in traffic from users in the Philippines underpinning that.

Here’s the link that went viral.

The Washington herald. (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, November 30, 1912, It’s a shame that it takes a tragedy – make that two tragedies – to bring this excellent research tool into focus.  And, while this is indeed a sad story, looking at old newspapers isn’t exactly drudgery – you may notice, while doing research in old papers, how easy it is to be distracted by the highly opinionated writing, the ads for everything from corsets to cure-all medicines and the odd, sometimes ridiculous illustrations. If you’re not careful, you’ll never get that research done!

The suffering denizens of Leyte will include no one who can remember their past as far back as 1912; sadly, they were condemned to repeat it.  But there’s a glimmer of hope in this history as well – Tacloban made a comeback after that horrifying storm 100 years ago. Presumably it can again.