As time allows we are bringing you some highlights from the Vermont newspapers we have digitized that are now available, for free, in fully searchable format on the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America site.

The September 23, 1836 edition of the Burlington Free Press contains an account, borrowed from a South Carolina paper about a 105 year old Revolutionary War veteran:

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Hmmm… This sounds like it could be something of a tall tale. Research on Mr. garrett might lend some clarity to this story.

In September 1861, we find more front page letters home from the Vermont Third Regiment. The September 20, 1861 edition prints correspondence from a soldier known only as “P”:

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These letters from the front lines give a great perspective into the daily goings on of the Vermont soldiers in the Civil War. The Burlington Free Press published letters from soldiers throughout the war, usually multiple letters per issue.

There’s much more to find in our Vermont newspapers online, and they are fully searchable. Just visit Chronicling America: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/newspapers/?state=Vermont .

-Tom McMurdo

Prudence Doherty, Chris Kirby, Birdie Maclennan, and Tom McMurdo will be participating in a presentation and panel discussion about the Vermont Digital Newspaper Project at the New England Library Association annual conference at the Burlington Sheraton Amphitheater on Tuesday, October 4 at 11:15 AM. The NELA conference theme is “Navigating the New Normal.” It starts Sunday morning, Oct. 2 and runs through Tuesday afternoon, October 4, and will take place at the Burlington, VT Sheraton. The conference features numerous speakers and authors from New England and beyond, and promises to be a vibrant, engaging event. The complete schedule can be found here. If you haven’t yet registered and would like to attend, the registration link is here. We hope to see you there!

– Tom McMurdo

Lorraine Lanius, Head of Technical Services for the Vermont Department of Libraries, and VTDNP Project Management Group member, is retiring as of Sept. 30, 2011. Lorraine was part of the VTDNP Project Management Group from the beginning, and brought enthusiasm, reason, humor, and wisdom to the VTDNP.  Lorraine compiled critical documents for the project, participated in vital decisions, and promoted the VTDNP’s work. Lorraine has been an integral part of the VTDNP, and its structure and success are a credit to her work here. She will be greatly missed!

Vermont State Librarian Martha Reid and Lorraine Lanius at Lorraine’s retirement send-off, Sept. 21, 2011.

Good luck Lorraine!

– Tom McMurdo

Hurricane Irene all but dashed the VTDNP plans to attend the yearly NDNP meetings at NEH and Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.. The meetings took place on Aug. 29-31, 2011. Birdie MacLennan and Chris Kirby were prevented from attending, but I managed to make the trip because I left well before the hurricane struck and returned well after it. It was difficult to be away from home while Irene wreaked havoc on our state. The scenes of destruction and ruinous loss made it difficult to contextualize the NDNP meetings, but as the lone Vermonter there, I felt a responsibility to represent us as well as I could.

As a first-time attendee, it was nice to reconnect with old colleagues from the California Digital Newspaper Collection, and friends from the Kentucky NDNP Project. I also met many people I knew only from their emails or as voices on the phone, and met members of the new projects from Indiana, North Dakota, and West Virginia.

Work on the NDNP creates a unique set of problems and solutions. The NEH and Library of Congress sponsors arranged the meetings so that we not only got a top-down policy driven overview, but also encouraged work and discussion between state projects. In this regard, the meetings successfully modeled the structure of innovation and communication that exists in the day to day functioning of the national program.

Here is a photo of Errol Somay from the Virginia project, and Andrea Vanek from California presenting at the meetings:

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Between meetings I checked out the Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress, one of America’s great treasures:

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The NEH is housed in the Old Post Office Building, which is pretty awesome and worth a visit if you are in D.C.:

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Tom McMurdo

VTDNP members Prudence Doherty, Birdie MacLennan, and Tom McMurdo will be part of the Fleming Museum’s “PechaKucha” benefit for victims of Hurricane Irene. The benefit event takes place this Thursday evening, September 15, at 6:00 PM. More information about the event can be found here.

Prue, Birdie and Tom will be giving a “pechakucha” style presentation about the VTDNP. Pechakucha presentations are 20 slides allotted 20 seconds per slide. The program, including the VTDNP presentation, promises to be informative and fun! We hope to see you there!