We’re glad that you are here!
The Vermont Digital Newspaper Project (VTDNP) is part of the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP). The NDNP is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and is administered by the Library of Congress. The VTDNP is a collaborative effort of the University of Vermont, Vermont Department of Libraries, Isley Public Library in Middlebury, VT, and the Vermont Historical Society.
The VTDNP will digitize 100,000 pages of historical Vermont newspapers from 1836-1922 over the course of its initial NDNP grant (2010-2012). Once digitized, these newspaper images will be available as fully searchable content on the Library of Congress Chronicling America website ( https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ ).
Our blog will bring you regular updates on the goings on here at the project as we navigate the process of converting historical newspapers on microfilm to fully searchable digital images. Keep in mind that these aren’t just “more images” in “another collection” on the internet–a fundamental part of the NDNP (and consequently, the VTDNP) is to create a preservation standard for digital image collections. The work of the VTDNP and other NDNP participants won’t simply disappear with the next software change or be lost because a hard drive failed somewhere! To learn more about the standards for NDNP projects, feel free to peruse the program guidelines here: https://www.loc.gov/ndnp/guidelines/ .
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Wow, so disappointed in your selection of newspapers. No papers from Orleans County? Selecting newspapers that have already been digitized by genealogybank.com. I know that genealogybank.com is a fee-based provider, but I’d still prefer to see you select papers that haven’t been diigitzed yet.
Thank you for your comment. Our title selection involved a thorough and measured selection process, utilizing the input of a board of Vermont historians, journalists, and librarians. We thoroughly reviewed online resources, including those behind paywalls such as GenealogyBank.com. Be aware that while an online commercial resource may list a date range such as “1834-1882” in the case of the Vermont Phoenix, this range contains no issues for most of the years in the range and very few issues for others. We have specifically avoided digitizing material that is available online, and the titles listed on GenealogyBank.com are no exception.
In the case of Orleans County newspapers, there are two title families available on master negative microfilm for the grant date range of 1836-1922. These two families are the Independent Standard/County Monitor titles from Barton, and the Newport Express/Express and Standard titles from Newport. It is our desire to have a widespread geographical representation of titles, so these titles remain in contention for future grants, should we receive them. We are limited to 100,000 pages for this grant. While that may sound like a lot, it is just a fraction of the available Vermont title pages for the grant period.
Thank you again for your interest.
Tom McMurdo