We are very pleased to have a slew of great new material available online this week. There are now over 62,500 pages of freely available, keyword-searchable, historic Vermont newspapers online at Chronicling America here. These titles are part of the now approximately 5 million ( ! ) pages freely available on Chronicling America of newspapers from 1836-1922.

One title we are particularly happy to make available is the Windham County Democrat, which was published in its latter years by Clarina Nichols. Born in Vermont, Clarina Nichols was a major figure in the 19th century women’s movement. It was very unusual for a woman to edit a newspaper in the 1840s and 1850s. Clarina was held in high esteem by many of her male counterparts. Unfortunately, very few issues of the paper survived. We have put the first 22 up, and hope to add 18 more next year.Still, despite the paucity of issues, the historical importance of the title makes what we have worthwhile.

Another title sure to be of interest that is now available is the Vermont Transcript from 1864-1870. This title covers gaps in the St. Albans Messenger, notably issues round the St. Albans Raid of Oct. 19, 1864, and the Fenian invasion of Canada staged at St. Albans in early June 1866. the St. Albans Raid was the northernmost engagement of the Civil War. Here is a clip from the Oct. 21 issue (the issue is available here):

Here is a clip from the Fenian invasion from the June 8, 1866 edition (full issue available here):

The recent batches now available include the excellent Rutland Daily Globe 1873-1876, nearly complete the Vermont Phoenix from Brattleboro 1836-1922, and start the Watchman & State Journal from Montpelier, 1845-1855 of a run that will encompass 1836-1910. Check out all of those titles and more.

Tom McMurdo, VTDNP Project Librarian