August 30, 2002

7:56 PM

Paper of Recordprovides a hi-res, searchable(!), archive of historical newspapers, generated from microfilm collections. Looks like one for Cory at Wrote['nother couple of similar links there]. Kind of new and largely Canadian at the moment, but worth watching, and subscriptions are cheap. Remember, those are Canadian dollars.
posted by Su (3 comments total)

Cold North Wind, the company behind this site, has done several other related projects as well. And recently ProQuest, which has provided libraries with electronic databases for years, completed a full digitization of back issues of the New York Times as part of its Historic Newspapers Project.

As someone who is involved in digitization on a much smaller scale as part of my job, I have nothing but awe for the stunning quantity of stuff that's being made available. This is one of the few examples of Internet content I would consider paying for.

What I really want to see is a digitization of the collections of Nicholson Baker's American Newspaper Repository. And a pony.
posted by IshmaelGraves at 9:01 PM on August 30, 2002 [1 favorite]

Newspaperarchives.com is a similar service. That Proquest Historic Newspapers Project is really terrific; they're also digitizing the Washington Post and a few other papers. We're currently evaluating it for possible purchase at my library, and I'm having a blast with it. They also have the Sanborn insurance maps, which are fabulous for historians, geneaologists, and anybody interested in American history. (Subscription required, I know. Ask your local library if they have it.)
posted by arco at 9:45 PM on August 30, 2002 [1 favorite]

The University of Utah has digitized "nearly 1,300" Sanborn maps, in full color, which are available to anyone for free (you do have to download a special plugin).
posted by IshmaelGraves at 9:54 AM on August 31, 2002 [1 favorite]