The Arkansas State Archives, in partnership with the Central Arkansas Library System (CALS), has digitized 24 Arkansas newspapers through a joint newspaper digitization project with Newspapers.com in order to provide more access to these resources, Department of Arkansas Heritage Director Stacy Hurst announced today.
The State Archives contributed 208 rolls from 17 different Arkansas newspapers, with a total of 209,000 pages scanned, digitized, and indexed by Newspapers.com. In addition, the digitized newspapers will be made available online for free to patrons in the State Archives research room and at the Central Arkansas Library System.
Newspapers.com began the process of digitization and indexing the papers in February 2017.
Contributions to the project from the State Archives include The Osceola Times, 1873 - 1925; the Helena Weekly Clarion, Feb. 1869 - April 1870; the Helena Weekly World, 1895-1902; the Helena Southern Shield, 1840-1870; the Fort Smith Herald, 1848-1915; the Fort Smith Times, 1898-1909; Arkadelphia’s Southern Standard, 1869-1924; the Pine Bluff Daily Graphic, 1893-1923; the Batesville Guard, 1877-1911; the Batesville Daily Guard, 1907-1924; Hot Springs New Era, 1912-1923; the Monticellonian, 1894-1919; Fayetteville’s The Arkansan, 1859-1861; the Arkansas Banner, 1843-1851; the Arkansas Advocate, 1830-1837; the Arkansas Intelligencer, 1843-1849 and 1857-1858; and the Arkansas Times & Advocate, 1837-1838.
The Central Arkansas Library System also contributed 336 rolls of microfilm from seven Arkansas newspapers. Titles include the Weekly Arkansas Gazette, 1819-1868; Arkansas Gazette, 1865-1922; Arkansas Democrat, 1878-1922; Arkansas Mansion, 1883-1884; Little Rock Daily News, 1919-1922; Mountain Echo, 1886-1922; Nashville News, 1898-1922.
The entire collection of digitized newspapers will be available online to the public via subscription through Newspapers.com by June. The ASA is happy to partner with CALS in working to improve access to these valuable sources of historical information.
The Arkansas State Archives is an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage and is responsible for collecting and maintaining the largest collection of historical materials on Arkansas in the world. The State Archives has two branch locations; the Northeast Arkansas Regional Archives is located in Powhatan and the Southwest Arkansas Regional Archives is located in Washington.
Other agencies of the Department of Arkansas Heritage include the Arkansas Arts Council, the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, the Delta Cultural Center in Helena, the Old State House Museum, the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission, the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, and the Historic Arkansas Museum.
