November 17, 2004

Cool technology/history project

From an article at Editor and Publisher: bq. Feds to Make Historical Newspapers Available Online The government promises anyone with a computer will have access within a few years to millions of pages from old newspapers, a slice of American history to be viewed now only by visiting local libraries, newspaper offices, or the nation's capital. bq. The first of what's expected to be 30 million digitized pages from papers published from 1836 through 1922 will be available in 2006. bq. "Anyone who's interested -- teachers, students, historians, lawyers, politicians, even newspaper reporters -- will be able to go to their computer at home or at work and at a click of a mouse get immediate, unfiltered access to the greatest source of our history," said Bruce Cole, chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities. He announced the project in a speech at the National Press Club. Very cool -- this would make history come alive as newspapers are generally written to be accessible to a broad range of readership. Better for learning about a given time than a dry book. Excellent classroom tool as well. Posted by DaveH at November 17, 2004 1:33 PM