http://www.boston.com/dailynews/254/nation/Web_site_would_make_newspaper_:.shtml

Web site would make newspaper articles from as far back as 17th century accessible to public

By Carrie Antlfinger, Associated Press, 9/11/2001 04:39

MILWAUKEE (AP) Looking through microfilm of old newspaper articles could soon be a thing of the past.

A Canadian company is collaborating with the National Newspaper Association to create an archival Web site that can hold up to a half-billion images of newspaper pages.

''Often times getting access to materials requires travel to site archives,'' said Juan Garcia, a professor of U.S. history and Mexican American studies at the University of Arizona in Tucson. ''If you can access those through the Internet it's a wonderful tool for historians as well as educators.''

Cold North Wind Corp., based in Ottawa, plans to present the site called America's Chronicles to National Newspaper Association executives in Milwaukee during the group's annual convention, which begins Wednesday.

There are other newspaper archive Web sites but none are as large or show the actual newspaper images, said Bob Huggins, chief executive of Cold North Wind, which specializes in creating Internet databases for newspapers.

The site will contain newspaper pages including obituary and birth notices dating back to the 17th century. It is expected to be available to the public later this year.

''This information isn't duplicated anywhere else. It tells where we've been as a nation and where our roots are,'' said Ken Allen, NNA's chief executive officer.

Initially, the site will be free. A subscription fee will be charged later, Allen said. NNA hasn't decided yet on the cost.

The association's 3,000 members mostly newspapers with circulations under 20,000 will be included on the site, Allen said. It could cost as much as $100 million and take five to 10 years to archive all members' articles, he said. They plan to start raising money for the project later this year, Allen said.

The first newspaper entered on the site will be The News-Gazette, a 200-year-old weekly with a circulation of about 8,900 in Lexington, Va.

''If I was a genealogist or historian or someone who loved looking at old newspapers ... the ability to go back and look at a contemporaneous record of life in a community over a span of years, to me it would be fascinating,'' said Matt Paxton, the newspaper's publisher.

Diane Everson, publisher of The Edgerton Reporter in Edgerton, Wis. a weekly that was incorporated in 1874 and now has a circulation of 3,000 will be the second newspaper entered in the site.

''It gives people access to their history in an easier way than trying to search through microfilm,'' said Everson, who is also the NNA president.

The archives of newspapers that are no longer publishing will need to be tracked down, although many are at state historical societies, Allen said.

Jeff David, publisher of The Livingston Parish News, in Denim Springs, La., a twice-weekly, 12,000 circulation newspaper said the collective effort will make it more affordable for smaller newspapers to have online archives.

''It's going to enable small papers like mine to give customers who want to go into our back editions an easy way to research our archives,'' David said.

On The Net:

America's Chronicles: http://www.americaschronicles.com/home.asp

National Newspaper Association: http://www.nna.org/home.htm

Cold North Wind: http://www.coldnorthwind.com

The Livingston Parish News: http://www.livingstonparishnews.com

The News-Gazette: http://www.thenews-gazette.com

-- Anonymous, September 11, 2001