Nominate a Newspaper for Digitization
In September 2022, the Illinois Newspaper Project (INP) received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to continue digitizing historic Illinois newspapers. As a result, the INP is launching an opportunity for libraries, museums, genealogical societies, other cultural heritage institutions across Illinois to nominate newspapers to receive long-term digital preservation and open accessibility through the Illinois Digital Newspaper Collections and Chronicling America, a national digital newspaper collection hosted by the Library of Congress.
Illinois institutions are encouraged to involve their patrons in the selection process, and individuals should encourage their local institutions to participate in this exciting opportunity. If you have any initial questions or inquiries, feel free to reach out to the Illinois Newspaper Project at inp@library.illinois.edu. Anyone interested in staying up-to-date on this opportunity and other project news can sign up for the INP mailing list.
It’s not too early to start planning your nominations!
Proposed titles must already be represented in the Illinois Newspaper Project directory. A formal call for nominations will be announced in the coming weeks, and proposals will be accepted from July 1 through September 30, 2023.
Contribute Financially
Only a small fraction of the state’s newspaper heritage has been digitized. The cost of newspaper digitization is approximately $1 per page. A $5, $15, or $25 contribution will help us fund the cost of digitizing more historical newspapers.
Digitized newspapers can be accessed by anyone for free in the Illinois Digital Newspaper Collections.
Donate Newspapers
The University of Illinois Library is committed to preserving the cultural heritage of Illinois. Newspapers contain a wealth of historical information for researchers, archivists, librarians, and the general public. Our goal is to preserve this valuable resource through careful stewardship, including proper storage, handling, and repair of originals. By donating Illinois newspapers to the University of Illinois Library, you add to the pool of newspapers that can be microfilmed for preservation and possibly digitized in the future.
If you have questions about the donation process or are interested in making a donation, please contact the History, Philosophy, and Newspaper Library or email the Illinois Newspaper project at inp@library.illinois.edu.
Help with Text Correction
The articles in the Illinois Digital Newspaper Collection are searchable because of computer-generated text that underlies the page images. This computer-generated text is often riddled with errors. You can help improve the accuracy of keyword searches by correcting these errors. Thanks to the hard work of volunteer text-correctors, more than a million lines of text have been corrected so far.