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Project aims to put small-town newspaper archives online

SAN FRANCISCO -- As many newspaper publishers struggle with how to provide access to their printed archives without the content being exploited, small-market publishers are lining up to have their archives digitized and made online-accessible by SmallTownPapers, Inc. <http://www.smalltownpapers.com/>;

The Seattle-based company is working with more than 300 publishers from across the US to create high-quality digital images of their newspaper pages which are searchable and distributed online through defined partnerships. To date, the company has scanned more than two million newspaper pages of its 20 million page archive [dating back to 1865] and its digital database is expanding daily.

“While large newspapers have long had their archives electronically available, the small town newspapers were generally unable to do that because of the costs involved,” explained Paul Jeffko, president and founder of SmallTownPapers, Inc. “With this program, millions of newspaper pages are being viewed and searched online for the first time.”

[The papers range from the Merrimack (N.H.) Journal and the Harlan (Ia.) Tribune to the Clovis Livestock Market News (Clovis, N.M.) and the Spirit of Jefferson Farmer's Advocate (Charles Town, W.Va.)]
Read entire article at PR.com