UW Receives Second NEH Grant for Wyoming Digital Newspaper Project

University of Wyoming Libraries has received a second round of funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to support ongoing newspaper digitization work.

The two-year, $200,000 grant will support the ongoing Wyoming Digital Newspaper Project, which began in August 2019 after the first NEH grant was awarded.

The first phase of the project involves the digitization of 100,000 pages of select Wyoming newspapers -- dating from 1867 to 1963 -- as part of the state’s participation in the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP). Newspapers that are available on the Chronicling America website include several years of the Cheyenne Daily Leader and succeeding title, The Democratic Leader. Upcoming titles from the first round of grant funding include The Saratoga Sun, the Cody Enterprise and the Platte Valley Lyre.

“This second round of funding will allow us to contribute an additional 100,000 pages to the Library of Congress’ historical newspaper database, Chronicling America,” says Bryan Ricupero, UW metadata librarian and principal investigator of the grant. “We plan to include content that expands both geographical and historical coverage of Wyoming.”

A list of newspapers to be digitized during the new grant period is currently under review.

The Wyoming State Archives and UW Libraries are the two primary repositories for collections of Wyoming print and microfilm newspapers. To date, UW Libraries has digitized and uploaded over 28,000 pages to the Chronicling America website.

Master copies of all microfilmed titles are currently held at the Wyoming State Archives and are available for UW Libraries to duplicate and digitize. Much of this microfilm was created during the National Newspaper Project, to standards compatible with the NDNP.

In addition to Ricupero, the Wyoming Digital Newspaper Project team is composed of Rachael Laing, a library specialist and grant project specialist, and Madison Glenn, a UW student from Moorcroft.

NEH is an independent federal agency created in 1965. It is one of the largest funders of humanities programs in the United States. NEH grants typically go to cultural institutions, such as museums, archives, libraries, colleges, universities, public television and radio stations, and to individual scholars.