The Porterville Recorder to digitize and preserve historic archives

Heritage Microfilm, Inc., a newspaper preservation and digitization company has announced an agreement with the Porterville Recorder to digitize and preserve the publication’s historic archive.

From the press release:

The historic archives of The Porterville Recorder, a Freedom Communications newspaper in Porterville, California, will soon be accessible on microfilm, as well as in a searchable online database, through Heritage Microfilm. The newspaper, which was first published on May 21, 1908, contains a wealth of historical and genealogical information from Southern California.

Historic resources at the Maine State Library

For those of you interested in New England history, the Bangor Daily News has posted an article about the great amount of research materials available through the Maine State Library.

Here are a few of the resources that “caught the eye” of the Bangor Daily News staff writer:

“Hollis Street Church, Boston: Records of Admissions, Baptisms, Marriages, and Deaths, 1732-1887,” transcribed by Robert J. Dunkle and Ann Smith Lainhart from the copy by Ogden Codman (1918).

“Deaths in Boston, 1700-1799,” compiled by Robert J. Dunkle and Ann Smith Lainhart.

“Inscriptions and Records of the Old Cemeteries of Boston,” compiled by Robert J. Dunkle and Ann Smith Lainhart.

The Oakland Tribune, Now and Then

In today’s column Ghosts of newspaper’s past haunt Oakland’s Trib, Al Martinez revisits his old stomping ground. The Tribune, during its prime, was one of the most successful publications on the West Coast. However, times have changed. Staff has been cut, buildings have been abandoned and subscription rates have fallen, leaving the Tribune with the same problems that many in the industry are currently facing.

As I was reading Martinez’ column, I became entranced with the glamour of what the industry used to be like. His descriptions of journalists working with local law enforcement reminded me of a scene from Dick Tracy. Has journalism changed that much over the past few decades? Is there still passion in the industry on the local level? Are today’s readers bored of current trends?

We were a brotherhood of young lions back then, working hard through a half-dozen deadlines a day and drinking hard at the Hollow Leg, a bar across the street. The Leg ceased to exist years ago, after Nels the bartender died, taking the policy of every-third-drink-free with him. He left me his dog, a white German Shepherd named Pooh.

Boston Library Consortium chooses the Open Content Alliance to digitize content

While many institutions are turning to companies like Google and Microsoft for their digitization and distribution needs, the Boston Library Consortium has chosen a different route. Last week, the consortium, made up of 19 state and institutional libraries announced that the Open Content Alliance (OCA) has been chosen to digitize its collection of books and other print materials currently in the public domain. The project will be based at Boston Public Library, which houses a new scanning facility developed by Internet Archive, a non-profit organization based in San Francisco.

The goal of the project is to release the final product – materials comprised from all of the participating institutions throughout the New England Area – without the constraints of working with a proprietary publisher such as Google. By selecting the OCA, the coalition has ensured that all content will be searchable by any search engine and available to the public.

The BLC’s Executive Director, Barbara G. Preece commented, “The Boston Library Consortium is excited about its partnership with the Open Content Alliance and its members. The Consortium believes that this collaboration is the living articulation of the BLC’s view to expand access to its rich resources held by the membership. The BLC/OCA project will ensure that materials digitized will remain free and open to scholars and the public.”

Press Release:
Boston Library Consortium Partners with Open Content Alliance to Provide Public Access to Digitized Books