History

Since 1893, the Oklahoma Historical Society (OHS) has been collecting newspapers in partnership with the Oklahoma Press Association. The OHS Newspaper Archives form one of the most comprehensive state newspaper collections in the US. Included are more than 4,000 titles dating from the 1840s to the present. In the past, the only way to access this rich resource was to visit the Oklahoma History Center in Oklahoma City and view the titles on microfilm.

In 2009 the OHS was awarded two major grants to digitize the state's newspaper heritage. The first, a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, provided funds to digitize 100,000 pages of the most unique and important state newspapers, to be displayed on the Library of Congress Chronicling America website. This grant was awarded again in 2011 and 2013. These papers are also available on The Gateway to Oklahoma History.

The second grant was from the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation. The goal of this grant was more ambitious—to digitize all non-copyrighted, public domain (pre-1923) publications in the Newspaper Archives and provide online access. This grant provided funding for the website, staff, and servers. The 5 million pages scanned through this grant will form one of the largest newspaper archives on the internet.

The Gateway to Oklahoma History was launched in 2012, providing free access to thousands of pages of Oklahoma newspapers. Since that time, online collections have grown to include photographs, maps, documents, and books.

If you are interested in participating, please contact us.

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