A $300,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities will allow for the expansion of the Georgia Historic Newspapers website, which provides free online access to more than 1,000 newspapers across the state dating as far back as 1763.
The grant continues a decade-long effort of the University of Georgia Libraries, through the Digital Library of Georgia, to provide online access to a diverse array of journalism chronicling communities large and small, from Atlanta to Americus, and beyond.
The full-text, searchable website allows users to conduct genealogical research and provides insight into the social, political and economic traits of communities, spanning more than 250 years of Georgia history. It currently contains more than 4 million pages, and the National Digital Newspaper Program grant will allow librarians to add 100,000 more.
“The Georgia Historic Newspapers program allows anyone with an Internet connection to delve into the rich history of their community and — by extension — their family,” said Donnie Summerlin, digital projects archivist at UGA Libraries. “This latest round of NEH grant funding will allow us to add some underrepresented voices to the collection, so that more and more Georgians can find the stories that matter to them.”
The 2025 grant is the fifth NDNP grant awarded to the Digital Library of Georgia in the past two decades. In all, the grants have brought a total of $1.2 million in federal funding for the Georgia Historic Newspapers database, which receives more than 6 million website visits annually.
“From children to adults, Georgia Historic Newspapers is a tool that all ages can learn from and enjoy because the news pages paint a picture of daily life in communities,” said Laura W. Carter, retired public librarian and former director of the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research, a program of the Georgia Genealogical Society. “It is difficult for those of us in the 21st century to understand what life was like in the past; these newspapers give us glimpses of daily life. For example, advertisements from the local businesses give an idea of what people in that place and time spent money on. We find that some of the crimes we think are new are just as common in history, or we read about people dying from diseases that are preventable today.
“Thanks to the Georgia Historic Newspapers website, all of these historic experiences are available for free, and I’m excited to learn even more through the papers added through the grant funding.”
Georgia Historic Newspapers is maintained by the Digital Library of Georgia, a project of GALILEO, the virtual library system of Georgia Public Libraries, and based at UGA Libraries. For help navigating the online database, visit your local library or contact Donnie Summerlin at donsum@uga.edu.