The Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records (LAPR) and University Libraries have been awarded a $319,588 National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP) grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to digitize 100,000 pages of historical Arizona newspapers. 

This is the sixth NEH grant awarded to LAPR, and the fourth grant in collaboration with University Libraries. The NDNP is a partnership between the NEH and the Library of Congress. 

The Arizona project

The Arizona project was selected, in part, for the NEH special initiative, American Tapestry: Weaving Together Past, Present, and Future that "emphasizes the role of the humanities in tackling contemporary social challenges: strengthening our democracy, advancing equity for all, and addressing our changing climate." 

By digitizing historical newspapers, the Arizona project will support researchers and community members in exploring our relationship with the natural and built environment and our impact on climate. The project team will also digitize Arizona newspapers that were published along the railways and roadways that created connections throughout the state. 

"The 100^th anniversary of Route 66 will be in 2026, so one of our goals is to digitize some of the newspapers that were published in Arizona towns along Route 66," said Mary Feeney, News Research Librarian, University Libraries, and the grant project’s co-principal investigator and co-project director.

Digitization creates greater access

The digitized Arizona newspapers will be added to Chronicling America, the free historical newspapers database hosted by the Library of Congress. 

“We are so delighted and honored to receive this grant, and we look forward to working closely with our advisory board to select titles that will best reflect over seventy years of Arizona history across each of the state’s fifteen counties,” said Asa Espanto, Newspaper Collection Librarian at the State of Arizona Research Library and the grant’s project co-principal investigator and co-project director. 

More info

The Arizona Digital Newspaper Project has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this news story, do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities. 

The National Digital Newspaper Program is a partnership between the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Library of Congress.