Good News for Old News

Want to read about a grandparent’s athletic exploits? Research the civil rights era at the University of Maryland? Or revel in your own memories?

Since 1910, students have chronicled the university’s day-to-day life, newsworthy events and history-making milestones in newspapers, from The Triangle to M.A.C. Weekly to University Review to The Diamondback.

All it took to access that past was a vehicle to get to a library, microfilm-maneuvering expertise and copious amounts of caffeine.

But this fall, the university completed the two-year process to digitize these newspapers from 1910–71. That’s 3,502 issues, 28,298 pages and 190,000 articles. Phase II, reaching into the mid-1980s (papers got a lot thicker in the ’70s and ’80s), was expected to be up by the end of the year. A crowdfunding campaign on Launchumd in November raised $26,543 to complete the project in 2018. 

“This is one of the most important records of student life and this campus,” says Kate Dohe, digital programs and initiatives manager in University Libraries. “It’s a huge part of our legacy, and it’s deeply important that it’s accessible to anyone on this planet with an internet connection.”

Explore the new database here.