Published on Sat, 10/01/2016
Chronicling America is a powerful tool to bring American history to life. It offers stories about vital events, and a variety of perspectives and context for those events, including evocative advertisements, editorials, and stories of local life. Part of the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP), Chronicling America serves as a readily searchable, open access database of historic U.S. newspapers and a valuable source of print material records for the classroom. Newly available digital content from Chronicling America includes 18th century newspapers from the early capitals of the United States: New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C.
With a collection totaling nearly 15,000 pages, Chronicling America aims to expand its scope from the years between 1836-1922, to include digitized newspapers from the years 1690-1963. NEH recently awarded grants to cultural institutions in four states (Alaska, Colorado, Maine, and New Jersey) to participate in the NDNP.
Teachers regularly use Chronicling America to investigate widely differing perspectives on historic events (such as the attack on Fort Sumter) or to find out how ordinary people were affected by them. The newly available 18th Century newspapers open exploration of the vital debate surrounding passage of the U.S. Constitution.
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