February 19, 2021Anyone who has done any genealogical or historical research in Colorado knows that the Colorado Historic Newspaper Collection (https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/ ) is the go-to spot to find digitized copies of newspapers published in Colorado.
Their title coverage ranges from 1859 through 2020, although due to copyright restrictions most of the coverage is before 1924. They are continuing to add new titles as funds to digitize them become available. A few years ago, LCGS’ Conference for a Cause donated a portion of the funds raised by the conference to help with that project. The CHNC website is also user friendly and easy to navigate for researchers. Best of all, it’s free!
A number of years ago, the Wyoming State Library began their own digital newspaper project. Like Colorado’s, it was free and covered titles from throughout the state. The only downside was that the website was somewhat clunky to navigate. As of last December, this is no longer the case. The Wyoming Digital Newspaper Collection (www.wyomingnewspapers.org ) has upgraded their website to use the same platform that the Colorado Historic Newspaper Collection does. In addition, the Wyoming State Library and the University of Wyoming have pooled their resources to provide even more content on the website. They now include newspapers from as early as 1849 and as late as 1963. All are available with the same user-friendly interface as CHNC.
As if this were not enough, Leigh Jeremias, Digital Collections Coordinator at Colorado State Library, announced in a December 21, 2020 blog article (https://www.coloradovirtuallibrary.org/digital-colorado/colorado-historic-newspapers-collection/colorado-and-wyoming-launch-new-historic-newspapers-collection-online-database/ ) that the Colorado State Library, in partnership with the Wyoming State Library and the University of Wyoming, has launched a website called Plains to Peak Historic Newspapers database (www.ppc-historicnewspapers.org ). This database combines the content of both the Colorado Historic Newspaper Collection and Wyoming Digital Newspapers Collection for one-stop searching of both states.
Since Colorado and Wyoming residents have always moved frequently between states, it’s a big step forward to have access to newspapers from both states in one location. It’s especially helpful since all of the content on all three websites is free and is contained on a platform that is consistent among all three. Anyone who has any connection to historic Colorado or Wyoming just got a belated Christmas present from their state libraries.
Let the searching begin!
Carol Stetser
Researcher/Director at Large