UpDate - Vol. 12, No. 25, Page 12
March 25, 1993
Morris Library receives NEH support for Delaware Newspaper Project

     The University of Delaware Library has received a two-year grant of
$186,397 from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) for the
Delaware Newspaper Project.
     The grant will allow the filming of 172 newspapers published in
Delaware from the 18th century to the present.
     This is the third and final phase of the Delaware Newspaper Project,
which is part of the United States Newspaper Project.  Craig Wilson,
assistant director for library collections at the University, serves as the
principal investigator for the project.
     Phase I began in l983 when the University library, acting on behalf of
CHILD (Council of Historical Libraries of Delaware) received NEH support to
develop a comprehensive survey of newspaper locations and to develop a
methodology for entering bibliographic data into the national online data
base of the Online Computer Library Center in Columbus, Ohio, to which
15,000 libraries are connected.
     Phase II began in l985 and resulted in the cataloging of 796 newspaper
titles, and the production of a union list of newspaper holdings for
Delaware.
     Phase III will provide funds to preserve on microfilm historically
important Delaware newspapers as identified earlier by members of the
Delaware Newspaper Project Advisory Committee.
     University staff will pick up newspapers from their 14 current
locations around the state and prepare them for microfilming, which will be
done by a commercial microfilming company following national preservation
standards.
     The company will produce a master negative, a printing master and
service copies, including a complete set for the University library, and a
copy for each of the participating libraries that contributed titles for
the project.
     Once the project is completed over 90 percent of all Delaware
newspapers will have been preserved on microfilm. Copies will be available
to users through interlibrary loan, on-site use or by purchase at cost.
     NEH dispensed 33 grants related to the preservation and accessibility
of newspapers, documents, photographs and books. The highly acidic paper in
books, manuscripts and documents has resulted in their slow but steady
disintegration over time. Improper storage conditions also have contributed
heavily toward the destruction and loss of many irreplaceable archival
collections.
                                        -Beth Thomas