Save Chronicling America

Via Ryan Cordell over at Bluesky comes information that Chronicling America is at risk. I use it constantly in my classes. Here is the letter I wrote to my representatives (Jeff van Drew of NJ's 2nd district, Andy Kim and Corey Booker). 

It has come to my attention that the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP), a partnership between the NEH and the Library of Congress, has been shut down. The NDNP is responsible for digitizing newspapers for Chronicling America, a public newspaper database used by citizens and scholars for genealogy and research purposes that is the envy of the world. This newspaper database has been a key part of my courses, up until and including this past semester, where I had college students explore the database and report on how Americans experienced major milestones in WWII, when the outcome of the war was not clear. For instance, one student reported that after Pearl Harbor (but before Germany declared war), citizens in Virginia started building bomb shelters in their yards (you know, just in case)! Chronicling America gives my students a sense of what living through history was like, and I use it in almost all of my classes. I encourage you to preserve this vital resource and to restore funding for the NDNP.

Historical newspaer databases are one of my few joys in life. Do me a solid and drop your reps a note.