The Western New York Library Resources Council (WNYLRC) recently awarded the University at Buffalo Libraries a 2021/2022 Access and Innovation Grant in the amount of $22,550. The grant will provide funding for Part III of the Buffalo Evening News Reformatting Project, an initiative focused on expanding digital access to past issues of the Buffalo Evening News newspaper.
During Part III of the reformatting project, 150 microfilm reels (approx. 150,000 total images) containing issues of the Buffalo Evening News published during the period September 1905 – September 1915 will be digitized by the Northern New York Library Network. When digitization is complete, these issues will be added to the New York State Historic Newspapers (NYSHN) website: https://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/, an open access archive providing free access to a wide range of historic newspapers for every county in New York State.
“Continuing this digitization initiative will give us a more complete historical picture and improve access to a key component of Western New York history,” says visiting assistant librarian Maureen Grice, author of the successful grant application. Grice will collect and prepare the microfilm reels, coordinate reformatting with NNYLN, and supply necessary cataloging and metadata.
Phase III of the reformatting project is scheduled for completion in March 2022.