PULLMAN, Wash. – A massive effort to digitally scan old newspaper clippings is under way at Washington State University.
Student employees of the WSU Libraries are sifting through 300,000-400,000 hand-clipped articles in order to scan and categorize them into an ever-growing online database accessible to the public.
The Kimble Northwest History Database began in 2001 when alumni Wallis and Marilyn Kimble generously invested seed money to establish a specialized digitizing project. Their foresight has blossomed into one of the highest used databases (70,000+ hits a month from all over the world) at the WSU Libraries. More than 10 years after its inception, the database endeavor is sustained by private donations from the Kimble family. Wallis Kimble graduated from the WSU College of Engineering and Architecture in 1968 and Marilyn from the College of Liberal Arts in 1964.
The collection is a result of a government program from the 1930s and 40s, called the Works Progress Administration, created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to provide work during the Great Depression.
Lipi Turner-Rahman, WSU Libraries, said the project is a great way for historians to see first-source materials that normally wouldn’t be accessible.
For more about the collection, please see http://kaga.wsulibs.wsu.edu/cdm-clipping/
—————-
Contact:
Lipi Turner-Rahman, WSU Libraries, 509-335-4849, ilipi@wsu.edu