Texas Digital Newspaper Program

person sitting in a chair scanning a newspaper
We partner with Texas communities, publishers, and institutions to make newspapers accessible via The Portal to Texas History.

About TDNP

The Texas Digital Newspaper Program (TDNP) partners with Texas communities, publishers, and institutions to promote standards-based digitization of newspapers and to make newspapers freely accessible via The Portal to Texas History. Through continual outreach visits across Texas combined with advanced technological infrastructure and multiple funding sources, TDNP has become a state and national leader in newspaper preservation. People who work with the Digital Newspaper Program range from university researchers to librarians, K-12 students and educators, lay historians, and genealogists.

Digital Newspaper Preservation and Access

The mission of TDNP is to preserve and make freely accessible any Texas newspaper title, from any location, of any size, from any year. If you are interested in adding your newspaper to The Portal to Texas History, we will:

  • work with you to determine the type and scope of project
  • help you prepare a project budget
  • direct you toward private foundations interested in supporting your project
  • assist you in preparing application materials for funding, as needed

Many local groups raise money for newspaper digitization through fundraisers and private donors, and we can also assist you with community fundraising strategies to create digital access to your newspaper.

As a National Digital Newspaper Program institution, we strive to adhere to the highest-possible quality in digitization and digital preservation. TDNP newspapers are digitized and digitally preserved according to national standards.

Frequently Asked Questions

What can I do to participate?
All you have to do is know of a newspaper you’d like to help make available online. We are interested in any Texas titles, and we welcome anyone to participate.
How much does it cost?
While our price to digitize and provide long-term preservation and access is $1.03 per one newspaper page, the total price depends on project scope, and we will work with you to determine this.
I started using PDF print masters a few years ago. Can you work with PDFs only?
Yes, we can work with PDF print masters at no charge. We will need permission from the newspaper publisher to do so.
Can you digitize my newspaper title from the paper copy or microfilm?
We can scan from either paper copy or microfilm. When scanning from paper, we create full-color, 24-bit, 400 dpi tiff images. When scanning from microfilm, we create grayscale, 8-bit, 400 dpi tiff images. We strive to adhere as closely as we can to national digitization standards to produce the highest-quality output possible.

Contact Us

If you would like more information about including your community’s newspaper in the Texas Digital Newspaper Program, please feel free to contact us:

Ana Krahmer
Coordinator, Digital Newspaper Program
UNT Libraries
1155 Union Circle #305190
Denton, TX 76203-5017
940.565.3367 TEL
email: ana.krahmer@unt.edu