Forsyth County Public Library and Forsyth County News are pleased to announce that digitized issues of the Forsyth County News, dating from March 16, 1917 through July 30, 1959, are now available online in the Georgia Historic Newspapers website, which can be accessed free of charge by all Forsyth County Public Library cardholders through the library website.
“The Forsyth County News has chronicled life in the area since 1908, so having easy access to our archives will be a great historical resource for our readers and the community at large,” says Forsyth County News Editor Brian Paglia.
Through Georgia Historic Newspapers, users can access information without having to travel to individual newspaper offices or library archives across the state. It isn’t even necessary to learn how to use archival equipment or microfilm readers, as all archived newspapers can be searched and viewed directly in a web browser with no additional software needed.
“This is an interesting project because it offers a way to turn historical printed newspapers into digital records. Those hard-to-search paper records become keyword searchable and can be browsed by date to make finding the desired information so much easier,” says Library Director Anna Lyle.
This initiative between the library and the Forsyth County News is expected to be a two-phase project. The first phase was made possible through a grant from Georgia HomePLACE, a project of the Digital Library of Georgia operated by the Georgia Public Library Service. The second phase, digitizing issues from 1959 to 2012, is expected to take place over the next three years, with a portion digitized and made available each year.
For more information, or for assistance in accessing Georgia Historic Newspapers, please visit the Ask Us desk of any Forsyth County Public Library branch.
