A $31,050 grant from the Tocker Foundation obtained though a request by Fairfield Library board member, Tammy Gawryszewski, will allow the Fairfield Recorder and Teague Chronicle print archives to be preserved online at the The Portal to Texas History, located at texashistory.unt.edu.
The total cost of the project is a little over $62,000. Newspapers that will be available online include the Fairfield Record dating back to 1876, along with issues of the Teague Chronicle from 1906.
The Tocker Foundation funds the newspaper digitization up to 1965, and the University of North Texas Digital Newspaper Program pays to digitize the remainder of the years after 1965 as a way of thanking the Tocker Foundation. The UNT Texas Digital Newspaper Program headed by director Ana Krahmer will create digital images from microfilm and physical newspapers that are currently housed at the Freestone County Museum.
The digital newspaper is then hosted on the Portal to Texas History for free public access. The Portal to Texas History provides online access to thousands of historical documents, including newspapers, maps, photos and more. The site displays newspapers in a fully text-searchable and zoomable format. The grant also provides a copy of the newspapers on an external hard drive.
About Tocker & UNTs Portal to TX History:
The Tocker Foundation offers a variety of grants for libraries in rural Texas communities with a population smaller than 12,000. In 2004, The Portal to Texas History came online with over 6,500 online images. They currently house over one million digital items.
