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Seattle, WA – April 6, 2006
– SmallTownPapers, Inc. is pleased to announce the addition of the Vineyard
Gazette to its list of participating newspapers from across the country.
The
Vineyard Gazette has been covering news on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts
for 160 years. Its archives date back to 1846 when the island off the coast
of southern New England was home to whalers and fishermen. It was the
newspaper’s founder, Edgar Marchant, who first suggested the Vineyard
consider marketing itself as a vacation destination for mainlanders – an
idea considered radical at the time.
160
years after its founding, the Vineyard Gazette is flourishing with one
edition each week of the year with an additional issue each week during the
busy, tourist summer months. “The history of Martha’s Vineyard is captured
in our newspaper so we have a treasure trove of information here,” explained
Joe Pitt, general manager of the Vineyard Gazette. “People writing books
and researching genealogy come to our office all the time so we’ve been
interested in finding a way to make the 160 year body of work accessible for
them and also for our own writers.”
Accessibility and preservation were two goals for the Vineyard Gazette’s
general manager. “We recently reorganized our newspapers and discovered how
fragile some of the older editions are. Additionally, I am aware of the
risk they would face if our building was damaged by a storm, fire or flood.
I want to preserve our archives so they are available forever. This is a
necessity.”
He
discovered that SmallTownPapers offers newspapers an easy and affordable way
to achieve both goals. “I liked the SmallTownPapers approach and I
understand the business model,” Pitt said. The Vineyard Gazette’s archive
exists in bound books, loose papers and microfilm and is complete with the
exception of the year 1904. On its website, the Vineyard Gazette offers
limited content from papers dating back to 2000 but Joe Pitt is pleased that
working with SmallTownPapers he will now have digital, high-quality copies
of complete newspaper issues.
”We’re excited that The Vineyard Gazette is joining our program and opening
the door to the wonderful archive resources owned by New England
newspapers,” said Paul Jeffko, founder and president of SmallTownPapers.
“SmallTownPapers understands the need to preserve, protect and make
accessible newspaper archives. This project will allow readers to research
and view the Vineyard Gazette’s archive dating back to the 1800s online
while keeping intact the original print and microfilm. The entire archive
is searchable.”
The
process of digitizing the Vineyard Gazette’s extensive archive is underway.
The archive will be widely distributed online with 300 other newspapers from
small towns across the United States making it widely available on the
internet including on the SmallTownPapers website –
www.smalltownpapers.com.
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About
SmallTownPapers®
SmallTownPapers is an online gateway to newspapers from small town America —
past and present. Working with publishers from across the country, the
company digitally scans current and archived newspapers and then provides
online access. Through the SmallTownPapers website, the newspaper archives
can be searched by keyword or phrase and viewed as originally printed.
SmallTownPapers, Inc. is based in Seattle, WA. For more information visit
www.smalltownpapers.com.
About The
Vineyard Gazette
The
Vineyard Gazette has been covering news on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts
since its inception in 1846. Published Fridays all year-round, with a second
edition appearing on Tuesdays from June through September, the Gazette has
never missed an issue in the last century and a half. Five times in the
1990s the New England Press Association has honored the Vineyard Gazette by
naming it Newspaper of the Year. For more information visit
www.mvgazette.com.
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National Newspaper Association
Washington Newspaper Publishers Association 