>> From the Library of
Congress in Washington, D.C.
>> I'm Tonijala Penn, and I'm
a digital conversion specialist
in the Serial and Government
Publications Division here
at the Library of Congress.
And as a digital conversion
specialist, I work on a variety
of different digital projects,
but the bulk of the heavy
lifting I do is with the
"Chronicling America" website.
Chronicling America is a partnership
with the National Endowment
for the Humanities, and it's
basically a primary resource that's
online, so it's free, and it's
widely available at the tip
of your fingertips if you
have Internet connection.
Newspapers, a lot of people think
that they're very antiquated,
and you know a lot of newspapers
throughout the nation have folded,
and so this really shows you why
there's a need for newspapers.
I mean this was the best way to
find out about what was going
on with not just your
neighbors, but across the nation.
And a lot of times
people were closed off
to information because of travel.
You know so the newspapers
were actually a way
to really give them a snapshot
glance of what was taking place
in the world around them.
It has a variety of uses.
For example, if you work in the
film industry, and you want to learn
about clothing and dress, well you
can come to "Chronicling America"
and you can see how you
know the women's clothing
and dress changed throughout
the years.
If you are a journalist, or
you're looking for say information
about your family, a lot of
genealogists really enjoy
"Chronicling America" to find
out about their family history.
You can get a global perspective.
You can find out how things changed
geographically like say a view
from the south versus the
north, or different things
that change throughout
the course of history.
Right now, we have a little
bit over thirty states,
and one U.S. territory,
which is Puerto Rico.
Each year different NDP
applicants apply to the program,
and so that's why your state might
not be one of the states that's
in "Chronicling America,"
but we're working on that.
We're hoping to get everything--
the whole map covered,
and this is a little color
key that shows you the years
that each state came on board
with "Chronicling America."
Over eight million pages
of digitized content,
and it's always growing.
If you want to find out when we
are loading different information,
you can sign up for our RSS feeds,
and I encourage you to do that.
And that way you'll know.
You'll be a step ahead
of everyone else.
You don't just have
to wait and wonder
if your state is going to be added.
You'll get an instant you
know notification that it is.
I was home, and I was watching
a documentary by Ken Burns.
I think it was entitled
"Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise
and Fall of Jack Johnson."
Jack Johnson was like the first
African-American heavyweight
champion of the world, and
so it really was a fight
that divided the nation in
celebration as well as in riot.
And the fight took place, I think
it was like July 4th of 1910,
and so I went to "Chronicling
America" and I think I put
in like Jack Johnson, James
Jeffries, which is his opponent,
and big fight, and
it was like ka-ching.
All these hits came up,
and so I was able to find
out about how different newspapers
all around the nation reported
on this big fight, and I found
out that there was a stadium
that was actually created just
for the fight in Reno, Nevada.
So that was pretty
like awesome to think
that it just was so
charged you know.
And he, you know reigned
till I think 1915,
so that was just my own
personal experience with finding
out more information about
something I was interested in.
>> This has been a presentation
of the Library of Congress.
Visit us at loc.gov.