Digitization of historical newspapers of record

• Applicants: Dr. Marion Grabka; Daniela Poth, since 7/2020; Dr. Peter Reuter; Dr. Marianne Riethmüller; Dr. Andrea Wolff-Wölk
• Term: from 2019 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 422859656

The academic libraries UB JCS Frankfurt am Main, HLB Fulda, UB Giessen, UB Marburg and HLB RheinMain, Wiesbaden, intend to digitize newspapers of record from the period 1871 to 1913 and 1919 to 1945 and to supply an Optical Character Recognition (OCR). OCRed volumes of the years 1914 - 1918 are already available to all applicants.The following newspapers have been selected for digitization:• Wiesbadener Tagblatt• Fulda newspaper• Gießener Anzeiger• Casseler Latest News• Oberhessische Zeitung• Frankfurter Zeitung and HandelsblattThe digitization of the periodicals depicts a closed and representative picture of a specific period of German history, which extends from the founding of the German Reich to the end of the Second World War, using the example of the Hesse region. The primary sources document the formative epochs on the way to the founding of today's Federal Republic of Germany, allowing for a comprehensive view of the Hesse region with its high significance in this process, and at the same time take into account different economic, social and political differentiations within the region.Thus, historical developments in the social, cultural and economic field and the related processes of political decision-making can be understood more easily and above all with the details of their local roots. The long and mostly continuous publication course is advantageous for the scientific investigation of change processes. Research can be done focussing on a specific region, but also comparatively on different titles encompassing different regions and over long periods of time.The project partners are planning a joint presentation of the newspapers. This facilitates access for all interested, both scientific and non-scientific user groups, allows the creation of a common, index-based search space across all newspapers, opens up the possibility of thematic introductions to the material, paving the way for structured and source-critical access.

• DFG Programme: Cataloguing and Digitisation (Scientific Library Services and Information Systems)
• Participating Institution: HeBIS Hessisches Bibliotheks- und Informationssystem; HeBIS-Verbundzentrale; c/o Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg
• Ehemaliger Antragsteller: Dr. Heiner Schnelling, until 7/2020