History buffs take note! Checking out life in the early 1700s just got easier with your library card. Knox County Public Library now provides online access to Newspapers.com. The word-searchable resource offers more than 4,000 historical newspapers from the early 1700s into the 2000s. They contain full runs and portions of runs, from well-known regional and state titles to small local newspapers in the United States and other countries. This is an invaluable tool for researchers, historians, genealogists, teachers and students. Ongoing updates with new content are continually being added.
This resource is in addition to the already robust offerings on www.knoxlib.org. A few years back, the Library was able to digitize the “Knoxville News Sentinel” from 1922-1990 with the help of a fundraising campaign led by Sam Venable and the Library Foundation. Today, it’s one of the most popular online resources on the Library’s website. Equally popular among history buffs and curious folk is the Calvin M. McClung Historical Collection with access to thousands of photographs and documents. That’s just a small portion of the historic documents, records and books available in hard copy at the East Tennessee History Center.
Mary Pom Claiborne is assistant director for marketing, communications and development for Knox County Public Library. She writes a Wednesday feature for KnoxTNToday.com.