National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP): Impact Study 2004 – 2014

During the summer of 2014, the Division of Preservation and Access sought to evaluate the impact of the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP) since its beginnings in 2004. Information about the program was obtained through interviews of project directors, performance reports from the awardees, and a survey of NDNP participants developed by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Library of Congress. Reports from the state partners on their projects were analyzed and examined the ways in which Chronicling America resources are being used. This document summarizes the results of the investigations and demonstrates the impact of NDNP through a constellation of examples. Among other things, the impact study identifies several projects that are taking advantage of this massive, centralized resource as scholars experiment with data mining tools for humanities research. The report concludes in summarizing many project directors' view in saying that the benefits of the National Digital Newspaper Program far surpassed anything anyone could have imagined when the program was launched a decade ago. In sum, NDNP stands as a fine example of what a federal agencies working collaboratively with state partners can achieve