Great news, local historians and researchers! The Yonkers News Archive has added over 1 million pages of digitized, searchable newspaper pages to its Open Access edition, which can be accessed at ypl.newspapers.com. That means you can search more public domain Yonkers newspapers from any Internet connected device. This post will explain what that all means.
Some Background on the Yonkers News Archive
The Yonkers News Archive is the result of a partnership between Yonkers Public Library (YPL) and Newspapers.com. In November 2020, YPL sent nearly 1,000 reels of local Yonkers newspapers microfilm - including the Yonkers Herald Statesman and the Yonkers Gazette, to Newspapers.com's scanning and digitization facilities.
Everything digitized through this process became searchable to Newspaper.com subscribers. They also created two portals form YPL cardholders: the Yonkers News Archive - Onsite Edition, which is only accessible through YPL's wireless network and public computers, and Yonkers News Archive - Open Access Edition which is available from anywhere on an Internet connected devices.
The video tutorial below will explain more about the Yonkers News Archive. Please note that since this video was recorded, more newspapers and content have been added to the archive, as we will explain further down in this post.
New Papers and Issues Added to Open Access Edition
Originally, the Open Access edition only contained the digitized runs of the Yonkers Gazette and the Yonkers Examiner, and totaled about 7,000 of newspaper content. However, after a three year "embargo" new papers and issues are being added to the Open Access edition. It now features over 1 million pages of searchable, digitized newsprint, including all of the digitized newsprint from our microfilm collection that is in the public domain (currently, 1927 or earlier) or that does not have a copyright claim. That includes:
- Yonkers Statesman (1883-1932): 110,651 pages
- The Yonkers Statesman (1857-1886): 8,315 pages
- The Yonkers Gazette (1868-1893): 5,476 pages
Additionally, the Open Access edition contains New York City papers digitized through the Library of Congress's National Digital Newspaper Program, including:
- The Evening World (1887-1922): 154,325 pages
- New York Daily Herald (1836-1920): 118,722 pages
- New-York Tribune (1841-1922): 367,604 pages
- The Sun (1859-1920): 204.420 pages
Yonkers News Archive - Onsite Edition Grows
With Yonkers leading the way, other Westchester Library System member libraries have entered into similar partnerships with Newspapers.com. That has resulted in digitized newspapers from Mamaroneck (The Paragraph), Larchmont (The Daily Times) and Port Chester (The Daily Item) being added to the Yonkers News Archive - Onsite Edition portal. It now offers over 2.8 million pages of searchable newspapers from Yonkers and Westchester newspapers. To access the entire Yonkers News Archive, visit any one of our three locations, access our free public wireless network, and visit ypl.newspapers.com.
Study Local History at YPL
We hope that students, researchers, historians (amateur and professional) and Yonkers lovers will take advantage of this treasure trove of local history. If you're looking to delve deeper, visit our Local History page to learn more about our collections and services.