Plattsburgh Sentinel Proving Popular Addition

	NNYLN Microfilm Scanner Denise Bullock and Systems Administrator Thomas Blauvelt discuss a page of the "Plattsburgh Sentinel."

The Plattsburgh Sentinel newspaper, 1866 to 1931, is the latest title to be added to the Network's Historical Newspapers website at news.nnyln.net.

The Sentinel has already proved to be popular with the public with 30,000 searches recorded in the first two weeks after its posting on the website.

"Plattsburgh newspaper is different from any of the previous titles that we have done according to Thomas Blauvelt, the NNYLN project manager.

"This is the first newspaper that we have microfilmed ourselves in order to get images good enough to scan. A previous filming was done some time in the 1950's, but the images on many of the reels were illegible," he said.

"Fortunatly, the Plattsburgh Public Library had been preserving the original issues and was kind enough to lend them for the project," Mr. Blauvelt continued.

"The result is a completely legible archival microfilm copy, a key-word indexed digital copy, and the return of the originals to the Plattsburgh Public Library, where they can be consulted by scholars when necessary," he noted.

According to Mr. Blauvelt, the Network had been looking for some time for an appropriate title from Clinton County, one of the population centers, to add to the project. "The Plattsburgh Sentinel fills in that blank spot in our coverage," he said.

The on-line collection currently consists of more than 250,000 pages from 15 newspapers. Additional titles will be added to the site as time and money allow.