About USNP in Pennsylvania

Background

The Pennsylvania Newspaper Project (PaNP) was an early participant in the United States Newspaper Program (USNP), 1985 – 1990.  The USNP was a cooperative national effort to inventory, catalog and preserve through microfilming the newspaper heritage of the United States from the 18th century to the present.  Individual states submitted grant applications to the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to participate in the UNSP.  Project funding was provided by the NEH while technical assistance was supplied by the Library of Congress.  Pennsylvania submitted its first NEH USNP grant application, a planning grant, in June 1984 and was awarded funds to begin the systematic cataloging work throughout the Commonwealth in October 1985.  Two subsequent NEH grants were received to continue cataloging in all 67 counties and to fund the microfilming phase of the Project.  The statewide Pennsylvania Newspaper Project ended in 1990.

United States Newspaper Program

Library of Congress

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Who’s Who?

The following is a who’s who of the Pennsylvania Newspaper Project and the USNP for the period covering 1983 through 1990.

National Endowment for the Humanities, Washington, D.C.

  • Harold Cannon, Director, Office of Preservation
  • Jeffrey Field, Assistant Director, Office of Preservation

Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

  • Robert B. Harriman, Jr., Technical Coordinator, United States Newspaper Program, Serial Record Division

OCLC   (Online Computer Library Catalog), Dublin, OH

  • Todd Butler, Quality Control Librarian Online Data Quality Control Section, Marketing & User Services Division

Office of Commonwealth Libraries, State Library of Pennsylvania, Department of Education, Harrisburg, PA

  • Elliot Shelkrot, State Librarian of Pennsylvania
  • David R. Hoffman, Director, Library Services Division, State Library of Pennsylvania

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Committees

Pennsylvania Newspaper Project Steering Committee, convened by the State Library of Pennsylvania, August 1983

  • Glenora Rossell, Hillman Library, University of Pittsburgh*
  • Ruth Carter, University of Pittsburgh Libraries
  • David Fraser, Historical Society of Pennsylvania
  • David Eyman, Juniata College (Chairman of the PLA Research Materials Committee)
  • Roland Bauman, Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
  • Lois Doncevic, Allentown Call-Chronicle Newspapers (representing the Pennsylvania Newspaper Publishers Association)
  • Louis Rauco, State Library of Pennsylvania, Newspaper Section Head
  • Donald Brown, State Library of Pennsylvania, Collection Management Coordinator
  • David Hoffman, Chairman, State Library of PA, Library Services Director

In 1984 Johanna Ezell, Librarian, Penn State Mont Alto Campus joined the Steering Committee representing the Pennsylvania Library Association.

*Editor of the 1978 Pennsylvania Library Association publication: Pennsylvania Newspapers – a   Bibliography and Union List.

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Pennsylvania Newspaper Project Technical Committee, representing the four regional cataloging sites, convened 1985.  This committee was responsible for the overall governance and work of the project.

State Library of Pennsylvania

David R. Hoffman, Ruth B. Coble, Alice L. Ingraham, Patricia Y. Morton and Louis F. Rauco

David R. Hoffman, Director of the Library Services Division at the State Library.  His responsibilities included overall direction of the entire project and its budget, convened meetings of the Advisory and Technical Committees, reviewed progress of the four regional cataloging sites, and ensured project objectives were met.  David served as chair of the Technical Committee.

Ruth B. Coble, Coordinator of Technical Services at the State Library.  Ruth provided overall coordination of project activities within the Technical Services sections of the State Library.

Alice L. Ingraham, Coordinator, Reference/Information Services at the State Library.

Patricia Y. Morton, Head of the Cataloging Section of the State Library.  Her responsibilities included providing general technical direction to the cataloger employed by the State Library for the project.

Louis Rauco, Head of the Newspaper Section of  the State Library.  Lou had the responsibility to prepare the worksheets used by catalogers in the field to record condition of paper copies and microfilm holdings.

University of Pittsburgh

Ruth C. Carter and Suzanne Thomas

Ruth C. Carter, Assistant Director of Technical Services, formerly Head of the Cataloging Department at the University of Pittsburgh Hillman Library.  Ruth served as supervisor of the University of Pittsburgh Project staff and held overall responsibility for quality control and coordination of cataloging.  She also served as the Project’s liaison to other Pittsburgh repositories.

Suzanne Thomas, Serials Cataloger and Online Union List Team Chief at the University of Pittsburgh Hillman Library.  Suzanne provided assistance with cataloging and CONSER procedures.

Historical Society of Pennsylvania

David Fraser (Nancy Halli, Andrew W. Mellon Bibliographer succeeded David Fraser on January 1, 1987)

David Fraser, Librarian of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.  David served as supervisor of the Historical Society’s Project staff and served as the Project’s liaison to other Philadelphia repositories.

Pennsylvania State University

Dr. Barbara J. Smith (Sue Kellerman, former Project staffer and Serials Librarian succeeded Barbara Smith on February 1, 1989)

Dr. Barbara J. Smith, Coordinator of the Commonwealth Campus Program at the Penn State University Libraries.  Barbara served as supervisor of the Penn State University Libraries Project staff and served as the Project’s liaison to repositories in central and north central Pennsylvania.

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Pennsylvania Newspaper Project Advisory Council, convened by the State Librarian, October 1985

Roland Baumann – Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission

R. Thomas Berner – Associate Professor, School of Journalism, Penn State University

John Claridge – Director of Research and Publications, Erie County Historical Society

Lois Doncevic – Newspaper Library, Allentown Call-Chronicle

Johanna Ezell – Pennsylvania Library Association, Chair, Research Materials Committee, Mont Alto Campus Library, Penn State University

Jean Farrington – Serials Librarian, University of Pennsylvania

Dawson Flinchbaugh – MATCO Micrographics, Inc., Wormleysburg

Nancy Gilbert – Assistant Director of Library Services, U.S. Army Military History Institute, Carlisle Barracks

Professor Roger Lane – Haverford

Rian Miller-McIrvine – PALINET, Serials Cataloging and Union Listing Specialist, Philadelphia

Antoinette Seagraves – Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia

Gary D. Wolfe – Administrator, Centre County Library, Bellefonte

Others who joined the Council or replaced Pennsylvania Newspaper Project Advisory Council members at some point during the Project included:

Kathleen Arnold – Ephrata Public Library

H. E. Broadbent – Executive Director, Pittsburgh Regional Library Center

Schuyler Brossman – Freelance Genealogical Columnist, Rehrersburg

Margaret Craft – Wyoming Historical & Genealogical Society, Wilkes-Barre, PA

Daniel Cusick – The Scranton Times

Eileen Palmer – PALINET, Philadelphia

Glenora Rossell – Director, Hillman Library, University of Pittsburgh

Frances Sellers – Library Coordinator, Carlisle School District

Ann Stewart – Crawford County Historical Society, Meadville

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Regional Staff

Pennsylvania Newspaper Project Staff at the Four Regional Cataloging Sites

University of Pittsburgh

  • Faye Leibowitz, Cataloger, hired January 14, 1985; resigned August 1987
  • Cathy Sorensen, Cataloger, hired February 1, 1985; resigned in early1986
  • Nancy Greene,  Cataloger, hired in September 1986; resigned April 1989
  • Scott Koziol, Project Librarian, hired in 1988 and stayed with the Project until the office closed on December 31, 1989

Pennsylvania State University

  • Rebecca Wilson, Field Librarian, hired January 2, 1985; resigned September 18, 1987
  • Sue Kellerman, Cataloger, hired January 2, 1985 and stayed with the Project until the office closed on February 26, 1988
  • Denise Conklin, Project Assistant, hired in March 1985 and stayed with the Project until the office closed on February 26, 1988

State Library of Pennsylvania

  • Susan Bryson, Cataloger, hired July 22, 1985; resigned August 1987
  • Karen Brosius, Cataloger, hired July 22, 1985; resigned August 1987

Historical Society of Pennsylvania

  • Kathy Cole, Cataloger, hired and resigned in February 1985
  • Barbara Kurimchak, Cataloger, hired in February 1985; resigned July 31, 1989
  • Amy Newell, Cataloger, hired in 1986; resigned in 1988
  • Elizabeth Shapiro, Cataloger, hired in 1988 and stayed with the Project until the cataloging work ended May 31, 1990
  • Christine Dacier, Cataloger, hired in  July 1988 and stayed with the Project until the cataloging work ended May 31, 1990
  • Rob Culp, Temporary Cataloger, September 1988; April – May 1990
  • Deborah Skok, Project Assistant, hired in 1988 and stayed with the Project until the cataloging work ended May 31, 1990
  • Roberta Dell, Assistant to the Microfilming Coordinator, hired in July 1986 and stayed with the Project until the office closed on October 31, 1990
  • William Hamill, Microfilming Project Coordinator, hired in July 1986; resigned September 1990

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Regional Cataloging Sites “County” Assignments”

University of Pittsburgh   (Faye Leibowitz, Cathy Sorensen, Nancy Greene and Scott Koziol)

  1. Allegheny
  2. Armstrong
  3. Beaver
  4. Butler
  5. Cameron
  6. Clarion
  7. Crawford
  8. Elk
  9. Erie
  10. Fayette
  11. Forest
  12. Greene
  13. Indiana
  14. Jefferson
  15. Lawrence
  16. McKean
  17. Mercer
  18. Venango
  19. Warren
  20. Washington
  21. Westmoreland

Pennsylvania State University   (Rebecca Wilson, Sue Kellerman and Denise Conklin)

  1. Bedford
  2. Blair
  3. Bradford
  4. Cambria
  5. Carbon
  6. Centre
  7. Clearfield
  8. Clinton
  9. Columbia
  10. Fulton
  11. Huntingdon
  12. Juniata
  13. Lackawanna
  14. Luzerne
  15. Lycoming
  16. Mifflin
  17. Monroe
  18. Montour
  19. Northampton
  20. Northumberland
  21. Pike
  22. Potter
  23. Snyder
  24. Somerset
  25. Sullivan
  26. Susquehanna
  27. Tioga
  28. Union
  29. Wayne
  30. Wyoming

State Library of Pennsylvania  (Susan Bryson and Karen Brosius)

  1. Adams
  2. Berks – (reassigned to HSP in 1988)
  3. Cumberland – (reassigned to HSP in 1988)
  4. Dauphin – (reassigned to HSP in 1988)
  5. Franklin
  6. Lancaster
  7. Lebanon
  8. Lehigh – (reassigned to HSP in 1988)
  9. Perry
  10. Schuylkill – (reassigned to HSP in 1988)
  11. York

Historical Society of Pennsylvania   (Barbara Kurimchak, Amy Newell, Elizabeth Shapiro, Christine Dacier, Rob Culp, Deborah Skok, Roberta Dell, William Hamill)

  1. Bucks
  2. Chester
  3. Delaware
  4. Montgomery
  5. Philadelphia

Counties added to the Historical Society’s cataloging work in 1988 (initially assigned to the State Library Project staff):

  1. Berks
  2. Cumberland
  3. Dauphin
  4. Lehigh
  5. Schuylkill

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USNP Development of a National Program, 1972 – 1983

NEH Development for the Humanities page 1 NEH Development page 2

Courtesy of the State Library of Pennsylvania, Hoffman Archives

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Pledge of Allegiance to the Newspaper ProjectPledge allegiance to the Newspaper Project

 Courtesy of the State Library of Pennsylvania, Hoffman Archives

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