Dig into history: Search the more than 140 years of Yale Daily News now online

  • Logo of "Yale Daily News" in shaded Gothic script, at center below the word "Daily" is a wound medallion with two balls, a baseball bat, and two oars to the left and a lit lantern to the right. Text above  reads "The oldest college daily, founded 1878"
May 24, 2023

The library’s digital archive of Yale Daily News (YDN)—the nation’s oldest continuously published college daily—has expanded to include 3,306 more issues than it had just two years ago. 

There are now approximately 23,929 issues of YDN available in digital format—including occasional special issues and supplements—that users can search, view, and download in PDF format. Search the YDN Historical Archive

Since its founding in 1878, YDN has been a financially and editorially independent student-run newspaper, serving the Yale and New Haven communities. This archive provides an invaluable glimpse into the everyday life and the larger concerns of these communities throughout time.

The library developed the digitization project in partnership with the Yale Daily News Foundation. In 2008, library staff digitized the first 117 years’ worth of issues—dating from 1878, the paper’s first year of publication, through 1995.

In 2021, a generous gift from an anonymous donor—a Yale College graduate and former reporter for YDN—supported the work of expanding the archive. The collection is now current through March 19, 2021. Later issues will continue to be added on an ongoing basis.

The digitization process

This recent phase of work required digitizing the older print issues in the library’s collection. It also required processing YDN’s PDF versions of more recent issues to adapt them for the site.

Due to the scale of the project, Northeast Document Conservation Center in Andover, Massachusetts, converted the 1,778 print issues. Library staff prepared the 1,528 PDFs, which were then processed by the team at Veridian—the host for the archive’s new digital platform—and added to the database.

The same donor’s gift also enabled the library to migrate the archive from CONTENTdm, its previous digital platform, to Veridian. This new platform makes it easier for users to search, browse, and navigate the database. The gift will also support future maintenance of the site and the ongoing work of adding YDN issues published throughout 2021 and in subsequent years.

A team effort

The success of this project was the result of a team effort by these staff members:

Jennifer Coggins, community engagement archivist, Beinecke Library (project manager); Kevin Glick, former staff member in Manuscripts and Archives; Tara Kennedy, head, Preventive Conservation; Robert Klingenberger, head of Digital Reformatting and Microfilming Services; Christine McCarthy, director of Preservation and Conservation Services; George Ouellette, technical lead for software-as-a-service platforms, Library Information Technology; and Anu Paul, digital imaging librarian, Digital Reformatting and Microfilming Services Preservation

These library staff members were also key contributors to the project:

Basie Gitlin, director of development for Yale Library; Matt Matheny, student worker in Preservation and Conservation Services; Francesca Dezza Parada, student worker in Preservation and Conservation Services; Jordan Relevo, lead preservation assistant; Summer Shetenhelm, digital access services librarian; Nick Stakey, workflow assistant in Digital Reformatting and Microfilming Services; and Will Stevens, student worker in Preservation and Conservation Services

Read more about the library’s early work digitizing the newspaper.

—Deborah Cannarella