Sky-Hi News is teaming up with the Grand County Library District and Grand County Historical Association to digitize newspapers from 1908 to 2013, preserving a vital piece of the area’s history.

Past editions from Sky-Hi News, Middle Park Times, Kremmling Record, Winter Park Manifest and Grand County News are being gathered from the three organizations’ archives to complete the project. The goal is to have these editions available to view on ColoradoHistoricNewspapers.org, which will allow for free, unlimited access to these records online. 

“Once that’s done, you could be anywhere in the world and go into the Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection and look up the article or the obituary or whatever you’re interested in,” said Tallie Gray, director of library resources for Grand County Library District.

The library is digitizing its newspaper collection currently on microfilm from oldest to newest. Sky-Hi News and Grand County Historical Association are focusing on digitizing their collected hard copies, as they are deteriorating quickly.

Some of the editions held by these organizations are the only known copies in existence. As the physical copies are vulnerable to deterioration, take up space and are not easily searchable, this project is a necessary endeavor to preserve this piece of the past. 

“Part of the problem with the newspapers at Sky-Hi currently is that they are still being used while they are in a fragile state,” said Laura K. N. Jones, collections manager for Grand County Historical Association. “So every time somebody accesses one of those news articles, pieces of it are falling off, and we’re losing literally bits of history at a time.”

It’s not just the articles that are important, but also things like personal ads, business advertisements and pricing, Jones added.

“A lot of older newspapers include basic information that nowadays you would see people posting on social media sites,” she said. “They’ll include people’s names and the names of businesses, and sometimes that information is not recorded elsewhere. Those people’s stories only live on in those newspapers.”

Eight out of more than 100 microfilm rolls of newspaper at the library have been digitized, covering Feb. 3, 1927, to March 4, 1943, with microfilm from 1908 to 1927 previously accessible online. Sky-Hi and the historical association are currently doing an audit of their copies to prepare for digitization.

The project is estimated to cost about $200,000 to complete. 

“We have a goal to complete as much of the project as possible in five years, but it could take longer depending on the financial support that we get,” said Nicole Miller, publisher of Sky-Hi News. 

The library has received grants and contributions, including $2,500 from the Grand Lake Rotary and $3,000 from the Colorado Historic Newspaper Collection, to help with funding.

“We are all trying really hard to make it accessible, but there are a lot of barriers. The cost to getting a lot of this done and the time that it takes to do it is just significant,” Jones said.

As a rural area of Colorado, Miller said the project is important so that anyone trying to research the area can more easily find this type of information.

“Grand County has a really deep history in the region, in terms of ranching, agriculture and mining,” she said. “It’s where the national park is located, and water is super important in Grand County.”

Donations are currently being accepted, with 100% of donations going toward the project. To donate, go to SkyHiNews.com/donate.

“We have such a colorful, important history up here,” Gray said. “I’m really excited to get this project done so that our kids in next generations can learn more about the pioneering spirit of Grand County.”