Google News: Old News

Monday, September 8th, 2008 by Jordan McCollum

Google News: Old News

That’s right—Google News is into old news. Really old news. Today Google announced Google News Archive, a project that has scanned and indexed newspaper archives.

In addition to the scanned text of the articles, Google News Archive will feature scanned images of newspaper articles, pictures, ads and more. Which is especially good, since the scanned text in the excerpts sometimes reads like . . . well, scanned text:

To access ~~old news~~ the archives, you can take your chances with a keyword search in regular Google News or go straight to Google News Archive. A note appears in the snippet if the archive contains a related article:
Google News Archive indicator

Viewing an article in the archive brings up the image of the newspaper itself:
google news archive viewer, the bryan times
Look ma, no newsprint on my hands, and no smudges on the page. Awesome! (What? Don’t tell me I’m the only aspiring twentieth century historian thrilled by this announcement.)

While many larger newspapers, such as the New York Times, have made their archives searchable online, this initiative also partners with smaller newspapers through ProQuest and Heritage services.

Eventually, Google News Archive searches will be integrated into main index searches as the GNA index grows.

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8 comments on “Google News: Old News”

Andy Beal Says:

September 8th, 2008 at 9:48 pm

Welcome back! We missed you!
Utah SEO Pro Says:

September 9th, 2008 at 12:13 am

This is a great announcement for the Web. Also great for spam scrapers.

Utah SEO Pro’s last blog post..Building an SEO Friendly Site – SES San Jose 2008 Presentation
Ashley Says:

September 9th, 2008 at 3:20 am

I really like this news!!!!

Ashley’s last blog post..Angel Cookies – Christmas Recipe
Otooo Says:

September 9th, 2008 at 4:09 am

That’s gonna come in really useful for homework and stuff

Otooo’s last blog post..Results Of The Contest
Svetlana Gladkova Says:

September 9th, 2008 at 4:16 am

Excellent title for the post and I’m glad I’m not the only one this enthusiastic about the announcement. I guess the only people showing enthusiasm are those that studied university at college or university and spent way too much time with file folders of newspapers

Svetlana Gladkova’s last blog post..Google Comes Up With a Great Initiative for Historians – Scans Old Newspapers
Ami Ohayon Says:

September 9th, 2008 at 6:58 am

Interesting timing … this comes out within a day of Plastic Logic unveiling its new electronic reader, which is being seen as a white horse for the ailing newspaper industry.

Ami Ohayon’s last blog post..From Jerusalem to Boston
Nicole Price Says:

September 9th, 2008 at 10:35 am

It will be a boon for a lot of people who spend a lot of time trying to locate news items in their research. It is a very welcome move indeed.

Nicole Price’s last blog post..Roller Skating
Tiffany Says:

September 9th, 2008 at 10:16 pm

Sounds a good service!