A screenshot of The Lincoln County News digital archive. The archive is available to LCN subscribers at lcnme.com/archive.
The digital archive of The Lincoln County News and its predecessors is now available for newspaper subscribers at lcnme.com.
“Preserving the stories of Lincoln County and its people is vital work, and we are thrilled to offer the digitization of this history,” said John Roberts, associate publisher of The Lincoln County News. “We hope that by providing better access to the area’s past, we can all appreciate this amazing community even more.”
Skidompha Library and Lincoln County Publishing Co., which publishes The Lincoln County News, partnered on the project, which preserved the complete archives of the LCN, along with the partial archives of several earlier newspapers. The oldest of the newspapers dates to around 1874.
In addition to the complete archives of The Lincoln County News, the project includes the existing archives of the Sheepscot Echo, one of the newspapers that merged to create The Lincoln County News; the Village Herald, published in Damariscotta in the 1870s; the Waldoboro Press, which Lincoln County Publishing Co. acquired in 1967 and merged with the LCN in 1968; and a Waldoboro-based newspaper called The Lincoln County News, published from the 1870s to the early 1900s and unaffiliated with the present-day newspaper.
Advantage Preservation, an Iowa firm that specializes in the digitization of old and fragile newspapers, finished the digitization in September, and the archives became available to Skidompha Library cardholders and library visitors two months later.
The complete digital archive is available to both print and digital subscribers of The Lincoln County News at lcnme.com/archive. Subscribers will need to log in to view the archive.
The archives are searchable and users can browse individual editions by title or year. The page has been configured for mobile devices as well.
The editorial staff of The Lincoln County News has been making use of the digital archive since its completion. For example, reporters have utilized the archives to provide historical context in recent articles.
In addition, members of the public have used the archive for genealogical and historical research. Earlier this year, local researchers used information from the archive to identify a man buried in an unmarked grave in Damariscotta as a veteran of two wars. Lt. Kimball Hatch was then honored with an appropriate headstone before Memorial Day.
The archive also contains details about the history of The Lincoln County News during the Roberts family’s tenure owning and publishing the newspaper. The newspaper is currently celebrating its 100th year of ownership by the Roberts family.
The newspaper is still searching for missing editions, including the 1876-1919 editions of the Damariscotta Herald. The Lincoln County News encourages anyone with a collection of old newspapers to consider donating them to allow for the most complete digital archive possible.
For more information about the digital archive or for help with access, call The Lincoln County News at 563-3171 or email Roberts at jroberts@lcnme.com.
