Google has launched a project to scan microfilm from newspapers’ historical archives to make them available online.
The endeavor expands a two-year-old service that enables Google News users to search the archives of several newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times and The Washington Post, that were already available in digital form. Users will now be able to search the archives using keywords and view articles as they originally appeared in the print pages of papers, The Times reports.
The archives will be available through Google News at first, but plans are to give newspapers a way to make their archives available on the papers’ own Web sites.
Google will have to obtain permission from publishers before scanning the microfilm, and will share advertising revenue from the project with the publishers.
Google said it is working with more than 100 newspapers, and has already scanned millions of articles.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.