1930 Newspapers Are Now Public Domain
Each January, a new year of newspapers becomes available for digitization. Newspapers published in 1930 are now in the public domain, meaning they can be digitized and added to your Community History Archive—if and when it makes sense for your institution.
Why partners add new years
Adding newly available years helps you:
- Keep your archive growing and current
- Preserve content that was previously unavailable
- Give your community something new to explore
Many partners add one year at a time as a manageable way to expand their archive year over year.
Why investing in your archive matters
Most institutions have been conditioned to expect an annual bill for access. Too many systems ask communities to rent their own history back to them. This means libraries and other organizations end up paying year after year just to keep what they already funded available.
That’s not how it should work. Your archive shouldn’t function like a subscription service. If an institution invests in building an archive, it shouldn’t have to buy it back every year.
The founders of Advantage Archives made a deliberate decision early on: They would never charge recurring fees for access. No subscriptions. No maintenance contracts. No annual renewals. Just free, open, and equitable access to local history.
Rather than charging institutions to renew access to what they already have, Advantage focuses on helping communities expand and enrich their archive over time.
How does this support sustainability?
Free access stays sustainable because of partnerships.
Every Community History Archive shares the same infrastructure and platform. When one partner adds new content, the entire network benefits, helping keep access free for every community. Every year, more local history becomes available. Another year of newspapers has been published. Older editions enter the public domain. Another school prints a yearbook. New community content is created.
That steady stream of new material makes it possible for each archive to grow naturally over time.
Ready to add 1930? Let’s chat!
If you’d like to explore timing, cost, or what adding a year could look like for your collection, we can help. Let’s talk about what comes next!
