Provo, UT -- (ReleaseWire) -- 10/30/2007 -- World Vital Records, Inc. has increased its newspaper offerings from SmallTownPapers by adding more than 63 million names from the SmallTownPapers Collection to WorldVitalRecords.com.
“We are committed to providing this unique and exclusive material to the genealogy community through WorldVitalRecords which continues to amaze all of us with its incredible growth,” said Paul Jeffko, President, SmallTownPapers, Inc. “We are pleased to be part of such a valuable offering which now includes in total, more than 200 million names from our historic archive of small-town newspapers.”
With this newly expanded offering, 312 newspapers have been updated and 17 new titles have been added to the SmallTownPapers Collection accessible on the WorldVitalRecords website. These newspapers provide anecdotal information, as well as vital record data from local newspapers across the United States which were printed from the 1800s through last week.
“Our partnership with SmallTownPapers continues to provide a rich resource for individuals who come to our site looking for unique data about their ancestors,” said Yvette Arts, Director, Content Acquisition, World Vital Records, Inc. “Our users appreciate the value of the personal family history data that is found in small-town papers from all over the U.S.”
Among the new newspapers are three from Washington state including the Okanogan Valley Gazette-Tribune, the Coulee City News, the Tri-County Tribune. There are also new titles from Arizona, California, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oregon, South Dakota, and Texas.
“I am very pleased with the SmallTownPapers Collection at WorldVitalRecords.com, as it includes my home town paper, the Ortonville Independent. There are many articles of my family in them, even pictures of my dad,” said LaRae Schaffer, World Vital Records, Inc. subscriber, Lakeville, MN.
The newspapers that received updates cover small towns throughout the United States with several coming from Texas including the Malakoff News from Malakoff, Texas. There are also updates of many newspapers from Alabama, California, Colorado, Washington, and West Virginia. The SmallTownPapers Collection can be accessed at http://worldvitalrecords.com/contentlisting.aspx?cat=stp.
Many individuals have found success finding their ancestors as they have searched this valuable collection.
“Last week we had a prospective business partner from Seattle come to Provo to visit with us. I asked her where her family was from and navigated to the data for the state of Washington. About halfway down the list of nearly 50 databases, she saw the Deer Park Tribune and the Deer Park Union newspapers from the SmallTownPapers Collection on our site. She exclaimed, ‘That is where I am from!’ She then began to browse through the newspaper and found where both her husband and she were listed as being on the honor roll in their high school,” said David Lifferth, President, World Vital Records, Inc. “Both of us were amazed by her quick find. She quickly gained an understanding of the power of the ever-growing database collection on WorldVitalRecords.com.”
ABOUT SMALLTOWNPAPERS®
SmallTownPapers is a leading solution provider for publishers of America’s 5000 small market newspapers. Working with publishers nationwide, the Seattle-based company digitally preserves current and archive editions and provides searchable online access to the newspapers. Additionally, SmallTownPapers provides millions of news consumers across the country with access to real-time news and information from small town America. Today, more than 350 newspapers from 46 states can be accessed and searched through SmallTownPapers. The archive, containing editions dating as far back as the 1800s, continues to grow as publishers discover SmallTownPapers in their search for comprehensive digital archive solutions.
ABOUT WORLD VITAL RECORDS, INC.
Founded in 2006, by Paul Allen and several key members of the original Ancestry.com team, World Vital Records, Inc. provides affordable genealogy databases and family history tools used by more than 350,000 monthly visitors and nearly 20,000 subscribers. With thousands of databases including birth, death, military, census, and parish records, http://WorldVitalRecords.com makes it easy to extend your family tree. World Vital Records also runs http://FamilyLink.com, a social network for genealogists, and We're Related, a popular Facebook application. Partners include Everton Publishers, Quintin Publications, The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc., SmallTownPapers®, Accessible Archives, Ancestral Quest, Find A Grave, and FamilySearch™. Investors include vSpring Capital and several angel investors.