Whether it's graduations, town meetings or bake sales, for almost 150 years, the Boothbay Register has covered community news, big and small, for all 52 weeks of the year. Soon, all that history will just be a click away. 

In partnership with Boothbay Region Historical Society (BRHS), the Register is launching the “Your History, Your Story” campaign, whose goal is to digitize the newspaper, creating an easily searchable, electronic catalog on Digital Maine. Names of project sponsors will be enshrined on the cover pages for each year. The highest tier supporters and businesses will receive the equivalent of a 2/3-page ad space on said page where they can advertise or leave a special message.  

Digitization is no small feat with issues ranging from 1876 to 2013 (after which the paper began creating E-editions) that need to be scanned. That’s over 7,000 editions.  

A small team of volunteers has been working at the Maine State Library in Augusta since February, headed by project administrator Merritt Blakeslee and consisting of Pat Brunell, Mari Tiwari and Karen Lukas.  

Blakeslee gave special recognition to Adam Fisher, Director of Collections Development and Digital Initiatives, who trained the team to use the library's state-of-the-art $60,000 scanner, which Blakeslee said is comparable to those at the Library of Congress and has allowed them to use the scanning laboratory and equipment, even though the library is still closed for renovations. 

Fisher made sure the project stayed on track when the organization lost funding and laid off several employees earlier this year due to the Trump Administration's March executive order that made cuts to the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). 

“This wouldn't be happening without (Fisher),” said Blakeslee.

As for the project, Blakeslee describes it as “groundbreaking.” Digitization will preserve over a hundred years of week-by-week regional happenings, casting a new light on everything from genealogy to the role the peninsula played in Maine's and the nation's history. According to Fisher, the Register is Maine's second-oldest newspaper.

Blakeslee is also eager for the database as a tool for his own passion projects.  

“I'm sure that mine is one of 1,000 projects that people will be able to do now that they couldn’t before, not just because of the difficulty of reading 100,000 pages of Register, but because a lot of it just can't be made available for that kind of research (due to its fragility).” 

The group is seeking additional volunteers. A typical trip is a two-hour round commute to the Maine State Library in Augusta, six to eight hours of scanning once a week, or once every two weeks. However, Blakeslee said they are open to some flexibility. No experience is needed, as volunteers will be trained. They will also be reimbursed for mileage at the standard federal business rate and for their meals. 

If you are interested in volunteering or learning more, contact Blakeslee at (207) 633-0820, Wed. - Sat. Donations can be mailed to the Boothbay Register, 97 Townsend Ave. or made online (https://www.boothbayregister.com/historic-digitizing)