Centenary College in Shreveport says it’s completed digitizing and creating online access to nearly 100 years of a Methodist weekly newspaper. The digital restoration of The New Orleans Christian Advocate dates back to the 1850s.
Centenary said in a news release Wednesday that more than 46,000 pages of content are now available spanning 1850 to 1946. Archivist Chris Brown said these newspapers help people explore many aspects of history, including community news, education, travel, ethnic relations, obituaries and more.
The project has been decades in the making. Centenary acquired The New Orleans Christian Advocate on microfilm in the 1960s from Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi.
Timothy Hebert, former chair of the Commission on Archives and History of the Louisiana Conference of the United Methodist Church, worked on the project in 2008 until his death in 2012. The website he created disappeared shortly after.
Millsaps College archivist Debra McIntosh said this new online resource opens a rich collection of information to anyone interested in Methodist history. Centenary College, founded in 1825, is affiliated with the United Methodist Church.