OUR PROJECT

The University of Maryland Archives is seeking funding to preserve and make accessible all surviving issues of the Diamondback (1910-present), one of the key history resources of the University of Maryland. This project will digitize all the issues and create a way to easily search and access the contents of the paper for current students, faculty, and staff, Terrapin alumni, and researchers on campus, across the U.S., and around the world. Ever wonder what happened at UMD 25, 50, or even 100 years ago? Now is your chance to find out online!

WHY CONTRIBUTE?

The Diamondback is the primary student paper of record for the university and is a key resource for researching the campus’ history.

• The ready accessibility of the digital files will assist a wide variety of researchers with a multitude of types of questions, e.g. major events on campus, policy changes, athletics results, individual student/alumni activities and accomplishments, and evolution of university leadership.

• At present, it is a very tedious and time-consuming process to find information in historical issues of the paper; very few of the 105 years of publication are indexed, so researchers and University Archives and Diamondback staff have to resort to paging through the very fragile paper issues or spending hours in front of a microfilm reader trying to find that one article or photo that will answer their specific question.

• We want Maryland to join the ranks of other major colleges and universities, including our Big Ten peers Illinois, Indiana, Northwestern, Ohio State, and Penn State to complete digitization of the student newspaper.

We are trying to raise $100,000, and the jumpstart from Launch UMD is critical to the success of our project.

HELP US MEET OUR MATCH!!

The Friends of the UMD Libraries pledged a dollar-for-dollar match up to $5,000! We met this goal on Day Two of our project, and the Friends added another $5,000 to their match, for a total of $10,000! With your help, we can reach and exceed this goal, and really get this project off to a great start.

WE'VE SET A STRETCH GOAL AND STRETCHED AGAIN!!

Because of  the enthusiastic response to our project, which has exceeded our wildest dreams, we've reached our initial $15,000 stretch goal, so we are going to take it to the next level and shoot for $20,000! We are confident that we can reach this milestone, but we need your help! Please donate today and also take a few minutes to share the good news about our project with 5 people you know and ask them to help you make UMD history come alive!

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!!!

Take a trip down memory lane and help the University Archives preserve and make accessible one of UMD’s most important historical resources! Thank you for your support, and GO #digiDBK!

Gifts in support of the University of Maryland are accepted and managed by the University of Maryland College Park Foundation, Inc., an affiliated 501(c)(3) organization authorized by the Board of Regents.  Contributions to the University of Maryland are tax deductible as allowed by law.  Please see your tax advisor for details.