The California Newspaper Project (CNP) was a multi-year effort by the CBSR to identify, describe and preserve California newspapers. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s CBSR staff visitied over 1,400 repositories throughout the state, inventorying close to 9,000 California newspapers. Although the grant-funded project has ended, CBSR staff maintain and update, when possible, the database they created, which can be searched by clicking on "Search the CNP".
The California Newspaper Project does not hold newspapers in its offices. Its database allows researchers to narrow their contacts to institutions holding the relevant titles.
The CNP was a participant in the United States Newspaper Program. It was supported in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities; the California State Library; and the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services, under provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act administered in California by the State Librarian.
The CNP catalog is the most comprehensive source of information about California newspapers. It details newspaper titles and holdings from more than 1,400 libraries, museums, historical societies and publishers' offices throughout the state. The catalog contains records for over 14,400 U.S. newspaper titles held in California repositories; close to 9,000 of these newspapers were or are published in California.
These codes are used for the physical format of newspapers:
OR: Original newspaper
FM: Microfilm
FMM: Microfilm, master negative
RP: Reproduction (reprint, photocopy, facsimile, etc.)