By:  Kevin Grace

An additional four years of the University of Cincinnati News Record has now been digitized, thanks to the generosity of a Bearcat alumnus.  Jordan L. Bleznick, a 1976 A&S graduate, funded the project to digitize the student newspaper from 1973 through 1976, adding to the previous digitized issues from 1960 through 1970.  Researchers can access these years by visiting the University of Cincinnati Digital Collections site at: http://digitalprojects.libraries.uc.edu/newsrecord/index.php.  The newspapers are available as full-text and are keyword searchable.

Mr. Bleznick made his gift in honor of his father, Dr. Donald W. Bleznick, who died in 2011.  Dr. Bleznick had a long career as a professor of Romance Languages at the University of Cincinnati and was a prolific scholar of Spanish literature. Professor Bleznick came to UC in 1967 as the head of the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures and retired in 1995.  He was the author of over 200 articles and 20 books, including a seminal study of the 17^th century Spanish satirist, Francisco de Quevedo.

Jordan Bleznick served on the staff of the News Record during his undergraduate days, including a stint as the sports editor in 1974.  His kind donation continues the University of Cincinnati Libraries’ effort to digitize as many years as possible of the newspaper.  Beginning in 1880, UC’s student newspaper has had a variety of names – Burnet Woods Echo, Belatrasco, University News, and Bearcat News, as well as the News Record – and has always been a mainstay of campus life.  An initial grant from the University of Cincinnati Alumni Association in 2007 began the digitization project, with the years 1960 through 1970 selected because of the importance of that decade both in UC’s and in American history.  It is hoped that additional years can be made available in this way because digitization means the fragile original copies of the News Record in the University Archives can be preserved while making the newspaper easily accessible at any time in any place.

For more information about the Archives & Rare Books Library and its holdings in the University Archives, please visit our website at:  http://www.libraries.uc.edu/libraries/arb/index.html, email us at: archives@ucmail.uc.edu, or telephone us at: 513-556-1959.

For more information about the Digital Collections Department and its holdings, please visit the website at: http://digitalprojects.libraries.uc.edu/.

And, for more information about how to help in digitizing the University of Cincinnati News Record, please contact the UC Libraries’ Director of Development at 513-556-0055, or make a gift online at: https://webapps.uc.edu/foundation/gift/gift.aspx.

The University of Cincinnati is very grateful to Jordan Bleznick for making these additional years of the News Record available to everyone.