The Atlantic Digitizes Its 165-Year-Old Archive

The Atlantic announced Monday morning that it has completed the nine-month project of digitizing its archive of more than 1,900 print magazines, a portfolio of writing that dates back to the founding of the magazine in 1857. The archive contains original works from American authors and thinkers, including Ernest Hemingway, Sylvia Plath, W.E.B. DuBois, Robert Frost and Mark Twain, all of which will be available on The Atlantic website—and subject to its standard paywall. The publisher first began uploading its writing to The Atlantic website in 1995, so the new material technically spans a time period of 133 years, said editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg. While the publisher sees the undertaking as a largely academic endeavor, it does aim to reap commercial benefit from the exercise. Like all writing on its website, The Atlantic will monetize the articles with digital advertisements, and it anticipates that the material will lead to an uptick in digital subscriptions, said chief executive Nick Thompson. Thompson predicts that the venture will recoup its costs within two to three years, though he would not share the size of the investment. Genealogy service Ancestry.com is the launch sponsor of the project through October and—as part of the partnership—the brand will unlock all Atlantic content written during the 1950s, a time period the company chose because the National Archives released its data from the decade in April. The project puts a uniquely historical spend on an emerging trend in the world of digital media: In its scramble to find original source material, the entertainment industry has increased the market value of intellectual property. Publishers including The Washington Post, Texas Monthly and Rolling Stone have signed deals to turn their reporting into scripts for television series, movies, podcasts and other media vehicles. While The Atlantic's latest infusion of iconic writers will drive subscriptions and advertising revenue, it also unlocks a vault of potentially valuable stories. “There was an idea, maybe ten years ago, that legacy publishers had to be as cool and current as their digitally native counterparts—and that created a feeling that the past was an albatross around our neck,” Goldberg said. “I always thought that was completely wrong. We don’t have to manufacture a mythology about The Atlantic. We published the Battle Hymn of the Republic.” Rolling Stone Names Gus Wenner CEO as the Legacy Title Expands Its Focus Typical writing, with one exception The archival content will live on The Atlantic website alongside contemporary writing, and it will have no design characteristics that distinguish it except for the date of publication and the name on the byline. The publisher is running marketing campaigns to raise awareness of the archive, which readers can search by topic, time period and other filters. It will also tie current events back to its historical coverage, especially around enduring subjects like Russian diplomacy and reproductive rights. In addition, on Monday the publisher also launched a package called The Atlantic Writers Project, where 25 of the most notable contributors to the archive will receive a landing page populated with essays and extended biographies from 25 current Atlantic writers. For many readers, the archive might not be the reason to take out a subscription, said Sterling Woods cofounder and chief executive Rob Ristagno, but it could help solidify the historical pedigree of the publisher. However, if The Atlantic has a suitably sophisticated taxonomy of its audience, it could use the archive to appeal to niche groups, such as history buffs, Ristagno said. Plus, any infusion of content means more page views and more run-ins with the paywall, which will benefit its core business. The archive could also face challenges in contextualizing certain articles that contain outdated language or sentiments, such as a 1939 cover story, written by an anonymous author, titled I Married a Jew. None of the articles will feature content warnings or explanatory notes, but will instead rely on the reader to bear in mind the social mores of a given time period. Legal and logistical challenges The Atlantic worked with two outside firms to help digitize its print archive. Klaris Law, a boutique law firm, helped the publisher navigate the legal challenges stemming from the various contracts it has struck with writers over the last century. In certain instances, due to legal reasons, some archival material will appear only as a PDF. For the digitization process, which involves scanning the articles, proof-reading the transcripts and uploading the text into The Atlantic CMS, the publisher worked with Innodata. “It became clear early in my tenure that this was the kind of project that would never make short-term economic sense—but would almost certainly make long-term economic sense,” Thompson said. “So as soon as we got the green light, we began.” How Media Companies Are Looking to NFTs as a Business of the Future

Publishing News

The Atlantic Digitizes Its 165-Year-Old Archive, Unlocking Potential IP

The library includes original writing from Twain, Hemingway, Plath and other authors

Mark Stenberg

About

Subscriptions

Events

Publications

WORK SMARTER - LEARN, GROW AND BE INSPIRED.

Subscribe today!

Mark Stenberg