Many avid newspaper researchers may remember Elephind, an online search platform that aggregated newspaper archives from around the world. Elephind 1.0 was built and launched in 2012 by Veridian, the same developers as the Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection (CHNC) platform. Elephind 1.0 was taken offline in 2023 due to the unsustainable costs of hosting and maintaining it.
We are pleased to announce that Elephind 2.0 recently launched with a keyword search as well as a new powerful semantic “Smart” search and AI assistant feature.
Semantic search uses natural language processing and machine learning to interpret the meaning behind a search query—not just the literal words used. Unlike keyword search, which looks for exact matches, semantic search can identify synonyms, related concepts, and contextual relevance–helping it better understand user intent, even when not explicitly stated.
Currently, the collection includes 30,003,854 pages of historic newspapers from collections in the US (including Colorado and Wyoming) and New Zealand. New pages and collections will be added regularly. This new Smart search feature may be added to CHNC in the future. With this in mind, we would like to invite you to the below webinar presented by Veridian on Thursday December 4, 2025, 2:00pm (MST). Registration information can be found in the below invitation.
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The Colorado State Library and Veridian invite you to join a special webinar introducing Elephind.com — a dedicated search engine for historic newspapers that brings together millions of pages from libraries, archives, and historical societies, allowing researchers, students, and genealogists to search across collections from multiple institutions in one place — and its reach is continuing to grow.
During this session, Damian Bennett from Veridian—the developers behind Elephind and the Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection—will showcase the latest features designed to support your work and enhance the experience of your patrons and researchers. This session offers a preview of capabilities that may be introduced to the Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection in the future.
What you’ll learn:
- What is Elephind? Explore the scale and scope of collections currently searchable — and what’s coming next.
- Why keyword search still matters — and how it fits alongside new technologies.
- See Smart Search in action. Discover how factoring in context, related ideas, and synonyms can improve discovery.
- Meet the AI Assistant. Learn how it helps users interpret, summarize, and explore results more efficiently.
- AI as a companion, not a replacement. Understand how it complements, rather than replaces, traditional search.
- Addressing copyright and accuracy concerns. See how Elephind ensures responsible and transparent use of AI.
Date & Time: Thursday December 4, 2025, 2:00pm (MST)
Recording available here, Passcode: xJKuAS=0
We look forward to sharing this exciting step forward in digital discovery with you.
Feel free to share this with others you feel may be interested in this webinar. Please let me know if you have any questions,
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