In early June, Jean Emerson met with Peggy O’Kane at the Maine State Library. The purpose of the meeting was to reach an agreement that would permit the Maine State Library through its Digital Maine Program to scan all issues of the Northeast Harness News from 1980 through 1995. Peggy and Jean reached an agreement to scan the News and save the issues as PDFs. The scanning has been completed and the issues have been posted to Digital Maine. There is still some work to do to finalize this project. However, viewers can go to Digital Maine to view issues of the News.
When you are at Digital Maine you can scroll through the issues and open the PDF online or you can download individuals issues. You can also search the issues by key word searches. In the search box you can type in an author’s name, a horse’s name, and other phrases or names that will select only issues containing your desired content.
The Northeast Harness News was published between 1980 and 1995. The News featured articles on Maine, New England, and down the Eastern Seaboard to Florida. Exploring the Northeast Harness News will allow those who were fans or members of the industry to visit the past and remember an earlier period in the history of harness racing in the Northeast.
Click the following link that will allow you to open and download a retrospective written by Jean Emerson, founder and editor of the Northeast Harness News:
The History of the Northeast Harness News by Jean Emerson
Link to Digital Maine — The Northeast Harness News Online
Selected Images from Jean Emerson’s Image Library 
Many thanks to Peggy O’Kane and Adam Fisher, Maine State Library staff who oversee the Digital Maine Program.
