The
American Newspaper Repository is a charity whose purpose is to collect and preserve original copies of American newspapers. It was founded in 1999 by the author
Nicholson Baker when he learnt that the
British Library was disposing of its collection of historic American newspapers. He cashed in his retirement fund to successfully bid for the collection at
auction. With support from the
Knight Foundation and
MacArthur Foundation, the
repository was established in an old mill building in New Hampshire. While serving as a director, Baker researched and wrote
Double Fold: Libraries and the Assault on Paper about the way in which other library institutions were destroying rather than preserving such originals.