Racing History Site to Donate Ad Revenue to DRF Preservation Project
Kevin on Dec 30th 2009
PRESS RELEASE
Contact: 302-561-0079 | kevin@colinsghost.org
Kevin Martin, founder of the racing history site Colin’s Ghost announced that he will be donating ad revenue generated from his site in 2010 to the Daily Racing Form Preservation Project. The project is a massive digitization effort being done at the University of Kentucky in partnership with the Keeneland Library.
The collection being digitized – the most comprehensive known set of the paper – was donated to the Keeneland library by the Racing Form in 2000. The long term goal of the project is to digitize and put online every issue of the DRF now housed at the library. As of December, they have digitized and put over 107,000 pages online.
Martin, who started Colin’s Ghost in April 2007, will be partnering with the Hello Race Fans ad network to generate revenue for the project. Hello Race Fans is a new venture from Green But Game proprietor Dana Byerly and her business partner Adam Weiner. Byerly said of Colin’s Ghost use of the network:
“Hello Race Fans is thrilled to be involved in such an innovative form of charitable giving as we strongly believe in supporting the non-profit organizations that work tirelessly on behalf of the industry. The Hello Race Fans Ad Network donates all of our unsold ad inventory to 501(c)(3) racing organizations.”
Becky Ryder, Head of Preservation Services at the University of Kentucky Libraries, who is leading the project in conjunction with the Keeneland Library, said: “So far, we have no guaranteed funding beyond April, although there is a lot of interest in the archive and in advancing it. Every gift, large or small, will help make even more of the historic DRF freely accessible to anyone online.”
Colins Ghost posts new articles weekly starting with the Derby prep season until the Breeders Cup. The site emphasizes primary sources in telling the history of thoroughbred racing. Martin said of the DRF Online Historic Archive: “They have only scratched the surface and it is already a treasure trove for racing historians. I am thrilled to be able to use my site to raise a few dollars to help preserve and more importantly provide access to this great material.”
The website for the DRF Preservation Project is at www.keeneland.com/drfarchives. For information about making a donation to the project contact Beck Ryder at becky.ryder@uky.edu
